Angelique Sinclaire
The background...
Angelique was born into an era when ‘Fame’ was a TV series and ‘Breakdance’ was all the rage. Her initial dance training took place on Saturdays at a small Leisure centre where Frankie Johnson Jnr the British Disco dancing champion was teaching. The classes were heaving with children wanting to learn the latest dance trends, but after attending just a handful of times Frankie picked Angelique as part of his child performance team. Out of 100’s only 5 girls of her age were taken, 5 of a younger age and a male break dancing team. Frankie took the team all over England and Wales to perform, and Angelique discovered her passion was to dance. Even at this young age the girls were expected to freestyle dance, and choreography was something Angelique had learned about before she was 10 years old. During this period of time she also made several appearances dancing on breakfast television such as Saturday Superstore and Tiswas.
On leaving school at the tender age on 16, she attended The Rubicon Dance School in Cardiff and studied a foundation in dance. This consisted of intense days 10am often till 10pm involving classes in ballet, modern, jazz, Indian, yoga, improvisation, and contemporary dance. At this time she also became involved in helping her teacher with classes for the mentally and physically disabled.
Moving from her home town and spending a brief year modelling in London she then moved to Holland where she taught aerobics at The Workout Centre in Zaandam. On her return to London she spent some time in sales before moving to Spain to podium dance, and organise beauty pageants for the upper class Spanish nightclubs in Alacante. During this time she also travelled to several regions in Spain to perform.
Returning to London after a year Angelique kept up her dancing skills by taking classes at Pineapple studios, and was involved dancing in music videos - her favourite being one by the amazing Beverley Knight.
At the tender age of 27 believing that she was too old to become a performer she went to The Teacher s Centre in Eltham and studied ISTD ballet and modern as well as music and drama; in the hope of becoming a dance teacher. Her teachers were all examiners and being virtually untrained, apart from the foundation in dance which she had taken at the tender age of 16, she found the course extremely hard. Most of the other students were around 18 years of age and had been dancing the main disciplines for the majority of their lives, she struggled on determined. Soon after she studied for her Freestyle associate with the IDTA and taught children’s classes in primary and junior schools. Finally she took her Exercise to Music Exams with the YMCA.
Salsa happened purely by chance, as did performing and the creation of Seraphim Dance Company. One evening her jazz class was cancelled and being at a loose end she decided to take another class, as someone used to difficulty, she found herself a little distracted in a beginners class and decided this was not for her, however after the class finished one of the teachers invited her to Bar Salsa. If it was not for this man I guess she would not be dancing salsa today. Thank you Jorge.
“To be honest”, she tells me, “I had very little interest in going and was bribed by the fact that he said it was free and he’d buy me a drink. FREE! My favourite word I said, and decided nothing ventured and all of that. My initial impressions changed when I saw the likes of Yanet and Rafael and Iris De Brito dancing that night. They were my first inspiration. I didn’t take any classes and did not know that the classes were held early on in the clubs; I just went to Bar Salsa, at first only about once a month, but I soon became hooked and after 2 months the bug had me and I was there almost every night dancing with anyone kind enough to let me step on their toes. It was just after my second month that I had become close friends with two very special men Alex Amoroso, (who has constantly shared information freely with me, and I feel we have both learned so much from each other) whom I think of as possibly the best teacher of salsa in the UK today, and Adam Laiani. Alex was already a teacher and both these men helped me to learn basics, way back when I didn’t know what a basic step was. It was Adam that recommended I go to Susana Montero to learn. I found her details and contacted her for a private lesson. I was still very much a beginner. She took me in, and I regularly attended her classes. After my first year I was teaching for her and Super Mario. She was my inspiration for the next few years, and was both extremely kind to me and gave me the encouragement that I needed to have faith in myself. But this was not my first experience of teaching. My first regular experience was given to me by a very old friend, Fire from ‘I love Salsa’, and I travelled with him teaching in several places including at The Cork Congress and Hayling Island. We truly had a blast he was both kind and fair with me and I am grateful to this day for his trust and encouragement.
My performance experience also came very early on. In bar salsa one night I had the most fantastic last 3 dances with a Japanese man. The next day Alex called me asking me if I would like to do a competition with that man, his name is David Soloman. We competed in a 2003 British competition and much to my surprise won. So many of the NOW teachers entered that year, I didn’t know any of them but Adam did and I don’t think he had much faith in me winning LOL if I had known them I probably wouldn’t have had either, but he was there for me. After winning instead of being able to go out and feel great about it I was actually stuck in bed for nearly 2 weeks as I’d injured my back but I would do it all again.
It wasn’t until I’d been dancing a year that my first partnership was formed and I was equally as surprised. So I’m lying on the sofa with my box of tissues and a lemsip feeling a little sorry for myself when I get a phone call from none other than Lanre Adjani, Lanre for those of you who have not been around a long time was one of the best dancers and teachers in London, teaching for SOS and having his own classes long with Miriam Opel. ‘How are you he asks me’, Bless him, I thought that’s nice he rang to find out how I am he must have noticed that I wasn’t out. I started going into the fact that I had flue and was generally feeling unwell, and then he just asked me, if I would like to do a show with him.
