Thought I should share the experiences I had on a recent Brighton visit, since no-one here seems familiar with the scene.
I made it to three sessions in the end: Madame Geisha on Sunday, Oceana on Tuesday, Brighton Bandstand on Wednesday.
In all of this, keep in mind I was on holiday, so arriving and staying much later than most people would on an average working night.
Madame Geisha
This was a pretty bog standard 'latin' night, with most of the music being kizomba, reggaeton or similar. It had the most good followers of any of the nights by a long way, but very little actual salsa - a couple of songs shortly after I walked in, but no more for close to an hour after that. When they played the Macarena I decided it was time to leave...
I was very unimpressed by the DJ, who at one point called a rueda, in which due to the deafening volume of the music (which he'd obviously set), the calls were inaudible. He was doing hand signals, but calling the moves midway through each other so eg you'd be halfway through a setenta facing outwards and turn around to find out he'd called dame and the couple of people next to him were midway through switching partners while everyone else (including some obviously veteran dancers) stood there looking confused. A minute or two into this, rather than, say, turning the volume down or adjusting the rate of his calls, he made a dismissive gesture and walked off mid-rueda.
Somebody at one of the other nights implied there tends to be more salsa earlier in the evening. I would not go back there without being confident of that.
Oceana
This is a fairly standard night club, but they'd put aside one room for salsa lessons, which was sturdy enough that you couldn't hear the rest of the club. I arrived well after the lesson had finished, and, though they played more salsa than at Madame Geisha, the big downside was that there were no real followers. In fairness, I think this was because this was a new venue that people had recently switched to, and they're still building up a crowd. But when I arrived, there literally wasn't a single woman with more than a couple of lessons experience.
There were a handful of guys who were obviously very good dancers (guessing they'd been the ones teaching), so this might be worth checking out in future. There was still a fair bit of littlefishbigfishcardboardbox music though...
Brighton Bandstand
Jackpot. A gorgeous venue, though only running in summer for obvious reasons (it's outside, next to the beach). The downsides were music that wasn't quite loud enough (I know, there's no pleasing some people), so that on the far side of the bandstand dancing was quite difficult, the 10pm finish and the relative lack of experience of the followers (though they were miles better than Tuesday's). Also, because the equipment taken out there was very basic, the music would sometimes stop while they were searching for a track.
It was basically a social night, though the woman running it asked between tracks if we wanted to learn a rueda move - which everyone did - before calling a rueda including some basic stuff plus this move (el ladrón).
It was nominally a free night, although you're encouraged to give some donations towards the end - which I was more than happy to do. You're staring right over the sea, during daytime at first, then as night falls (the area is well lit). Because of the open venue and almost pure salsa (plus a couple of bachata tracks), it would be a great way to get friends into the scene - you can invite them along, encourage them to dance if they seem interested or just chat with them between dances and let them watch otherwise.
The teacher seemed less fluid than the Tuesday nighters, but she was very friendly and obviously experienced enough to teach anyone but the most serious dancers.
I made it to three sessions in the end: Madame Geisha on Sunday, Oceana on Tuesday, Brighton Bandstand on Wednesday.
In all of this, keep in mind I was on holiday, so arriving and staying much later than most people would on an average working night.
Madame Geisha
This was a pretty bog standard 'latin' night, with most of the music being kizomba, reggaeton or similar. It had the most good followers of any of the nights by a long way, but very little actual salsa - a couple of songs shortly after I walked in, but no more for close to an hour after that. When they played the Macarena I decided it was time to leave...
I was very unimpressed by the DJ, who at one point called a rueda, in which due to the deafening volume of the music (which he'd obviously set), the calls were inaudible. He was doing hand signals, but calling the moves midway through each other so eg you'd be halfway through a setenta facing outwards and turn around to find out he'd called dame and the couple of people next to him were midway through switching partners while everyone else (including some obviously veteran dancers) stood there looking confused. A minute or two into this, rather than, say, turning the volume down or adjusting the rate of his calls, he made a dismissive gesture and walked off mid-rueda.
Somebody at one of the other nights implied there tends to be more salsa earlier in the evening. I would not go back there without being confident of that.
Oceana
This is a fairly standard night club, but they'd put aside one room for salsa lessons, which was sturdy enough that you couldn't hear the rest of the club. I arrived well after the lesson had finished, and, though they played more salsa than at Madame Geisha, the big downside was that there were no real followers. In fairness, I think this was because this was a new venue that people had recently switched to, and they're still building up a crowd. But when I arrived, there literally wasn't a single woman with more than a couple of lessons experience.
There were a handful of guys who were obviously very good dancers (guessing they'd been the ones teaching), so this might be worth checking out in future. There was still a fair bit of littlefishbigfishcardboardbox music though...
Brighton Bandstand
Jackpot. A gorgeous venue, though only running in summer for obvious reasons (it's outside, next to the beach). The downsides were music that wasn't quite loud enough (I know, there's no pleasing some people), so that on the far side of the bandstand dancing was quite difficult, the 10pm finish and the relative lack of experience of the followers (though they were miles better than Tuesday's). Also, because the equipment taken out there was very basic, the music would sometimes stop while they were searching for a track.
It was basically a social night, though the woman running it asked between tracks if we wanted to learn a rueda move - which everyone did - before calling a rueda including some basic stuff plus this move (el ladrón).
It was nominally a free night, although you're encouraged to give some donations towards the end - which I was more than happy to do. You're staring right over the sea, during daytime at first, then as night falls (the area is well lit). Because of the open venue and almost pure salsa (plus a couple of bachata tracks), it would be a great way to get friends into the scene - you can invite them along, encourage them to dance if they seem interested or just chat with them between dances and let them watch otherwise.
The teacher seemed less fluid than the Tuesday nighters, but she was very friendly and obviously experienced enough to teach anyone but the most serious dancers.