GBSEx 09: Winner ‘Best UK Congress 2009′

GBSEx II won ‘Best UK Salsa Congress 2009′ in the Salsa Central awards announced on Friday 18 February 2010.

We’re thrilled to bits here at GBSEx on winning the award for the second year running!  The award means a lot to us as it is voted for by dancers, rather than given by a professional body or panel.  It’s an endorsement of our efforts and makes it all worthwhile!  Thank you so much to all who voted for us and who’ve supported GBSEx in years 1 and 2.  We’re working hard to make GBSEx III even bigger and better - we’ve a lot to live up to - and hope to see you all there!

Other award winners/runners up included:

Mushi Noor - Winner - North West Regional UK Salsa Teacher 2009

Salsology Dance Company - Runner Up - UK Salsa Performer 2009

Salsology Club - Runner Up - Best UK Salsa Club Night 2009

For full details of all the Winners/Runners Up visit: www.uk-salsa.com

Early Bird Tickets Sold Out!

Our limited allocation of Early Bird tickets sold out on 15 February - it took just 2 weeks! There are now no more Early Bird tickets available, and prices have increased by £10. The next price increase is on 1 October 2010.

Please don’t leave it late to book if attending the evening showcases is important to you. We have limited capacity for evening showcases this year (500 per night) and you need to book places for shows when you buy your ticket. It’s first-come, first-served…

Please visit our website for full ticket prices/details.

Early Bird is live!

We launched Early Bird ticket sales on Monday for tickets starting at just £79 and it’s gone a bit mad! We’ve sold well over half our allocation so if you want a cheap ticket get online now at www.salsatribe.com and bag yourself the hottest ticket of the year!

This year we’ve also reserved accommodation at the three hotels flanking the venue

Vote GBSEx!!!

UK Salsa Awards 2009

UK Salsa Awards 2009

As you know we won the much coveted award “Salsa Congress of the Year 2008″ for the first GBSEx event and it’s that time again to vote for your favourite events, DJs, Artists, Teachers and Newcomers to the scene.

We can’t tell you what a huge boost it is for us that you loved GBSExI enough to take us to the top slot and if you enjoyed GBSExII we’d love it if you helped keep us there!

Simply click on the banner to have your say, not forgetting all the artists, teachers and Djs who work so hard all year round to bring you great classes, events, music and shows….it only takes a minute!

GBSExIII Tickets Launch On February 1st 2010

News!We are launching ticket sales for 2010 on February 1st with a very limited Early Bird offer. When these tickets sell out all prices increase by £10.

When they’re gone they’re gone so set yourself a reminder and don’t miss out….!

P.S. Good news for those of you who struggled to find accommodation in 2009 or paid over the odds because the hotels were so busy. We’ve block booked hotel rooms at the three hotels nearest the venue at a fab rate which we’re going to hold for you until they are sold out! Accommodation will also go on sale in February.

A Big Thank You!

Cheers!A big thank you to everyone who came to GBSEx 2009. What an event!

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and, although we have some things to work on for 2010, we were delighted by the success of the event and the comments we’ve received from you. We remain ever grateful for the support and endorsement of the salsa community in making GBSEx the event it is.

Again, thank you for choosing GBSEx in 2009 and for arriving up for a party!

We’re back in 2010 on November 18th for our pre-congress party followed by the main event between 19th and 21st…phew!

Workshop News

We’ve sold nearly 1000 tickets for this event, so if you’re looking to buy a ticket now you’ll find that some of our classes are fully booked (9 out of 70 are fully booked). Please don’t let this put you off. There is still plenty of capacity in the workshop schedule overall. If you can’t find the right mix of workshops, you might want to consider buying a GBSEx0 ticket (3 night party pass) and buying individual workshops at the event. This gives you the freedom to choose from anything that’s left (without the black/white Sat/Sun restrictions). Individual workshops will cost £5 each.

We’ve also recently added 3 new workshops:

NEW!! Ladies Styling On 1 | Mayana | Sat @ 5.30pm
Mayana lives and works in London, but is Russian and went to one of the best Russian Dance Academies where she studied all types of dance from traditional dances to contemporary. She is a beautiful and elegant dancer and deserves her own styling class on the GBSEx schedule. Give this one a go! (By the way, she’s also one of the loveliest people we know on the salsa circuit!)

