About Coco
Jorge (Coco) Sequeiros was born in Peru, South America and has been living in New Zealand since November 1991 and dancing Salsa for as long as he can remember.
Salsa being a passion for him wasn’t enough so it also became his way of life, a way of life which he is trying to share with New Zealanders so that they also will know the passion of the dancing, music, food and culture of his homeland.
Coco considers his Salsa style to be a Kiwi style originally derived from a combination of the Salsa of Peru and the Salsa danced in New Zealand.
- In 1997 Coco first started teaching Salsa at a Newmarket dance studio and was then employed by the Onehunga High School as one of the teachers on their Adult Learning Program and after that started up his own successful Dance Studio “Salsa con Coco” at the Onehunga Community Centre where he taught Salsa and other Latin Dances for a number of years before moving his regular Monday night classes to Kingsland.
- In 2005 Coco started his very popular Salsa classes at the Kingslander and taught Salsa for the Auckland AK Active in Parks Program which ran for a number of years as well beginning teaching Salsa with the Manukau City Council Parks Program which is still ongoing.
- In October 2006 Coco and his group Crema Latina (Belinda Moore, Coco Sequeiros, Jasmine Webster & Nicolas Nomed) won First Place in the Group Performance Section and Coco’s student Dirk Bullivant with his dance partner Melanie Jane Russ won First Place in the Beginners Salsa section at New Zealand’s 14th Annual Salsa Latin Dance Competition.
- In December 2006 Coco represented New Zealand with the Latin Dance Troupe Salsamba in the teams event at the 2nd World Salsa Championships held in Las Vegas, including performing in the semi-finals round.
- In January 2007 Coco represented New Zealand, also with the Latin Dance Troupe Salsamba, at the 2007 Sydney Salsa Congress.
- In April 2007, following the world championships Coco hosted the Peruvian National Champions: Carlos & Karin who competed in the Couples Section of the World Salsa Championships and worked closely with them from April through to June, gaining new performance skills to enhance his already extensive repertoire of dance moves.
In October 2007 Coco Sequeiros and Elena Pylkova won First Place in the Couples Performance Section and Coco and his group Salsa con Coco Student Performance Team (Coco Sequeiros, & Jamie Green, Arvin Lawler & Tia Maria Netto, Kazutaka Tsunoda & Julia Gundy, Mayer Samuel Katene & Audrey Smith-de los Reyes) won First Place in the Group Performance Section at New Zealand’s 15th Annual Salsa Latin Dance Competition.- In Late October 2007 Coco went to Buenos Aires, Argentina to attend a 10 Day Tango Workshop thereby adding Tango to his extensive range of Latin Dance Skills.
- In November 2007 Coco traveled on to Peru to train with Carlos & Karin, the Peruvian Dance Champions who had previously visited New Zealand early in 2007, at their Saoco Dance Company in Lima, Peru and later was invited to accompany them to Orlando, Florida to represent Peru as part of their dance company at the 3rd World Salsa Championships held in Orlando U.S.A. December 2007.
- In April 2008 Coco & Audrey and “Salsa con Coco Performance Team” were selected at the “New Zealand Pacific Salsa Congress and Selections” in Wellington, to represent New Zealand in the 4th World Salsa Championships held in Miami U.S.A.
- In August 2009 “Salsa con Coco Performance Team” were invited to perform in the first South Pacific Salsa Cruise organized by World Salsa Tours.
- In October 2009 “Salsa con Coco Performance Team” won 1st runner up at the New Zealand National Salsa Championships.
- In December 2009 “Salsa con Coco Performance Team” traveled to America to represent New Zealand in the 4th World Salsa Championships.
- In January 2010 Coco went to Peru, South America for further Salsa training with Saoco Dance School.
- In March 2010 Coco returned to Peru this time to enhance his Zumba skills………………..
Coco also performs and conducts dance lessons for free for charities such as the Migrant Support Services and Amnesty International on an ongoing basis.
As well as teaching dancing, since 1991 Coco has been playing percussion and singing in one of New Zealand’s most successful Latin Bands – Banda Latina.
