Though primarliy a DJ and music collector, Chris is also a Dancer and peforms and teaches with Gary Thomas' Mamboleo Dance Comapny.

Classes are based around solid technical foundations. We emphasise leading/following techniques, body movements/isolations and musical understanding onto which students can then layer their individuality and discover their own unique style.

Chris undertook extensive private tuition with the revolutionary Cobo Brothers to study the art of leading and body movement, additionally taking classes with leading names such as Frankie Martinez and the Santo Rico dance company from New York. Now based in Manchester, Chris continues to develop his dancing in the UK's Mambo mecca and trains & performs regularly as a member of Mamboleo Dance Company based in Birmingham.

"I'd like to give my warmest thanks to all those who've inspired me, helped me and contributed to my loving relationship with dance along the way." - Chris

Milton and James of the Cobo Brothers dance company, truly amazing dancers who first captivated my love for this particular style of dance and shared with me so much of their knowledge and unique ideas in dance. Most of what i know, dance and believe in dancing today comes straight from these guys.

Gary Thomas & Jayne Turpin My good friends and the directors of Mamboleo for bringing me into their company and teaching me their unique choregraphies and helping me reach my potenital and acheive my performance goals.

Tony Mee, my dear brother, a dancing legend in the North East of England, Tony got me interested in the dancing side of things and inspires me to this day with his fun personalty and his charismatic dancing and teaching style.

Mushi, Emma and Kate from Manchester. To Mushi for being both an inspiration, an oracle of dancing knowledge and for encouraging me to push my dancing as far as i can. To Emma and Kate for showing the world how to spin and helping me refine my leading technique.

Lossie and Gareth, for being such great friends and inspiring with me with their incredible dance chemistry, passion and dedication to Mambo.

 

Finally, some dance tips...

For the Guys

1. Dance within your own limitations and those of your dance partner. If she is at a more advanced level than yourself then by all means push yourself a little but don't throw things at her that you are not used to leading as this will inevitably end in discomfort and/or possible injury.

If she is at a lower or the same level as yourself then it's your job to make her feel comfortable and secure and not to execute patterns that will have her either struggling greatly to follow or continually trying to catch up (from that extra spin you shouldn't have led!). She will not feel great about this and it can be the worst thing for an improver/intermediate followers confidence. Aim to challenge her and satisfy her but NEVER abuse her (Ladies, it's OK to walk off if you are being abused, your guy will get over it quickly and will understand that he did something wrong and hopefully work to fix it, which can only be good for him!).

2. Whatever her level, try not to make her travel across your entire body position while you stay on the spot. Most girls don't like to be thrown around so establish their dance space and then aim to keep them within this space, the reason being:

The less distance you move your partner, the less energy is required to resist their movement/steps. When i dance i find it's far more enjoyable for myself and my dance partner to keep things tight, moving around her, rather than making her do the travelling. Doing this gives your follower extra time to concentrate on their spinning, body styling and enjoyment of the music and the dance. By moving her less you also have the benefit of taking up less space on the dance floor and reduce the risk of collisions/heels (ouch!) from other dancers.

For the Gals'

1. Spinning is one of the biggest parts of this style of dance. Work on your spinning technique and rather than putting in more weight and increasing your turning power, practice spinning more lightly and gracefully. The more you improve your technique the faster you will spin and the more controlled and grounded you feel to the leader.

2. Style, but style within your limits. Always look to push yourself and increase the fluidity and connection of your styling with your following, but don’t do so at the expense of your partner’s lead sabotaging every attempted move he makes (though it can be a lot of fun a few times :-) ). Try not to grab your partners fingers and arms like a handrail to maintain your balance and control when your spinning (It hurts!). Working on your posture, balance and bodily control is just as important as working on your styling, guys talk too, so it's not just about how you look, it's also about how you feel to dance with.

 

For Both of You

1. Love the music, it should flow through you like lifeblood as you interpret each musical peak and trough with your movements. Don't just dance choreographed turn patterns and learnt shine routines for the whole dance, dance to the music!

2. Be connected to each another and even if just for that 5 minutes be passionate about each other. Dance for each other not for yourself or the audience (or that annoying guy that we've all seen standing in the middle of the floor taking up precious dance space with that huge Hollywood sized video camera!)

3. Guage each other's tension and resistance so that you're not fighting the energy and pulling each other all over the place in the dance.

4. Most of all, don't forget to have fun!

With Love and Respect,

Chris...x