“Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.” – Les Brown
Even if you have zero rhythms, zero coordination, if you have two left feet, at TDS, at our school. Yes, you can.
I remember when I was a student, I saw a man with one prosthetic leg, kill it on the dance floor. Better than any dancer. Just incredible.
So with one foot and one prosthetic foot, you can still dance salsa.
I believe that Salsa is an equalizer. That all it is is about hard work, it has nothing to do with talent. In fact, that’s the kind of rule I’ve applied everywhere in my life.
If you want something you can have it through hard work.
I started at this school in 2009 and I was the worst dancer. I remember when I finished Salsa level one, I ran home to my mom. I said to her, I said, mom, I didn’t pass level one.
She’s like, what do you mean? I said, well, there’s no test for it, but I feel like I didn’t get it. She’s like, okay, well, how do I help? How can I help?
And I said to her said don’t have any money, I’ll get my paycheck in a month, but I want to repeat level one again now. Can you give me some money?
She wrote me a cheque on the spot and I ran back to the school and I signed up for a repeated level one. In fact, at all levels, me, the guy who runs Canada’s largest Salsa dance school, repeated all the levels multiple times.
In fact, when I wanted to be a volunteer at the school, a ‘Helper’, the previous owner said, no, because I was such a bad dancer. The same thing happened when I wanted to be an assistant and instructor. I was that bad! Now I run the school. I run the school and the reason I stuck it out with the school even though I had the rejections, even though I was the worst dancer was that the system, the way that we teach at our school is foolproof that anyone can dance.
You can dance.
I never thought I could, because I was the guy always at a wedding sitting down, avoiding the dance floor, never wanting to be dragged into it. The same thing happened in clubs and Halloween parties, I just felt like my body didn’t move in the ways that other people’s bodies moved and it didn’t get the rhythm.
You practice, you can do it, you can get it. Anyone can dance. Yes, you can dance too.
I’m the living proof. So what’s stopping you? What’s stopping you from signing up.
For me? It was I was worried. What people would think that they would judge me as a student.
I was very sensitive to judgment and yet, I found yeah, sure. Maybe I was judged when I wanted to be a volunteer, but when I was a student, When I was dancing with helpers, when the instructor was walking around, they did nothing but make me feel good and inspire me that I can do it too.
They made me feel like I belong, they cheered me on.
That’s the beauty of it. That’s the beauty of our school, that’s the beauty of this structure. That you don’t have to grow up dancing to be able to dance. Dance well, feel confident about yourself, about your body, feel sexy, feel smooth, just everything.
So ya…You can dance.
