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| Christian Espinola (Casa Salsa) |
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You have had a relatively rapid rise in the South Florida Salsa Scene, how did you get started? How long has it taken you to get to this point? Well, i started dancing with Salsa Knights in 2001, dancing Casino for about 1 1/2 years, then found On2 in 2003, and fell in love with it...and started to have the itch to teach because i have always been within a teaching capacity with just about any job i have ever had because i find teaching to be very rewarding, and i love helping people, so i started teaching on a private lesson level in 2004, and quickly felt right at home teaching On2...in Dec. 2006 i Founded Casa Salsa Dance Studio. It has been a long journey to get where we are now, but it was worth every minute spent :)
I teach salsa On2, my teaching style is detailed, and based on having fun! I love to get involved with the details of how easy it is to lead and follow if you imply simple techniques :)
Nope, I was born in Lowell, Mass, My mother is From Bolivia, and my Father is American/Portuguese What was the defining moment that convinced you to become a salsa instructor? I honestly never have a "defining" moment, it just felt right when i started to itch to do it, so i did it. If you had to give advice to a beginner self conscious about their abilities when dancing with a partner more experienced than they, what would that advice be? The fastest way to progress as a dancer is to dance with people that are better than you, but if you take that big step, most good dancers know what it was like to be in your shoes, and most of them understand that the most important thing is to have fun, and they usually do that, you will find that it is much easier that you thought once you build the courage to do it, EVERYBODY goes though that same stage at one point, so don't worry......your not the only one :) You have a very smooth dancing style. To what do you attribute this, training and practice or natural ability? DEFINATELY NOT natural ability, everything about my style has been developed through practice and training......im a big believer in "practice right, not more"......the one thing that i can say truly helped me in dancing is my understanding with the timing in music, hands down! Describe what is most important to you about the skill of leading? Understanding of where your partner needs to be, when she needs to be there and the understanding of ALL or of the ladies footwork...............and also understanding how tensions works while dancing. Do you have anyone who you are inspired by in the dance scene? Oliver Pineda is SICK...i love his flow! Many instructors have difficulty maintaining a steady flow of students. Have you had this problem? THANK GOD, but nope, not at all! we have a solid student base that keeps growing! :) You participated in this years Miami Salsa Congress. It must have been very exciting for you. Can you tell me about that experience? You have no idea......it was a blast.....it was just like teaching at my studio, just more people, and i had a great time.......i plan on doing it again! Tell me a little about your studio? Well, we specialize in night club friendly latin dances, in particular.....salsa and bachata, but we offer other types of dances such as Tango, Bellydance, Zumba, Hip hop, and much more! We focus our studio around creating a student centric environment, and making everyone feel at home and comfortable! Your school has a cool logo. Did you design it? No, I was blessed with a sister that had a friend that believed in my vision for casa salsa, she has worked on multi-million dollar campaigns, from Bacardi to currently Nike, and she was kind enough to donate her time to Casa Salsa. Do you have a website where people can get more information? Yes, we sure do! www.CasaSalsaOnline.com What future projects do you have lined up? Keep checking the website, everything from new locations to congresses, we are going to be doing big things really soon :)
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A rapidly rising star in the South Florida Salsa Scene is Christian Espinola. With his determination and positive attitude he has managed to build a strong following and profitable salsa studio in Broward County. His charisma is definitely one of the attributes that has made him successful.
Interviewed by DJ Joey G
