Previous participants in the course have said:

Heather Lewis: "Your course was truly inspirational and I was amazed at the amount of work and research that you had put into it both on the theoretical as well as the practical side.
You delivered the course in a very special way making it informative, challenging and fun, qualities which had been affirmed in the class as signs of good teaching.
You covered every possible scenario that I and the others in the class as potential salsa teachers could be faced with from the teaching right through to the business side.
You opened up my eyes to the depth of knowledge that is required in order to become a proficient salsa teacher.
If I had to take away one important aspect from the three days, it would be the importance of learning people's names, something that  is so simple but constantly overlooked.  I have tried this with people that I regularly come into contact with, like the newsagent and it makes such a difference.
Thank you for your generosity and willingness to share your wealth of experience with us all."

Udoka Ogbue: "The training course was as good as it gets. Great teaching skills, good communication with everyone, a firework of ideas, details on music and style, insight into business and exams - this weekend exceeded my expectations. Your professional approach, boundless energy, direct feedback and personal assistance are only some traits and I have been recommending your course since I got back. We have been applying some of your ideas to our classes this week - successfully!"

Curtis Chen: "It's great experience to attend this UKA training course by Dessy. She is completely professional in this niche and we all had a great fun together. Briefly, the class includes the salsa teaching skills, the knowledge of different dancing styles, good answers to the questions that examiner or your student may ask and so forth. It's not just the training class, but also the experience sharing.  If you are interested in aquiring the UKA qualification and wish to learn more, believe me, here is the best choice to go!!  Strongly recommend it!!"

Jacqueline Leger: " Having just attended your teacher training course, I would like to thank you ever so much for sharing the knowledge that you have about salsa. The course was absolutely fantastic and after 3 days of intensive training, I left on a high and a positive attitude. The course was well structured, presented in a very professional manner and extremely informative.  Dessy is a great teacher making us look at how we need to improve our communication with our students in order to be able to provide a high standard of teaching; even the information about the business aspect of salsa was an eye opener.
I was very lucky in choosing your course, other potentital teachers I know haven’t been so lucky with the standard of salsa teaching course they have attended.  The course really opened my eyes as to how much more work is needed in order for me succeed in passing my UKA Exam. 
I can highly recommend the teacher training course and look forward to attending any refresher courses you may offer and attending your classes as well.
Many thanks for a great opportunity."

Dawn Selway: "I just want to say how much I enjoyed the last 3 days. By the end of day 1 I felt brain dead; day 2 - pretty much the same, but really enjoyed the practical sessions and the classes taught by you and Maria; by the end of day 3 I felt sad that it was over!!

I think you are an excellent tutor, the examples and the knowledge you passed on I know will stay with me for a very long time! I think the course you run is SO beneificial for potential teachers. I hesitated before this course as I sometimes like many people lack confidence in my own abilities, but I'm so glad that I did as it has highlighted some areas for me that I need to work on to become a better teacher and with this knowledge I know I can fullfill my true potential..... so thank you!!!!"

Eilis Jordan : "I attended Dessy's training course in October 08 and found it tremendously useful. I was not quite sure what to expect having found the course through a search on the internet but I took a chance, booked on the course and was not at all disappointed. The course was very well organised and structured. It was packed full of useful information and there was a good balance between theory and practice. Dessy was extremely open and helpful - not at all precious about sharing information. And she was also very honest with us, which you really need as a student. No soft-soaping from Dessy.All in all, I can thoroughly recommend this course for anyone who is considering teaching, or for those teaching already who want to prepare for the UKA exam or simply to benefit from the experience of a very professional, knowledgable, enthusiastic and capable teacher. Thanks Dessy!"

Gemma Harries: "Just a quick thank you the course was brilliant and I feel more confident than ever with my teaching.  The course has given me a clear indication of what areas I need to work on and hope that I can make salsa as popular and successful here in Wales as it is with Expressions.   I learnt so much on the course so Thank you again."

Anna-Marie Savio : "A most thorough and informative salsa dance teacher preparation course! It made me realise how much further I had to go to achieve my goal of obtaining a UKA qualification. The course also gave a good overview of the salsa dance trade in general. It felt overwhelming at times – there was a mountain of information to take in over three days; it could perhaps benefit from being over four days, as there is just so much ground to cover. There was a nice balance each day between the theory and the practical and, being a small group, it made getting to know my fellow trainees on a personal level much easier. Everyone was friendly, relaxed and encouraging.

