Salsa Latina at the South Island Latin Dance Championships 2026
What an incredible weekend for Salsa Latina at the.. South Island Latin Dance Championships 2026! 🔥💃🕺
We’re incredibly proud of everyone who represented Salsa Latina in this National Competition, from our teams taking the floor together to our dancers competing in many categories. The results were fantastic, but competitions like this are about much more than medals & placings. They give our dancers & teachers something to work towards, push everyone outside their comfort zones and provide another opportunity to grow as dancers, performers, teachers & competitors.
🏆 Our Team Results
A massive congratulations to our three Salsa Latina teams:
Latin Couples Teams
🥇 1st Place – SLA Bachata Team
Salsa Couples Teams
🥇 1st Place – SLA Mambo Team
Salsa Shines Teams
🥈 2nd Place – SLA Aspire Mambo Ladies Team
A huge amount of work goes into getting a team onto the competition floor. From choreography and months of training through to cleaning routines, formations, costumes and all those final details, there is a lot happening behind the scenes.
A special thank you to our team leaders Bridget (with Naomi’s exceptional support), Alastair, Tayla & Arlo, who put a huge amount of time and energy into training and supporting our teams. And thank you to our wider teaching team, including Sam & Mike for their support, training and contribution along the way.
Reuben & Miléna are extremely proud of everything the teams, dancers and teachers achieved. From Cyprus, they put a huge amount of time into creating all the choreographies for the teams and many soloists, while continuing to guide, support and develop everyone throughout the preparation. Seeing our teachers step up, take ownership of the training and continue to grow as coaches, dancers and competitors themselves is a big part of the future direction of Salsa Latina.
🏆 Individual & Couples Results
And the success certainly didn’t stop with the teams!
Soloists
Amateur Female Salsa Solo
🥇 1st – Isabella Posa
Amateur Female Latin Solo
🥇 1st – Isabella Posa
Open Female Latin Solo
🥉 3rd – Tayla Malyon
Open Male Solos
🥈 2nd – Arlo Pizzey
Freestyle
Amateur Bachata Freestyle
🥇 1st – Milan Mendez & Isabella Posa
Open Salsa Freestyle
🥈 2nd – Scott Suen* & Naomi Fahy
Amateur Salsa Freestyle
🥇 1st – Nader Bermudez & Kate Oorschot🥉 3rd – Milan Mendez & Isabella Posa
Pro-Am Salsa Freestyle
🥇 1st – Ella Wilson & Alistair Payne🥈 2nd – Isabella Posa & Arlo Pizzey🥉 3rd – Faafeu Kapeneta & Tayla Malyon
Kizomba Freestyle
🥈 2nd – Milan Mendez & Isabella Posa🥉 3rd – Mike Lord & Tayla Malyon
Jack n Jill
Open Salsa Jack & Jill – Leaders
🥈 2nd – Alistair Payne
Open Salsa Jack & Jill – Followers
🥈 2nd – Tayla Malyon🥉 3rd – Bridget Trevena
Amateur Salsa Jack & Jill – Leaders
🥇 1st – Milan Mendez🥈 2nd – Faafeu Kapeneta
Amateur Salsa Jack & Jill – Followers
🥇 1st – Isabella Posa🥉 3rd Equal – Nana Heng🥉 3rd Equal – Tanesha Simeon
Amateur Bachata Jack & Jill – Leaders
🥉 3rd – Milan Mendez
Amateur Bachata Jack & Jill – Followers
🥈 2nd – Isabella Posa🥉 3rd Equal – Nana Heng
❤️ Proud of the Whole Salsa Latina Crew
Congratulations to every single person who stepped onto the floor and represented Salsa Latina in New Zealand. Whether you came home with a medal or not, entering a competition takes courage and commitment. Every time you train towards something like this, perform under pressure and put yourself in front of judges and an audience, you learn something that you simply can't get from regular classes alone.
Thank you as well to everyone who came along to cheer, support and encourage our competitors. Having the Salsa Latina crew behind you makes a massive difference!
For now, it’s time for everyone to enjoy the results, give those bodies a chance to recover and be proud of what we achieved together.
Then we'll start turning our attention towards the next challenge…
Brisbane Salsa Solo Competition! 🇦🇺🔥
Congratulations everyone — an awesome result for Salsa Latina! ❤️🏆
Reuben & MilénaSalsa Latina Dance Academy
*independant
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