Con Caruso (Fort)
Latin Dance Instructor & Choreographer
Con was first introduced to Salsa many years ago in Christchurch, New Zealand at the now closed Salsa Fusion Dance studio. After this introduction to Latin dancing, Con caught the so called "Latin Dance bug" and had a growing interest in Latin dance and thirst for knowledge that was slowly taking over his life. To keep feeding this habit Con moved up to Auckland in 2009 to join the prestigious Latinissimo performance team under the guidance of head coach Masha Johansson (now at Latin Dance Hub Nelson, and a former World Salsa Champion).
It wasn't long before Latin Dancing had completely taken Con's life and he was helpless to fight back, so he embraced it all and shifted to Sydney to attend Latin Motion Dance Academy - at the time receiving one of the first training scholarships under the tuition of the then World Salsa Champions (ACEKI - 2012) Oliver Pineda and Vali Damaskou. Whilst living in Sydney on two separate occasions Con amassed a huge amount of knowledge in both Street Latin dance and Ballroom Latin-American dance technique and theory, along with dabbling in Adult Jazz.
Sadly, Con eventually had to return to NZ for health reasons and took a long break from professional competition, he now enjoys sharing his interest in dance with others, hoping to inspire them as he was once inspired.
Con is still an enthusiastic figure on the social dance floor and says his greatest achievement in dancing was when a large group of Latino's came up to him whilst dancing in Sydney and said he danced with the same soul and passion as they did in their native country.
Con has competition, performance, choreography and coaching experience mainly specializing in Salsa, and also has enjoyed competitive Ballroom dancing many years ago in the Latin-American genre. Today his favorite dance styles are the Cha Cha Cha and of course "L.A. Style" Salsa which he continues to popularize and push the limits with.
Anita Crawshaw
Assistant Latin Dance Instructor
Anita enjoyed participating in music and dance from a very early age, her first love of dance was Ballet when only 5 years old. Following on in her teenage years she took up a serious interest in piano, studying classical music to ATCL level (Associate Trinity College London).
Partner dancing was first introduced to Anita as an adult, where she attended her first class at the now closed Hot Tempo Dance in Christchurch, New Zealand. A number of years later she attended Salsa Latina in Christchurch and received a solid foundation in social Salsa dancing and also participated in their competition team. Along side partner dancing Anita enjoyed a year's tuition at EDP (Emily Dance Productions) in Christchurch dancing in a ladies team primarily in the street style of Cha.
Anita has supplemented her group class attendance with many private lessons in various styles of Salsa and Latin-American dancing.
Anita is know for being a great follower on the social dance floor and dancing brings an instant smile to her face. She is also known for being a warm and empathetic person. Outside of dancing she runs a world renowned clinic, The Hypermobility Clinic for connective tissue disorders. Her medical knowledge comes in very handy in the dance scene, as dancers often have underlying health conditions. Anita is also a registered physiotherapist and is routinely fixing Con when he pushes himself a little to far.
