My name is Claudia de Vries (a real Dutch name because of my Dutch ancestors) and I was born in Surinam, South America.
Nineteen years ago I came to Holland to study. After my study I had plans to go back to my country to start a hairdressing school. After a few years I changed my plans and I stayed in Holland. When I started following Samba dancing-lessons as a hobby, I got hooked on the Brazilian dances and I decided to make this my profession.
I have been dancing and teaching the Brazilian dances for almost 12 years now. At my dance school you can learn how to dance the Brazilian dances like:
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Samba de Gafieira
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Samba de Pagode
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Samba de Pe (Samba solo)
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Zouk & LambaZouk
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Axe
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Forro
and also Latin dances like Salsa, Merengue, Bachata and Bolero.
Nowadays I am an independent dance teacher in Latin American and Brazilian dances, teaching and giving workshops and private lessons. It is great doing work that is so exciting, fun and satisfying! It is also great that a lot of Salsa dance schools/Salsa dancers are getting really interested in the Brazilian dances, especially the Zouk. We are/have been teaching Zouk at different Salsa dance schools like:
- Salsa dance school "Happy Time" in Alkmaar
- "Solsalsa" in Eindhoven
- "Salsiando" in Leiden
- "Salseros" in Den Haag.
Furthermore we give special Zouk training courses to Salsa teachers, so they can give Zouk classes at their own dance schools.
We have been working with:
- "Salsipuedes" in Tilburg
- "Rico Latino" in Enschede
- "Salsa Roy" in Groningen
- "De Grott" in Breda.
My CV:
Television programs
I have performed in popular Television programs like:
- Vijf in ?t land, during the interview with the King of Salsa, Oscar de Leon (1998)
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Vergeet je tandenborstel niet, with Rolf Wouters (1999)
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The soundmixshow, with Henny Huisman (2000)
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Sonntagskonzert (ZDF) this is a German television channel) (2000)
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ATV, interview about the Zouk (2005)
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Nederland 2, dance act in the popular Dutch Soap serie 'Onderweg naar morgen' (May 2006)
Events
I also performed many times and gave workshops during big and smaller events like:
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Tropical Festival in Scheveningen
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Darling Market in Rijkwijk
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Antwerpen, during the break of the show of the very popular Salsa singer: La India (1997)
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Danca de Encontro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1997)
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Ford shows, all over Holland (1998)
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International Salsa Congress in Rotterdam (1999)
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World Salsa Congress in Puerto Rico (1999)
- World Salsa Congress in Valencia (1999)
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Performance with international Zouk singers Phill Control and Suzanna Lubrano (2000)
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Wolrd Salsa Congress in New York, U.S.A. (2001)
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World Salsa Congress in Montreal, Canada (2001)
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Hollanda Latina Festival in Amsterdam (2001)
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Hollanda Latina Festival in Amsterdam (2002)
- UK's first Salsa & Lambada Congress, U.K. (2003)
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Zouk/Lambada Congress in Barcelona, Spain (2004)
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Organiser of the 1st Zouk/Lambada Dance Competition in Amsterdam, Holland (November 2004)
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Zouk/Lambada Congress in Porto Seguro, Brazil (2004/2005)
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Zouk workshops in London, U.K. (May 2005)
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Zouk workshop/demo for Dance Masters Congress in Kalkar, Germany (August 2005)
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Organiser of the 1st Brazilian Dance Congress & 2nd Zouk/Lambada Dance Competition in Amsterdam, Holland (November 2005)
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Zouk/LambaZouk workshops & shows for SALSURI in Paramaribo, Surinam (November 2005)
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Performance with the very popular Brazilian Samba band 'Revelacao' in Paradiso, Amsterdam (March 2006)
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Performance with one of the most famous Zouk/LambaZouk bands 'IRMAOS VERDADES', Luxemburg (May 2006) *Hear one of their songs on the video on the home page of this website!
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Performance with one of the most popular and famous Zouk/LambaZouk singers GIL SEMEDO, during the Dunya Festival in Rotterdam (May 2006)
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London Lambada Congress, U.K. (August 2006)
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Organiser of the 2nd Brazilian Dance Congress & 3rd Zouk/Lambada Dance Competition in Amsterdam, Holland (November 2006)
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Brazilian dance workshops & shows for SALSURI in Paramaribo, Surinam (November 2006)
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Brazilian dance congress in Barcelona (April 2007)
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Brazilian part at Latin Village Festival 2007 in Spaarnwoude (July 2007)
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Organiser of the 3rd Brazilian Dance Congress & 4th Zouk/Lambada Dance Competition in Amsterdam, Holland (October 2007)
Video
I participated and danced in:
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Video clips of national (Gerard Joling) (2000) and international (Rumbata) artists (1997)
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The instruction video of Claudio Gomes called 'Learn how to Salsa'
Details
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Licentiate at the United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing (November 2005).
Although I started my dance career with Salsa, at the moment I am only teaching Brazilian dances. My other profession as a fitness instructor also contributes a lot to this kind of dancing.
To keep on improving yourself you have to keep on learning every day. To achieve this you have to keep an open mind.
