The perfect holiday choreography

As early as age six, Galina Tinas wants to be a dancer. At the age of nine she sews costumes with a friend and develops her own pieces. Today, she is Head Choreographer for TUI Magic Life clubs. Her motto is: “Nothing is difficult, anything is feasible. The show must go on!“ the Bulgarian has been Head Choreographer for the 13 TUI Magic Life clubs in Turkey, Egypt and Greece as well as Ibiza and Fuerteventura for ten years. She is in charge of the dance design and dancers, music and costumes, acting as the creative mastermind, manager and leader.

She works with two assistants and eight seamstresses. The dance company for all clubs comprises almost 80 dancers from 21 nations. During the day, they also coach sports courses in the clubs. Each of the hotels offers four evenings of dance and songs every week from May to November. Eight different shows are performed, and each year, two new shows are created, replacing two older ones. “Very few clubs work the way we do,” says Galina Tinas. “Most of them book external shows for one or several evenings. We do it differently, our dancers are part of our club life. During the day, they coach sports and fitness sessions such as aerobics or spinning. In the evening, they get up on stage. Afterwards, you can meet them at the bar or at the after-show party. Our guests love interacting with them this way. Personal rapport is important.”

One of the shows, for instance, is called “La Vida Latina“, a 50-minute programme full of songs and dance performances. Salsa, Samba and Merengue in strawberry-flavoured dry ice fog. Each piece lasts two and a half minutes. A small, strenuous eternity. Hardly have the dancers disappeared behind the stage to change their outfits, when they are back on stage, no longer wearing their black-and-yellow feather boas on their heads, but now performing in tight blue faux leather bodices. They smile and dance. Their chests are pumping just as those of 100-metre sprinters. At the end of the show, there is a lot of applause, enthusiastic whistling and cheering. Galina Tinas sits right in the front, bent forward with interest to have a good view of the stage. “The performance was good tonight, apart from a few minor errors, but we will straighten them out during our training,” she says. “What matters most is that our guests enjoyed the show. They have they feel that the dancers love to dance and give their best.”

Every year in February, prior to the new Summer season, all dancers rehearse the new and old shows at a six- to eight-week training camp. “Doing new, engaging shows over and over again is a big responsibility,” emphasises Galina Tinas. “In order to achieve this, our dancers must be happy and have fun. Otherwise, they will not capture the audience.” Every new show season also entails enormous efforts – but they are worthwhile: “Our ratings are quite good,” says the Head Choreographer. “For some of our regular guests, we are the reason why they keep coming back.”