Paul Harris
(Salsa Choreographer)
Welcome to the internet information page relating to Salsa for Paul Harris, one of the UK’s leading Choreographers, Dance Teachers and Movement Directors.
Paul Harris is a leading Choreographer and Dance Teacher who has made a significant contribution to the development of Salsa in the UK. He is the Author of Salsa and Merengue – the Essential Step by Step Guide, which was published in 1998 as the first commercially published notation of Salsa. The book is considered a definitive work and is endorsed by both the main Teaching Associations in the UK and by leading names in the Salsa community.
He is also the Author of the Salsa, Merengue and Mambo technique books of the UKA (United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing), the BATD (British Association of Teachers of Dancing, the NATD (National Association of Teachers of Dancing) and for 20 years, his notation was used as the standard technique book for study of the IDTA (International Dance Teachers Association).
In 1999, Paul Harris created the Club Dance faculty of the UKA, which was the first of it’s kind anywhere in the World, which for the first time, facilitated Teachers of Salsa in the UK, gaining an independent professional Teaching qualification. The new faculty was launched at the Paragon hotel in London at the aptly named ‘The Main Event’. Every major name in Salsa in the UK was in attendance, including Nelson Batista, Elder Sanchez and Xiomara Granados, renowned Salsa Teachers brought into the UKA by Paul Harris along with Ansell Chezan, a long-standing Dance Teacher and owner of Salsa Pa’Ti, to join Paul in become founder members of the new Club Dance faculty of the UKA.
The new UKA faculty fully embraced Salsa and organised the British Salsa Championships at the Embassy Rooms in London, with the winners (Joseph Koniak and Iris de Brito), going to represent Great Britain in the IDO World Salsa Championships in Miami. The British Championship continued being presented in London for some years, before settling in Blackpool as part of the UKA’s annual conference weekend.
Paul has lectured in Salsa many times over the last 25 years at the Annual Congresses UKA, the IDTA, the NATD, the BATD and In 2022 and 2024, he lectured for the IDTA on Bachata and Salsa on 2. He has appeared on television in the both the UK and in several countries in Asia to talk about the development of Salsa.
He has examined many Professional Salsa Teachers around the World and coached and choreographed countless Salsa couples – most notably Chris Marques and Jaclyn Spencer, who were 3 times World Salsa Champions and are now Director and Choreographer respectively, on Dancing With The Stars – France.