LATIN FEVER IN THE CITY
In its first edition, this festival brings to the fore various Latin dance forms
Dancing has the power to help one express themself. It can transform our mundane life and make it beautiful. Last week, a three-day fest titled, Afro Latin Dance Festival, was conducted in the city. Various dance forms such as salsa, mambo, bachata dominican, bachata sensual, Kizomba, Semba, Tarraxinha, Urban Kiz, etc, were performed by some world-renowned artistes, namely, Kike and Nahir, the famous bachata sensual dancing couple from Spain and Argentina; Fred Maestro, wellknown Kizomba DJ and Urban Kiz dancer; and Luis Vazquez, the creator of LA Salsa On1; among others. The event also had a musicality workshop and a live music concert by P Lowe, open air dancing sessions, a pool party, a bachata and Kizomba workshop and scintillating live performances by other renowned artists as well.
THE AFRO-LATIN DANCE FESTIVAL
Senior choreographer Luis is very excited to be in India. He says, “It feels great. I couldn’t wait to be here. I am returning to India after 20 years. It’s fun meeting so many people. I hope I am leaving behind something special that inspires people. It was amazing, not just for me, but for everyone who was at the Afro Latin Dance Festival.” Fred, a veteran Kizomba dancer, says, “I was really happy to be a part of this event. I had been preparing for this for a long time. I did my best to share all the Kizomba knowledge I have to the Indian audience. As the name suggests, this dance is the link between African dance and Latin dance. It is a mix of a lot of dance forms including social (couples) dancing.”
SPECIAL INDIAN CONNECT
Luis visited India almost two decades ago, at a time when nobody knew about salsa. He says, “It’s the first edition of the festival. I met its organiser, Shital Joshi (founder, Pure Latin Fever) in Berlin, Germany and then, I met him at an event in Singapore, where we talked about working together. I was telling him how, when I was in India, nobody knew anything about Latin music and all people knew was Jennifer Lopez-Ricky Martin music. They were not aware about salsa or bachata back then. In 1999, we introduced all these dance forms. So, for me, to come back was very interesting. It was very nice to see new people and was a completely new experience.”
IDENTIFYING THE DANCER WITHIN
With a career spaning across 25 years and more, Luis never wanted to become a dancer. “I never thought I would take this up as a career. I always thought that this would just be a hobby. Then, a friend’s friend asked me to take private dance classes. I didn’t want to but I wanted to earn some money. I started to enjoy teaching and the connection I made with people. That made me quit my job because I saw that dancing was so much more fun, less stress and I was making money as well. After that, it became my passion and I have been teaching for 27 long years now,” says Luis.
He goes on to talk about his journey with salsa saying, “I was always interested in dancing, but I did not know much about salsa, until my brother Francisco, took me to a salsa club. Looking at the dancers, my interest in dancing grew. I started learning dance in 1990, exactly 29 years ago. But there were no instructors in LA (USA), so we started going to clubs and would just dance.”
Being a dance teacher inspired Fred to take it up as a profession as well. He says, “I always wanted to share the knowledge that I had. It all started when someone asked me to teach them dancing and my network grew from there. Then I started performing at festivals and events. Soon I also began teaching Bachata and Kizomba in 2009.”
Fred also shares that he is impressed with the progress that India has made with regards to international dancing. “I can say from whatever I am seeing on social media that the international dance base in India is growing. Many teachers are learning the dance forms from scratch and the community is expanding. I am really happy about it.” he says.
One thing is important, to work on your social network through social media. And also keep advertising your skills because you need to be visible. And for that, just working on the dancing part is not enough, you need to work on your artists’ skills.
FRED MAESTRO, KIZOMBA DANCER
When I was in India almost 20 years ago, nobody knew anything about Latin music there and all people knew was Jennifer Lopez-Ricky Martin music. They didn’t know about Salsa or Bachata back then. LUIS VAZQUEZ,
CHOREOGRAPHER
WORDS OF WISDOM
Luis points out that no matter what, maintaining your own personality is important. “Be humble. Be yourself. Don’t ever try to be someone you are not. You are a reflection of your work. Whatever you do will come back to you. So, don’t be arrogant. Always be nice to people, especially your students. You can create geniuses out of them, who are going to give back to society. Work hard and ask for help. Choose your idols wisely,” he says. Fred also shares the importance of social media in today’s day and age. “You don’t need to give up on your dreams. There is a place for everyone. One thing is important, to work on your social network through social media. And also keep advertising your skills because you need to be visible. And for that, just working on the dancing part is not enough, you need to sell yourself well too,” Fred concludes.