NEW!! Ladies Styling On 2 | Ahtoy Wonpat-Borja | Sat @ 4.15pm
You loved Ahtoy’s styling workshop at GBSEx 08, and in response to demand, we’ve added this class into our schedule. Ahtoy, formally principal dancer and instructor with Santo Rico and now one of the founders of BAILA Society, is famed for her graceful style and amazing body movement. She’s a wonderful teacher - don’t miss this one!

NEW! Latin Percussion Jam | Osbanis Tejeda | Sunday 12.30pm
We only found out recently that Osbanis is actually a Professor of Cuban Percussion. Wow! So, we’ve asked him to put on a special workshop to familiarise you with the different instruments making up a Latin orchestra, their rhythms and how they influence the way we dance salsa. It’s a hands-on, participative workshop, so please bring along any Latin percussion instruments you might have, or, if you haven’t, just bring along anything to bang!

To buy tickets visit www.salsatribe.com
For full ticket information visit www.thegreatbritishsalsaexperience.com
To view our workshop schedule visit www.time4class.com

What’s New @ GBSEx 09

We’ve introduced a number of new features to this year’s event which we hope builds on the success of last year and addresses the feedback you gave us. Here’s what’s new:

Daytime Dancing Area
You asked for a daytime dancing area - no problem! Whilst workshops are going on, you’ve got the option to dance right in the middle of the Town Hall. We’re laying flooring especially, and our Master of Ceremonies, Mr Rohan Brown, will be playing party sounds to dance to.

A Place to Congregate
In addition to the Cafe Area, we’ll be providing more chairs and tables throughout the venue during the day and evenings to chill out, have a drink and generally socialise with friends.

Greater Flexibility re Workshop Bookings
This year, not only can you top up your workshops by purchasing extra workshops at the event, you can also swap your workshop bookings if you want to. You can buy/swap for any workshops on the schedule where there is spare capacity.

Remember, if you really don’t want to pre-book workshops, you can buy a GBSEx0 ticket and buy individual workshops at the event again subject to availability.

Late Licence
We’ve applied for a 5am licence and late bar this year. We’re still waiting to hear, but we’re confident we’ll get this.

Afternoon Showcase
We’ve been inundated with performers wanting to showcase at GBSEx. So, on Saturday afternoon, we’ve added an extra showcase at 1.45pm. Some of these artists have been performing for less than a year or are student groups on performance courses, and some are experienced performers we simply couldn’t fit into our Evening Showcases this time. Come and support them!

GBSEx Spinning Competition 09
After the success of last year’s World Record-breaking attempt (we broke the record in case you hadn’t heard), we’ve devised a GBSEx Amateur and Professional Spinning Competition. There’ll be a GBSEx title and prize to win in each category, plus if anyone breaks the current world record we’ll submit an application to Guinness. If you can spin, why not have a go! More info>>

Jimmy Anton Social @ GBSEx
We’re absolutely thrilled to have persuaded Mr Jimmy Anton to come to GBSEx this year! He’s one of the great salsa DJs and runs the most famous Sunday Social in New York City, in the world. We’ll be giving over one of our party rooms to Jimmy on Sunday night so prepare to be swept away with the salsa sounds of NYC.

Cloakroom Facility
We’ll be putting on a Cloakroom during the evenings. The cost will be £1 per item.

Seating at Evening Shows
Well, you loved the shows last year but some of you commented that there wasn’t enough seating. Easy - there’ll be more seating this year!

GBSEx sets New World Record for Spinning

At last year’s GBSEx, we attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the ‘Most Spins by a Couple in a Minute’, a record held by an Austrian Tango couple at 113 spins.

8 couples entered the World Record-breaking attempt and Lisa Anscomb-Smith (SalsaOxford) and Giles Eadle (Ignite Dance Company) broke it with 125 spins.  It’s taken us nearly a year to get the record authenticated by Guinness but we heard the news today that we were successful.  Wow - what an achievement.  Guinness World Record holders!!!!!!!!

Hey, but sorry Lisa and Giles - you may only hold the record for 6 weeks as we’re going to have a go at breaking your record again at GBSEx 09.

If you think you can spin, why not enter our Spinning Competition at GBSEx 09 and have a crack at the record?  Visit our website for details.

To watch the new World Record, click here.

Ticket Prices Increase in 7 Days

Our ticket prices go up on 1st October by £10. So, if you know you’re coming to the hottest event in the salsa calendar, buy your tickets now!

Current prices:
GBSEx0 - £79
GBSEx4 - £89
GBSEx6 - £99
GBSEx8 - £109
GBSEx10 - £119

Visit our webpage for full ticket information.
Buy tickets at www.salsatribe.com

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