Brighton PCSO on the beat with bandstand dancers (From The Argus)

Brighton PCSO on the beat with bandstand dancers

7:00am Friday 7th August 2009 in News By Ruth Lumley

PCSO Alena Martauzova joined salsa dancers at Brighton bandstand

Brass bands and pensioners in deckchairs are the stereotypical images associated with a bandstand.

But toe tapping of a different kind drew in the crowds to Brighton's newly refurbished Victorian bandstand.

Salsa teacher Patricia de Souza asked Brighton and Hove City Council for permission to use the bandstand for a salsa night, which not only proved popular with her students and passers-by but also twinkle-toed police community support officer Alena Martauzova.

Ms de Souza, 45, said: “I had been wanting to do some sort of dancing out in the open air on Brighton beach because I thought it would be a good location and several of my students and salsa dancer friends said they wished someone would organise it.

“I thought the bandstand would be a fantastic venue. I got in contact with the council to make sure it was ok to use it and they said it was.”

Ms de Souza, of Hertford Road, Brighton, teaches salsa every week at the Park View pub in Preston Drove, Brighton and is hoping to carry on with the bandstand salsa every Wednesday during the summer if the weather is good.

On Wednesday, about 50 people turned up between 7pm and 11pm to dance to the music and watch the sun set over the sea.

Ms de Souza said: “A lot of people walking past came and joined in. Most of the people who turned up are all dancers but if there are enough people then I am happy to do a crash course in salsa in the future. There won't be any formal lessons unless there's a call for it.”

She said the bandstand, which reopened last month for the first time in 35 years, is a great space to dance on with a tiled floor which makes it easier for people to move around.

She said: “The weather was absolutely glorious so people just wanted to stay.

“It's absolutely fantastic to dance on. There was a little bit of a breeze and the views were beautiful. A lot of people were taking photographs.

“At about 9pm the bandstand lit up which meant we could carry on. The atmosphere was fantastic.”

If you would like more information about the salsa evening email salsababe_p@hotmail.com.

Brighton and Hove's birdcage bandstand closed in the 1970s and had become increasingly neglected as time passed.

Many people believed it would go the way of the West Pier but after a £950,000 refurbishment the Victorian Grade II listed structure was finally restored to its former glory. The colours used on the birdcage are the same as the original.

A campaign group called the Friends of Brighton Bandstand will try to secure funding to keep the bandstand in good repair.