Claudia Machuca

Wife of Marc. She was born in Colombia and at the age of 3 she moved to Venezuela (Isla de Margarita) with her Colombian parents.

As a child, Claudia's father taught her salsa and other kinds of typical dances from South-America (vallenato, gaita, porro, cumbia, mapale, etc). Her father was her inspiration and she fell in love with dance.

And because Claudia lived in Margarita's Island she had a lot of contacts with latinos from different countries of the Caribbean and so she learned a lot of typical steps. Her grandfather, who gave dance-lessons to students in Colombia, told her that there are approximately 40 basic steps. In Latin America the people use the dance as a way to meet people. Persons who dance very well have a lot of success. At the age of 27 she fell in love with Marc; she gave up her job (teacher) in the University and she came to Belgium. Because she loves dancing, she decided to start giving salsa lessons in Leuven , in the way that Latin people learn it, without counting and focusing on the rhythm. Claudia teaches a mix of salsa basic steps from countries as Venezuela, Colombia (Cali) and Cuba, with emphasis on basic characteristics of styles such as position of the hands, stepping, taps and arm and bottom tension.

Dancing is a way of relaxation and very good against stress. After following lessons with Claudia you will able to dance on every dance floor or on the beach and not only on the parquet.

Marc Verhemeldonck

Husband of Claudia. Since 2000, the year when he first travelled to Venezuela and met Claudia, Marc has been fascinated by the salsa world. He started as Claudia´pupil in Leuven in 2001 and has since practised his techniques with the help of Latino friends from Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela. In 2003 he started teaching together with Claudia. He has travelled to South America numerous times and apart from salsa, he masters several other Latino dances, such as rueda de casino, merengue, bachata,  ect. and different styles of salsa, but he is particularly keen on Latin salsa, especially from countries such as Colombia (Cali), Cuba, Venezuela ect.