SLIP your dancing shoes on, grab your partner by the hand and prepare to engage in some deep dips . . . it's mambo time in Bermuda.

This weekend the Bermudasalsa.com group presents its seventh Mambo Nights, entitled 'Bodies in Motion', at the Fairmont Southampton's Mid-Ocean Amphitheatre. Showtime today and tomorrow is 8.30 p.m. with the doors opening half an hour earlier.

Sharon Leman, the group's marketing communications consultant, said: "This is our seventh year of business and it's also our seventh Mambo Nights, but we haven't done Mambo Nights every year.

"We didn't start Mambo Nights until a couple of years into the business and now we try to do three a year. We do one in March, our biggest one in August and one again in October.

"This weekend there are going to be 70 people from various dance schools in Bermuda and 43 international visitors performing at Mambo Nights. Dancing with the Stars tour dancers will have Anya and Christian Baerens performing tango. They travel with the Dancing with the Stars troupe, who travels around North America, but they were not on the television show. They are class act professionals."

There are also workshops available for people wishing to learn a new step or two over the weekend.

Mrs. Leman said: "On Friday and Saturday there is the Mambo Nights event and over the weekend there will be international and local instructors teaching workshops and on Sunday there is the big beach party at Horseshoe Beach from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. that has some dancing lessons and social dancing.

"If people are looking to get instruction they can attend one of the workshops that will take place at the new Berkeley Institute over the weekend and there is a lot of information on the bermudasalsa.com web site. If people don't want to get involved this weekend they can buy an entry-level DVD that Travis (Gilbert) and Angela (Hayward) put together and is available at The Music Box and Brown & Company, The Sabor Dance School and the web site. People can also register online to come and take a class and check it out."

Mrs. Leman says salsa is a passion shared by all the members ofgroup.

"Bermudasalsa.com group is comprised of three divisions, Bermudasalsa.com, our retail and merchandising store front, Salsamania Productions which is the production side that is putting on Mambo Nights this weekend, and then the Sabor Dance School for people who get bitten by this wonderful Latin dance and who want to learn how to do it.

"One of the things that are important to us is the business model that we use. Our business model is you make sure you have the right people with the right skills in the right positions within the organisation and then you don't have to manage people, you have to manage systems. It makes it so much easier because if you have an issue that comes up you are managing the system.

"We all have a great deal of respect and admiration for one another and we are all friends ¿ we call ourselves 'Mi Familia' and we work together really well and know each others strength. The management team itself is made up of Travis Gilbert, the general manager, his girlfriend Angela Hayward is the director of the Sabor Dance School, Teresa Whitter is the assistant director of the dance school and she's also the IT manager, Marshall Weller runs the Salasamania Productions side of the group and then we have Nelton and Angela Brangman who are our senior consultants."

Mrs. Leman says you're never to old to learn to dance.

"Our age demographic is people from the age of 25-65. It's a really wonderful social group of people. People from all different walks of life come together through this lovely thing called salsa and there are no boundaries and the friendships you make are just wonderful.

"It's a really great social structure. We have couples that come to the class and couples don't necessarily dance with each other ¿ in fact, we encourage people to dance with multiple partners and that's how you are taught. You are in a group of people and you are constantly rotating because it's about each person's interpretation of the dance so you get that unique flavour from each person.

"The Sabor Dance School has a summer programme for the youth. Anybody can come into the school and anybody can learn to dance salsa and there are people at all different levels. We have classes that cater to different levels from starter to advance. Then you have choreography which is the people who are really good and really committed and they become the senior members of the Sabor Dance School and go on to do the performances."

There are also health benefits from learning to salsa.

Mrs. Leman said: "I also encourage people to come out because it is great exercise; it's good for the soul, it's a great way to express yourself and de-stress. And it is also a great confidence booster. There is a physical and mental health aspect to dancing that really breaks barriers."

The Bermudasalsa.com group is breaking barriers of its own as it has put Bermuda on the map with quality performers and events.

Mrs. Leman said: "We are internationally acclaimed in Montreal, Toronto, New York and we have a reputation that is growing. The international people that have been on the scene for some time have commented on how incredible they think it is that Bermuda has raised salsa in Bermuda to the high level of quality that it is currently at."

Sonia Kyriacou, artistic director of San Tropez Dance Company in Montreal, Canada, said: "I have been working with Travis Gilbert and his team for several years now. Having travelled to many places in the world performing and teaching dance, I must say that theBermudaSalsa.com team is definitely one of the most professional, organised, and caring organisations that I have ever worked with.

"The attention to detail and approach not only inspire me to model after them, but also has made me fall in love with Bermuda and its people!"

Angus Dirnbeck, co-founder of iFreeStyle.ca, said: "Our first exposure to the group was at the Canada Salsa Congress, Canada's largest Latin dance event of the year.

"From the outset, it was clear that the BermudaSalsa.com group was very active in promoting Latin dance and they quickly made an impression on those in attendance from around the world. After seeing the BermudaSalsa.com people at various similar (Latin) events around the world, we were lucky enough to enjoy the opportunity of working with them directly."

Mrs. Leman added: "We always travel outside of Bermuda and travel to our partners' congresses. In October we go to the Canada Salsa Congress, in April we go to the Montreal Congress and in August we go to the New York Congress. So we are totally serious about taking this anywhere in the world because it's a global thing.

"It's really important to us that we work from the utmost standpoint of integrity that we can and we're all about building relationships from the business to the dance floor."

Tickets may be bought from the bermudasalsa.com web site, Secrets in the Washington Mall, Portofino Restaurant, the Sabor Dance School and Brown & Co.