MotionCity 2026 - Hightlights & developments

A combination of highlights and my development at one of the iconic summer Latin dancing conventions. Motion City is a joint event between Birmingham’s Latinmotion and London’s Mambocity.

For the second year, the event took place at the Eastside Rooms, a central Birmingham conference centre located near Aston University, Birmingham City University, Matthew Boulton College and Millennium Point, home to Thinktank Science Museum and the Big Screen cinema.

My Experiences

I attended a number of workshops, particularly in Salsa and Bachata, with teachers including Pierre Henry, Sol David, Stacey & Rhonda, and Gary & Emma.

I also attended the daytime matinee, featuring live performances from professional, legendary and diverse dance performers.

My Developments

This year marks the biggest variety of developments I have contributed to this event in a decade.

Event Floor Plan Map

As there was no floor plan map when the event moved to the Eastside Rooms last year, I offered to design and develop one for this year’s event. This followed a high level of feedback from previous events where attendees had expressed a need for a floor plan.

This was a collaboration with one of the key Motion City founders, Mauricio, and was shared with co-founders Jean, Robert and Zain, along with volunteer leaders Vicki and Paula.

The map received highly positive feedback, not only from the event organisers but also from visitors and participants. It was displayed in the official event programme, shared on social media and displayed in the event reception area.

The map was also incorporated into a special online app designed by one of the key Motion City founders, Robert. Specific areas of the map were highlighted, allowing users to search and access information about classes, workshops and other features of the event.

Facilities Guide

At the request of Vicki and Paula from the volunteer team, and Clarissa, one of the event’s long-standing and well-known team members, I researched and provided a list of locations that Motion City visitors and participants could use for essential services.

This included:

- Places to eat
- Grocery shops
- Cash points
- Other essential facilities

All were within a 20-minute walk of the venue.

Click here for details of this development

Transport Connection Guides

For the second year, I provided local transport connection guides for visitors and participants travelling to the venue using public transport from the city centre and other locations.

This included:

- A connection guide using trams and buses from Birmingham’s main central railway stations.
- A local bus connection guide from the city centre and other locations.
- Taxi information for those travelling from Birmingham’s central railway stations.

This year’s guide was updated to coincide with the tram expansion to Millennium Point, which is approximately a 20-minute walk from the venue.

Volunteer Information Guide

For the first time at Motion City, I developed a pocket-sized interactive information guide for event volunteers, customised for smartphone devices.

This was based on a guide I had previously developed in December for the New Year Latin dancing convention, NYE Fest, where it received positive feedback from the team.

The guide covered different interpersonal aspects of volunteering, including understanding, respect and consideration. I also included information on how to respond to unexpected situations when they occurred.

The document was made available to the team before the event began, enabling volunteers to be better prepared and helping to create a sustainable and supportive environment that benefits visitors and participants.

Embrace Dancing

For the first time at this event, I promoted my dance awareness initiative, “Embrace Dancing”, in several ways.

Flyers

Flyers were displayed throughout the event, featuring a QR code linking directly to the Embrace Dancing webpages.

Video Promotion

For the first time, a promotional video for Embrace Dancing was shown on the event’s big screens.

Branded Clothing

I designed and wore a specially created Embrace Dancing sweatshirt throughout the event to raise awareness and encourage attendees and participants to spread the word.

Selfie Banner

I also introduced an Embrace Dancing banner for use in selfie photographs.

Coming soon, further details about Embrace Dancing at Motion City.

Received Social Media Audience

Showing photos and images of the events highlights received strong engagement across social media.

Instagram

Motion City highlights reached 10,000 views, including a milestone of 6,000 likes within 10 days.

88% of views came from non-followers, with views increasing by approximately 2,090% compared with July.

Embrace Dancing content also generated strong engagement, with Reels reaching 550 views and 365 viewers.

Facebook — Primary Profile

Participation content reached 529 views, including 503 non-followers.

Embrace Dancing content received 255 views from an audience of 214.

Audience data was sourced from Meta.

Further details will be explained soon.

Outcome

These developments and experiences mark 10 years since I first attended Motion City.

Over the years, my involvement has transformed from being an attendee, to volunteering, and eventually to behind-the-scenes participation, contributing to developments and promoting greater inclusivity and awareness within the dancing community.

I appreciate the Motion City team for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to contribute to behind-the-scenes developments, as well as allowing me to share my dance awareness initiative, Embrace Dancing, at this year’s event for the first time.

Special thanks to Mauricio, Jean, Robert, Zain, Brighon, Paula and Vicky for their support.

Discover More

Find out more about my involvement in conventions by visiting the special Dancing Direction webpage.

Visit the Dancing Direction Index to explore my developments in dancing.

To find out more about my dance awareness initiative, visit the Embrace Dancing Index.

This article is linked with the categories Participation & Active

Notice to Editors

Keith Mckenzie
Keith is an awareness campaigner, a creative designer (Graphic design and digital art) and a salsa dancing participant
With a background in Art & Design (including Graphic Design & Digital art) and a participant in music-related film documentaries, events & record label project King Of the Beats including filming and behind the scene preparations.
Keith was educated at Hereford College of the Arts, the University of Northampton, Birmingham City University and Google's Digital Garage. Since 2000 , he has developed over twenty years in providing awareness projects, campaigns and activities with the Awareness brand Plus Value Awareness along with Differences Originals. Also am involved with salsa classes in the local community
as an assistant. I also have participated in major dancing conventions in Birmingham's, including Motion City (created by Birmingham Latinmotion and London's ManboCity) during the summer and Latinmotion's NYE Fest during the New Year public holiday.
In 2022. Keith became a featured community participant for Birmingham who became part of special projects and campaigns to promote a positive legacy beyond hosting the Commonwealth Games

Embrace Dancing
The online special feature appears both on my personal website and on my awareness website (Plus Value Awareness).

Presenting a family of dancing relative awareness projects information and activities. The feature was created in April 2023 and originally developed to support the two awareness events, autism dance and International Dance Day. After the response on social media and online the embrace dancing feature became a permanent feature and as a first point to explore projects & information.
Content on the Plus Value Awareness website
Including the following: Incisive to dance the inclusion information project, dancing inclusive pledges