Conor O'Donovan

Conor has been dancing salsa since the late 90's after an inspiring summer spent in Puerto Rico, USA. One of Ireland's earliest Salseros, he was involved in founding one of the first salsa clubs in the country where he taught for three years. In 2002 Conor moved to London to pursue musical theatre and dance, and studied ballet, jazz, contemporary and tap dance full time for two years. During his time in London he has taught at some of London's best known salsa clubs, been a World Salsa Championship finalist, and spent a brief period training and performing with Manhattan Mambo. In the decade he has been dancing Conor has been part of numerous competitions and stage and film performances that encompass many forms of dancing - which he likes to bring to his own style of salsa. When it comes to teaching, Conor focuses on technique as a solid grounding for students to develop as dancers, while maintaining a relaxed and fun envirnonment. Being able to both lead and follow, one of his strengths is identifying problems from both both points of view and this enables him to assist his students to progress all the faster.

Mouni Guellati

Mouni started dancing at the age of 7 years in Brazil. She began with ballet, modern jazz and, of course, samba. In her teens, having fallen in love with the music of salsa, she set out on an adventure to explore all aspects of this fun dance. She joined a Rueda de Casino group (Cuban style) in Paris, in 2001, and inspired by the subtle dynamics between leader and follower, she was soon learning all the salsa styles that she could. In 2005, she started teaching in London, first of all with the world-renown Super Mario, and from 2006 at the University of Westminster. She has trained and performed with many UK-based groups. 11 years after her first salsa dance, Mouni is still as inspired as ever. With a passion for Latin jazz and the New York mambo, she improvises with musicality and brings smooth flow and expressive body movement to the dance floor, combined with the acute responsiveness of an experienced salsera.

Phil Marsden

Phil started dancing salsa in Toronto in 2004 with the University of Toronto LGBT Dance Group, performing his first show at Toronto Pride in 2005. He learned salsa as a follower for the first two levels of classes, and didn't learn to lead until about six months later (when the club ran out of leaders). He believes that his ability in leading is a direct result of this. With a passion for salsa, he also has as keen interest in all Afro-Caribbean, Latin ballroom and lindy hop dance styles. In 2007, ironically while working in LA, he switched to New York style salsa and has not looked back since. In April of 2007 he joined a group in London which was then called Mambolifestyle, performing at the UK Salsa Congress, Salsorro in northern Spain, Street Salsa, and the 5 Star London Salsa Congress. Phil dances with this group, now called Danzalifestyle, which is a New York style salsa school based in North London. Phil brings the "flavour" of salsa to the class with the understanding of the complexities of Afro-Cuban music and the body movement required to express it.