Dessy is awe-inspiring! A powerhouse of ambition, drive, aspiration and professionalism – no-one else in London has her dedication and determination to drag the London salsa scene kicking and screaming into the 21st century!

I would recommend this course to anyone wishing to take their salsa teaching experience to the next level. This course makes one aware of salsa as a whole – music, technique, business, history, legalities, and much more – it’s not just about the “1,2, 3 / 5,6,7”

Meena Arora: "The course really gave me a boost and made me feel that i can do this and hopefully do it well.All of you are such lovely peolple that it made learning and understanding so easy. I used to have a problem with feeling the music but now when i am listening the cds i got from you i can actually feel the beat.
 
I had a lovely time and learnt so much and with all the notes that you have given us i know that it all will help me through. So once again i say thank you.
 After i have given my first class i will write and let you know how it went."

Christine Newell: "I had a great time on the course. I enjoyed everything that we did. Some of it I found quite challenging but you and the rest of the group, were very encouraging and that helped me tremendously. I'm thinking in particular of teaching the class a short routine. I had had very little experience of leading before I came and that together with my lack of confidence - which I need to overcome - made it more difficult for me than it would otherwise have been. Actually just doing the course was a confidence boost.

I have to say I met such a great bunch of people and that in itself helped to make the weekend what it was.

For me the weekend was an experiment to find out if I felt that I could teach, what becoming a teacher actually involved and if I thought that I would like to teach. I think that these questions have been answered. The course has done that much for me. I have also learned how much more I need to know before I could feel happy to present myself for an examination. We certainly covered a lot of ground. Your course was a step in the right direction and I am very pleased that I have done it."

Ben Chai: "There has been so much that I am now doing differently in my classes and I have really appreciated everyone's feedback. It was quite a traumatic experience but I think I personally needed to rethink many of our discussions in spite of the fact that I'm a qualified management and IT trainer in one of the other fields I work in. Dessy was an absolute star and did her best to accommodate us and I was particularly grateful to her for letting us teach her class."

Ivan Bikellay: "I would like to say that this training was a very good opportunity to learn not only about the dance but also the business side of thing. This experience gave me the opportunity to spot my weaknesses and encourage me to work on them."

Carole Gnema: "I must say that the course was even above my expectations !! I am truly impressed at how well-structured it was, and at how much content you managed to cover in such a little time. Yes, it was a lot to take in in one week-end (especially after a working week !), nevertheless you managed to have our full attention and concentration thanks to the wonderful way you designed it (creating a nice atmosphere so that we would feel at ease with the other members of the group, good balance of theory and practice, encouraging interactivity, etc).

As far as the practical tasks in the training are concerned, there is one task for which I felt I could have benefited from more guidance, that is the task we had to perform on the second day (explain basic dances to one member of the group). Probably due to my lack of knowledge in technique, I felt that there was quite a gap (in difficulty) compared to the practical tasks we did on the first day. I would have prefered to have to perform a task which would have been "between" the ones from the first day and the one from the second day. However, I realise that since we were a group, you probably wanted to cater for the ones who had more knowledge in technique, since on the first day you catered for people who had very little or close to no knowledge in technique. "

Razvan Tocoianu: " From 2002 since I have been dancing I have participated to many different class with dancers from all over the world and I can say that your class was a very professional class and I have learned many interesting things that I have never thought before. Likewise I have corrected many of my problems as a teacher ( remind the people name, teach people exact the way you dance, the importance of eye contact and many other beautiful things ) which I thought that I was doing correctly but jut now, after finished your class I realised that it was wrong.
      Nonetheless, as you sad, it would be better if this class could be done on five days not on three and I think that if somebody is so interesting in do this than he/she should do an effort to be able to focus on this course. 
     All in all it was a great experience for me, and I am sure that all the other guys felt the same.
     My next step will be to finish my preparation for the exam and to have a salsa teacher license .I will send to you my portfolio as soon as I’ll finish it. I am going to came to London at the beginning of October for the exam but firstly I will announce you of this."