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Where and when did you first start dancing Salsa?
Salsa has been with me since birth actually. All Latinos love to Salsa and Salsa music but I actually got started dancing internationally in the States in 1984-85.
How did you move from student to teacher?
I was never really a student. I actually joined a group of Latinos in Los Angeles called Salsa Brava.
At the time Salsa was not really popular but when I moved to Australia and then to the Middle East, there was a movie called Dance with Me with Vanessa Williams. Since then Salsa has became very popular and spread like wild-fire all over the world. That’s when I decided it was time to bring it to the Middle East so I created a company called ‘Salsa Motion’.
What is the most important thing to remember when learning to Salsa?
Have fun. You must have fun. The way to teach – and I teach this to my instructors too – is to make sure the student has fun when they are learning.
You cannot force it.
How much time would someone starting to learn Salsa have to put in before they were able to dance confidently?
From my experience in teaching people I would say about two months.
One hour per class, twice a week for about eight weeks – so approximately 16 hours.
Of course, you will not be a great dancer but you will be able to dance quite confidently and enjoy yourself.
What other dances do you know and teach?
Besides Salsa, there’s Meringue, Cha-Cha, Cumbia and I used to Tango but I have to admit I’m a little bit rusty with the Tango now (laugh)
How do they differ from Salsa?
Each one has different beats. Salsa is more of an instrumental three-beat sound. Meringue is two-beat and a little bit faster.
Cha-Cha has a slower, sexier rhythm to it and, of course, the Tango has more character to it – the macho tango Argentina (laughs). There definitely a lot of expression in the Tango.
Tell us what we can expect from this upcoming dance festival you are holding on September 7.
It’s going to be a lot of fun. We have 12 performers from Brazil called ‘Taste of Brazil’ who are going to introduce a little Brazilian percussion.
Of course, there will also be the three styles of Samba – street Samba, Show Samba and so on. There will also be Capoeira which is the martial arts of Brazil.
It’s definitely going to be a lot of fun and great for people who love Latino dancing to watch.
What’s next?
Well, hopefully next year the idea is to do a big concert production of Latin festival which I did in Abu Dhabi a while back with 40-60 performers. About 4,000 people showed up and it was fantastic. I would like to bring that to Bahrain.
If you could dance with anyone is history, dead or alive, who would it be?
I think I would love to dance with you Marie-Claire (more laughter).
