So You Think You Can Dance?

A pretty significant move I made recently was leaving the dance troupe I had been a member of over 3 plus years, La Tormenta Oriental (“The Eastern Storm”).

Tormenta, right before the NY Salsa Congress

It was a very tough decision, dancing, performing and my dance teammates were a very big part of my life. I even stayed on the team while going to school full-time at Wagner, working part time at Explore, and running 7ARTS. It was fucking insane. But after three years with one dance team and one director I felt like I needed to learn more from other instructors and dancers. New York City is arguably the world’s capital for salsa/mambo dance (if not dance in general) and to not be taking advantage of all of the great instructors here just didn’t make sense anymore and I needed time away from rehearsing and performing to do that.

Winsome is a great dancer, teacher, choreographer and director and I recommend her to anyone learning to dance salsa, but no one gets really good at anything listening to only one voice and I was feeling a little boxed in by the time committment of rehearsals and shows.


So I took the leap. I’ve been taking Delille Thomas' Mens Styling Class. One of the areas I had always felt really weak as a salsa dancer was my upper-body styling. My partner work is solid (though I could definitely push the complexity of my turn patterns much more, and the strength of my connection with my partner tends wig in and out) but as a solo dancer doing shines (open footwork) I look really awkward. It seemed like everyone I talked to said Delile was the guy to go to for mens styling in salsa and its been a very interesting experience. As a dancer he has a background in jazz and afro-cuban dance so I’ve been learning how much work I have to do in strengthening my core (ass, abs, lower back) to generate the kind of movements that really flavor salsa beyond just being a social/ballroom/partner dance. Its great because its less a "salsa class" but more just a dancer's technique class which is exactly what I want right now. The overall curriculum is a little haphazard and not quite as organized as Winsome's classes are, but whatever Delille teaches he breaks down to its very most fundamental movements so what he's doing is actually very accessible.

Axel (my high school and middle school classmate, former co-worker and former dance teammate) and I have also been kicking around the idea of taking a jazz class. There is a basic jazz class at Broadway Dance taught by Sue Samuels that Delile recommended. I hear jazz classes in NYC are fucking insane even at the beginner levels because everyone is a pro of some type, but I say fuck it. I spent years making an ass of myself to learn salsa, what’s one more dance style? Seriously though, the exercises are supposed to strengthen your core, improve your balance, spins and lengthen your muscles so I think it will be a cool new experience.

I also checked out a beginner African Dance class at the Djoniba studio taught by the man, Djoniba himself. The class was fucking insane. The ab workout was bananas and the routine he taught us was really long. I really liked the class and I came pretty close to learning the routine which wasn't bad for my first time ever doing this type of dance. I think I’m going to try to keep going, even though it was mad embarrassing that he learned my name in the first ten minutes and kept calling me out whenever I fucked up a move (often). After class he did tell Axel and I that we looked "pretty coordinated" and that if we stuck around he needed some male dancers for a show in June. But I think he just needs guys in his classes in general, the class was pretty heavily female, not that I had a problem with that.

Oh, and for you Astoria (or greater Queens) heads, Michelle "The Dancing Machine" Fei is teaching a beginner salsa class at Astoria Dance Centre starting January 9th on Tuesday evenings. Check out her MySpace page or her flyer for more information.