Miguel Mayana runs this salsa event in Balham at the White Eagle Club (aka Hamilton House) on the first Friday of every month. It is a welcome rebirth of the Que Rico event which used to run on the 2nd Friday of each month at The Bedford in Balham last year until it had to be closed for refurbishment. This venue has a luxurious ballroom for salsa dancing – big enough for 500 dancers I’d say. The bachata area is quite small but adequate for those who prefer sideways salsa! 😉 The ballroom has air conditioning which works, a professional sound system and a stage for the DJ which is always an advantage.
Que Rico means to a Spanish speaking salsa dancer something like: Isn’t it wonderful! It is indeed and as before the venue has a friendly atmosphere and attracts all the best dancers from miles around thus guaranteeing me my salsa fix many times over in one evening! I plan to arrive at 10pm for the social dancing after the earlier bachata & salsa lessons.
Venue: White Eagle Club at Hamilton House, 211 Balham High Road, Balham, London SW17 7BQ
Parking: Plenty of free parking in Balham High Road and side streets after 7pm.
Tube & Rail: Balham Station is only 5 minutes walk away
Entrance: £10
For further details see the facebook group “Que Rico” Salsa Kizomba Bachata Parties In London.
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Like: John Lets Salsa Hylton, Karizma Delpratt, Cheryl Kennedy, Artur Ganaev, Belinah Shashe, Mária Benke; Love: Grace Morrok
Philip Wake What a shame I couldn’t find the mask I used at the last Halloween dance at Que Rico but plenty of people were wearing masks, and some costumes, which added some fun to the proceedings. The attendance peaked around 11pm as usual and I had a lot of lovely dances with Laura, Magda, Amie, Julie, Taya, Cheryl, Maria, Borislava, Kiran, Ruby, Sofi, Grace, Rohany and many other charming ladies. ❤️
Both performances were excellent and well received by the audience. ❤️
I noticed a lady looking a bit confused dancing with a fellow who just kept on leading complicated moves that she couldn’t follow so I gave her a nice sequence of moves to increase her confidence before adding a little complexity and made her smile with the pleasure of dancing. I gave her a bachata too which she had never tried before and she smiled again. ❤️
I danced with two ladies who were in the beginner’s class.
The first just didn’t get the salsa basic at all so I just lead it to her firmly telling her only not to look down because surely she knew her legs were just below her bottom and could feel where they were! She gradually got it once she stopped watching her feet – the reason being that dancing has nothing to do with where the feet land – they land vertically underneath your head to stop you falling over – it’s about where you body moves to and from. Slowly she improved and started smiling with the pleasure of dancing. ❤️
The second was bouncing up and down like a yo yo so I told her not to waste her energy on vertical movement and held her firmly to make it hard work to bounce. This worked and she gradually became easier to lead and started smiling as she discovered moving smoothly worked much better! ❤️
Love: Natalia Mayana Mikhailenko, Sofi Cook; Like: Cheryl Kennedy, Grace Morrok, John Lets Salsa Hylton
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