Birmingham Dance festival spells succces for Warwick Salsa

This year’s Dance Festival at the University of Birmingham was a great success for Warwick Salsa with the Intermediates taking the first and the Improvers taking second place in the inter-university competition.

The Dance Festival and Valentine’s Salsa Ball taking place on Saturday 15 February were organised by Dance Club Latino, one of the University of Birmingham’s dance groups, in association with Latin Motion who run classes and events for different Latin dance styles in the Midlands.

The competition in the Salsa category was the largest it has ever been.

Universities such as University College London, Keele and Kent came down for the all-day event which included not only the competition but also workshops for Salsa, Bachata, Kizomba, Reggaeton, Rueda and Cha Cha and a Moulin Rouge themed ball.

Warwick Salsa president Sorrel Holliday choreographed a challenging routine for the competition that used different timing to that which the society’s members are used to.

After a year of social dancing in Paris, Ms. Holliday wanted to push the level of technique and the synchronicity of the routine, and so especially the Intermediates had to push themselves really hard.

But the work paid off. Ms. Holliday said: “I couldn’t be happier with the comments from the judges, who said that Warwick Intermediates had pushed the comp to another level and made comparisons to a semi-pro show that they would go to see.

“What made me happiest was mention of the ‘perfect styling’ which I had to drill with the girls week in, week out. I am so proud of how hard everyone worked.”

Warwick Salsa has competed in the Dance Festival for the last four years. Last year Birmingham University  won the competition, so the society was particularly happy to have taken back both first and second place this year.