As I stated earlier I have contacted some of the great international salsa instructors to get some great advice and tips for our students. The next amazing performer and instructor to be featured on my blog is Ana Tinajero Massicot from Masacote Entertainment. If you have not seen her dance with her partner and husband Joel you are definitely missing out on a wonderful dancer!
Here is a very short bio on Ana as found on her website:
“Ana trained in folklórico, the traditional dance form of her Mexican culture, starting at the young age of 5. At the age of 15, she set foot for the first time in a salsa/merengue nightclub where she was exposed to what is known as “cumbia-style” salsa. She instantly fell in love with the dance, and it quickly became her passion.
Dance and education have always been intertwined in Ana’s life. After attending the 2nd Annual West Coast Salsa Congress, Ana found a new appreciation for the dance as an artform and was inspired to take it beyond a hobby, but not before she finished school.
During the fall of 2000, she moved from Dallas, TX to Boston, MA, where she majored in business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. That fall she joined the MIT Casino Rueda performance group and remained with the group for the next 2 years. She also took a brief period of classes with the MIT Movements in Time Dance Company, a modern ballet and jazz group and has taken a periodic private with various mambo instructors to work on her salsa technique.
In November, Ana met Anara Frank, the director of a non-profit kid and adult dance organization called JAM’NASTICS, Inc. She joined the staff as a salsa instructor in January of 2001, teaching both children and adult classes.
Ana left JAM’NASTICS In 2003 when she moved for 6 months to Okinawa, Japan. There she co-founded Masacote Entertainment, a music, dance, and multimedia company, with her husband, Joel.
She has since graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Management Science and has devoted herself full time to the entertainment company and dancing as a profession.
Ana dances and teaches both Salsa On 1 and Mambo On 2. She is excited to continue to challenge herself both mentally and physically in music and dance through working with the team at Masacote Entertainment.”
Over the next few weeks we will feature excerpts of our interview with Ana and provide advice and guidance for students learning to dance!
