About me - Peter

With no previous dance experience, just a liking for Latin music, I started taking salsa lessons at a local Health Club in 1999.  To start with I was absolutely hopeless.  But finally the penny dropped and once I had got to grips with the basic steps and turns I was hooked.  I started dancing regularly and attended workshops in Newcastle before going to congresses further afield.  In 2004 I ventured to my dream destination – Cuba – and I've been back there nine times for more tuition, the latest being in 2020.

In 2004 I qualified as a dance instructor with the UKA.  In 2005 I started Salsa Simplemente with great trepidation.  I thought salsa was on the crest of a wave in the UK and would soon diminish in popularity. How wrong could I be!?

The classes and events grew in popularity and In 2009 I was very flattered to win Salsa York's Twelfth Night Extravaganza Award for Services to Regional Salsa, having come third then second in the previous two years.

My interest in Cuban music and dance gives me a preference for Cuban style salsa which can be vigorous or gentle, it can be  simple or very intricate but it is also very fluid, expressive and a great deal of fun.  And I love La Rueda de Casino, the Cuban-style group dance which is fabulous to watch and great fun to do – and even more fun when it goes wrong.