‘Are you sure you’ve got the right number’ I asked
‘That’s Angelique right?’ he said
‘Err yes’
‘Yes I got the right number so do you want to do a show with me’ he repeated.
I was over the moon. We started working together straight away and extensively travelled and taught together. I had one of the greatest times of my life, and cannot tell you what a wonderful person, a great dancer and a brilliant teacher this man is, not to mention a best friend. It was around this time that I met Rajit. Rajit is my unsung hero. He is the person who spent countless hours trying to correct my technique, he is the person I will give the most credit too for teaching me how to dance On2. Now I am not saying there weren’t others. I took some classes with Special T which most definitely improved my shine vocab, and I think he does a magnificent job for those who wish to learn mambo On2 but I was often away at weekends and didn’t get to take as many classes with him as I would have liked. I also travelled to many congresses and to New York to learn from the likes of Eddie Torres and Frankie Martinez. There have been several people who have inspired me along my journey people like Griselle Ponce, Nancy Ortez and Burju. But first and foremost my hero is RAJIT this man who spent hours spinning me when I weighed a ton of bricks, this man who spent hours dancing with me and working with me on the way I stepped. Rajit is an amazing dancer and although he has not danced now for a number of years he is still one of the most creative people I know. He is also one of my best friends. Haven’t I been lucky, on reflection my answer to you is, very.
Sadly I lost Lanre to a bad ongoing knee injury and remained without a dance partner for some time. My initial reason for wanting to become a good dancer was I thought I would then be able to dance with everyone, my second was to be able to stand on stage and thank Susana for all her help, one I am yet to complete no one wants to give me a microphone they probably know I wouldn’t shut up lol. Now more than ever I think I dance salsa for my love of the music, and get such a thrill out of teaching when I light a spark in someone’s mind or bring a smile to their face.
Seraphim originated as ‘The Montero Girls’ a team of females taken from Susana’s classes to create a choreography for her wedding. We had only 2 weeks to put the whole thing together it was stressful and hard work, but we did it and through all this hard work some of the girls wanted to continue performing. The name Seraphim was chosen by a formed member of the company named Imelda, Seraphim means the highest order of Angels; she had tied this in with my name Angelique. I couldn’t come up with anything better and Seraphim was born. We performed The Spanish routine for the first time at the UK Salsa congress 2005 after which we went from strength to strength. The all female team then came 3rd in the European championships unheard of for an all female team to be placed in the top 3 of a team competition at that time. After this we took on males for the company and Simon (now renamed The Lord Bachata), and I hold the 2007-2008 European Bachata title.
If I had to list all the events we have taught and performed at I would be going on for another 3 pages, so if I forget someone I am sorry, but I must particularly thank those who have hired us for every routine we have brought out having faith in my abilities. Mauricio from Latin Motion, Terry and Yolanda from Salsa Chill out, Lee Hunter, Salsa Sensation, Cressida from Salsa Cubana, Jean and Robert White from Mambo City, and Paul Young from Salsa UK have given serious support to both me and my group, there are many more promoters who have supported us and I would like to thank them all because without them there would be no fantastic events. So much hard work goes in to these weekly nights and weekend congresses, and until you have run an event for yourself or tried to build up a class you have no idea how difficult and pain staking it can be, how some of them had to seriously persevere to get where they are today and constantly work to make each night enjoyable for all who attend. It is not an easy job being a promoter and I applaud all who keep this wonderful dance and its music alive.
'You have missed something out' I hear the crowd scream, and they are correct, but you cannot miss this man. Moe Flex voted 2006- 2007 Cuban teacher of the year, was my last dance partner, and although we have now gone our separate ways I have had so much fun working with this man, and have learned how to dance and teach rueda, although I still don’t know ALL the VERY advanced moves, I swear they are never ending; I am more than capable of teaching a very good improvers class thanks to this man. Moe and I met at an event hosted by Enrique in Bournemouth and I wondered why he didn’t do shows; we had both planned to dance with other people but somehow fate put us together. Our Lovers Feud show has been performed so many times I have lost count and he has taken me to places I didn’t even know existed. Running all over the country with Moe is fun and anyone who meets him knows they are in for a good time. We are still great friends and still do occasional work together for instance we are both teaching together for Eagle Activities salsa holiday in October 2008 and we just had the most fantastic time down in Wales performing at Kerry and Enrique’s Cuban Congress.
Along with my professional team I am now running a performance course for students and am soon to bring out my DVD. Bit scary and wonder if I will look back on it in 10 years time and cringe LOL. Salsa is a dance that keeps developing and I hope to be a part of that development here in the UK. I dance for the music and as such I enjoy dancing all styles of salsa as dictated by the music. I teach salsa On1, Mambo On2, Ladies Styling, shines, Body Movement, Stretch, cha cha cha, bachata, Improvers Rueda, Street Jazz, Cuban shines and many other dance disciplines. Most of my professional team also have both dance and teaching skills from various different genres of dance. I am very proud to be working with them.
