It seems you can't go two minutes these days without seeing an advert for salsa dancing in a shop window or on a pub board - but nothing comes close to shaking those hips to a live band.

Bacalao are a 12-piece Latin band from Brighton who provide you with real live music to practice your flamboyant moves to.

"We are a 12-piece Latin band who play in the 1950s mambo Cuban New York style," says band leader and founder Dominic David.

"We play a mixture of cha cha cha and salsa and we do a bomba and a plena from Puerto Rico too.

"I think salsa is so popular because the dancers are so enjoyable and it's a relaxed atmosphere in salsa clubs, man or woman you can go on your own and make friends."

David founded the band six years ago after returning to London following a stint living in the Canary Islands.

"It came about through my obsession with salsa really," he recalls "I lived in the Canary Islands and there's a very strong South American influence there, they play it a lot more than Spanish music.

"I got into salsa dancing too and that's what really got me hooked.

"When I came back to London I started to take lessons in salsa dancing and ended up joining a professional dancing company.

"Then I decided to learn how to play the congas, they are large bongos.

"When I moved down to Brighton I joined a salsa band but slowly everybody left it so I decided to change the name and started meeting people across England who were interesting in joining.

"Now we have two Colombian front of band singers, a four-piece brass section including trumpet, trombone, tenor sax and baritone sax, a three-piece percussion section with congas, bongos and timbales, a flute player, bass player and a keyboard player."

So what about the name then?

"It means salty cod and is something that you can shout out when playing... like arriba," he says.

"But we are not big fans of fish really."

Bacalao, Croydon Clocktower, June 26, 8pm, £10. Call 020 8253 1030 or visit croydonclocktower.org.uk.