SG – “Are there any things students should avoid doing in their development?”

BH – “The only thing I can think of that students should avoid doing in their development is acquiring bad habits by practicing bad or incorrect techniques. It’s important to take lessons in order to find out what the correct techniques are. It is also important to do your research when looking for instructors to make sure you have found professionals with adequate credentials and experience to teach you.”

SG – “Are there any obstacles you can remember experiencing in your salsa development and how did you overcome these obstacles?”

BH – “Sure I have faced many obstacles, I still face them today. I struggled with spinning for a long time when I started, and today I struggle most with continuing to evolve my style and evolve our choreographies. You know you are continuing to grow if you keep facing obstacles because you are pushing yourself to try things you never have before. The thing to do is just keep working at it. I get frustrated all the time when I don’t get something right away but I’ve learned that I have to put in the time and have the discipline to work at it.”

Definitely inspiring to hear that everyone struggles to grow and develop artistically. Stay tuned for part #3 of Burju’s interview. But in the meantime check out their website at www.hymstyle.com.

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Here is the first excerpt from the interview:

SG – “What is the most important piece of advice you can offer a person learning how to dance?”

ATM – “Have fun! Dancing is about having a good time. Many times people begin to take it too seriously and forget why they started in the first place. That doesn’t mean don’t work hard…The beauty of salsa is that it doesn’t matter how much you learn, there is always something MORE. It is a much more challenging dance than people think when they start out, so many times people let frustrations get the best of them and they give up.

Just work hard, practice hard, and focus, but when you step out on that dance floor, don’t forget that your Number One priority is to have fun and enjoy yourself.”

SG – “Are there any things students should avoid doing in their development?”

ATM – “Most students want to conquer the world in one day instead of finding a focus. I would recommend to focus on one timing…Be it on 1, on 2, on 3….But focus on one of them until you get comfortable with it. Then, begin to expand into other timings. Salsa is just a language with many dialects. There is some similarity between all the timings, but if you try to learn them all at once, you can easily confuse yourself. Try to find one focus, but once you are able to expand, definitely DO IT! You never want to limit your partners, so it is great to learn and understand all the other timings possible.

Also, try to avoid staying in a clique. That is the biggest mistake most people make…They take classes, meet people in the classes, go out as a group, and dance only with themselves. That creates 2 problems….1) You don’t get to learn the art of adaptation. Salsa is about learning to connect with people whom you’ve never danced with before. 2) The salsa scene grows into a nice little slump of a community. The more open people are with each other and the more interaction they have with others from the community, the more the salsa community can grow together and create a healthy environment for newcomers. Just sit back and watch it blossom. This invariably helps the dancers in the community grow too.

Of course, I’m not saying not to go out with friends. By all means, find a group of people to go out with, make it a group trip, and dance with each other at the clubs, but don’t just stick to dancing with each other. Branch out and dance with others you haven’t met before.”

More with Ana over the next few weeks. In the meantime, check out some videos of Ana on her website Masacote Entertainment.

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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!

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I started off by asking Super Mario what is the most important piece of advice he can offer a person learning how to dance? Here is his response…

SM – “The most important piece of advice that I could give anyone learning how to dance, well…..HAVE FUN. Learn stuff, but have fun while learning. I have been dancing for almost 10 years now, only salsa with no prior dance background. And for me, dancing with someone today is as much fun as it was the first day I took a salsa class. And knowing that when I am having fun my partner is also enjoying themselves and they walk away with smiles all around.”

The thing that I like and respect about Mario is that what he says is the truth – he really is having a blast every time he gets on the dance floor and he treats every person he dances with as if they are the best, most fun dancer he has danced with so you feel great walking off the dance floor.

I also asked Mario what are the most important actions that students can take to see improvement? Here is his response:

SM – “Hmmm…..I used to try and remember all my material when I was learning, and then one day someone showed me how I looked like when I was dancing. I didn’t like it at all. So I worked on fixing all the areas of my dancing that didn’t look good on tape. Try filming yourself dancing and you can be your biggest critic. So every now and then film yourself social dancing and then correct what you don’t like.

Dance with everyone, from beginners to advanced dancers. If you can lead something, you will be able to lead it on a beginner or advanced dancer. If your lead is weak, the beginner would not be able to follow it, so you might have to lead it differently. What you learn from this is how to lead everyone. The same move but with different tensions.

Listen to music and learn to dance all styles…..it only opens one’s mind.”

I will post more Super Mario tips over the next few weeks. In the meantime check out his website with online classes at: www.salsaclass.tv

Happy dancing!

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One of the conversations we had is how drama-free the TDS team is in comparison to many salsa groups. From past experience I know that just like work or school, salsa groups have lots of drama, competition, romances and friendships gone wrong. But with our TDS core team of instructors and helpers which has more than 60 people in the group, it is very rare to hear of any incidents. Everyone is really there to be social and enjoy the fun, stress-free environment. This is what I love most about what I do. Seeing students catch the salsa bug and grow and develop into helpers and really come out of their shell and become different people. They may move on to other groups in the future but I can be proud that their initial first years of salsa experience were positive, passionate and gave them a really good base of friendships, dance partners and dance experience.

Thanks for the great conversation and evening ladies – you all rock!

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