photo by Thomas Tam
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Salsa Biography
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I am often asked the following questions: - How long have I been dancing? - How did I start dancing? - How long have I been teaching? I started dancing right here in Hong Kong, back in September 2000, shortly after first arriving in HK. I was invited to a salsa party in La Placita by a girl I met online. La Placita used to have salsa on Sundays, starting with an improver class at 6:30, then a beginners' class at 7:30. As I am chronically afraid of being late, I arrived halfway through the improver class. And I was terrified. So intimidated, in fact, that I did not dare join the beginners' class that day. I did, however, stay for the party, in order to meet the girl who would show up later in the evening. Later that night, I was sitting having a drink near the dance floor, and the instructor, Ricci, was dancing with his partner near my table. I watched them dance, and she was enjoying herself so much, she was squealing with glee. And it hit me. I have to do this! The following Tuesday, I took my first salsa class with Joseph, at a tiny venue he was running in Wan Chai. From that day on, and for the following three years, I would be Hong Kong's most regular salsa dancer. In January 2001, I was approached by one of my fellow students to join the HK Championship. I accepted on a whim. Why not? My partner, a young woman named Shannon, arranged that we would be coached by Janita, a lady instructor. We came fourth out of six. Janita then invited me to assist her in her ladies' styling classes, to demonstrate how the styling she taught would fit within partnerwork in salsa. I worked with Janita for about six months as her assistant, until another lady instructor, Wilma Donnelly, invited me to teach improver classes at the salsa venues she was running. I worked with Wilma on and off for more than two years. I co-choregraphed the routine that SalsaChino (Wilma's team) performed at the first Hong Kong Salsa Congress in 2002, also performing as a couple with Hazel, one of the SalsaChino dancers. In April 2002, I entered the HK Championship again, with Hazel as my partner, and this time we won the first prize. In late 2003, I joined the Picante performance team, under the leadership of John Narvaez (director of Salsamania, of San Francisco). I performed two routines with John. And performed a modified version of one of his routines at the 2004 HK Salsa Festival, with Krystie Li. In late 2004, I was invited by Joseph and Franky to join them as a guest instructor for the Regal Salsa Explosion, our regular Saturday night party. I have been teaching the Advanced class there every Saturday since then. At the same time, I also started the Pa'Gozar performance team, which performed at the 2005 HK Salsa Festival. My concept for Pa'Gozar evolved after that, to become a training ground for social salsa dancers. Members of the team went on to win the first and second places at the HK Salsa Championship 2005. Currently, I run and teach at Sunday Salsa at Joe Banana's. |