WeLoveDance

Our Interview with the star of salsa stage Shani Talmor was spontaneous but proved that famous dancers can be very communicative and open to their students. She has a great story of how to achieve a goal and make dance career being the partner of legendary Eddie Torres. At the age of 16 she broke up with her boyfriend and found something more interesting.

«When we broke up I went to the beach and they were dancing salsa there. That was something. And a friend of mine said that they taught salsa there and I should go. So I kept going with my friends about 4 times a week and fell in love with that. And then one of the instructors came up to me and said they had an instructor course and that I should do it. In Israel you cannot just start to be a teacher out of the blue, you have to go to instructor course, it was a 3-months course, and then if you are good and you pass all the tests they would accept you to work. So I did the course and I did it even before I completed all the levels. I think it's like 18 levels in Israel. It's a great system but I didn't complete it. I stopped at social dancing and that's why I'm using social dancing. I took classes and I was social dancing myself. And I learned how to partner work and how to react to guys from social dancing. Nobody told me what to do – I figured that out by myself. So until today it is always social dance, this is my passion. I like the fact that I needed to pay attention to the guys. I call it copy-paste – when in class they tell you what to do – you don't really understand the dance. A lot of my knowledge of what to teach and how to teach came when I was figuring it out by myself.

So then I became the instructor in Israel, I started doing all the lady style, body movements and all different levels and then I started to go to congresses and different events in Europe. Literally I took every class in the schedule, we were there to work and learn. I am in the old generation of dancers. When I started it was all about the dancing: I took classes with Johnny Vazquez, Super Mario, Juan Matos and many many others. And then I met Johnny and he asked me to dance with him. I moved to Spain to become his partner. And again I had to work really hard because I wasn’t there in the level. So I kept pushing it hard and that was worth it».

Now her style is very jazzy with a hint of hip hop but when Johnny met Shani her style was 50% Cuban and 50% LA style. She danced nothing on 2, she only knew about NY salsa but didn’t understand that. Learning other styles helped her a lot to invent her own style, she never copied anyone. As for nowadays Shani Talmor is one of the best salsa teachers who travels around the world. You can see her giving workshops in many countries and every class is done according to a strict timetable.

WLD: Today we can find many salsa lessons online. Do you think that this is a good way to study?

Shani: I think it’s not the same when you watch a combination on youtube because you don’t get the details and the technique and the flow of the teacher’s routine. It is important to feel the teacher’s vibe as a lot of them are very inspiring, they give you the energy of the class. They help you to be present in the moment. And if you are watching the youtube it doesn’t transfer. It’s like listening to the music in the headphones and in a full surround system or watching a movie on TV in HD and a simple screen. It all makes the difference. Today you can find many videos on youtube and it’s ok if you are in a different country and you watch your favorite dancers on youtube. But if these dancers come to your country and your city and you are not taking classes I would not agree with that. I always encourage my dancers and people I meet to take classes. I take classes in other styles like in jazz, hip hop, contemporary, Cuban style. I don’t just watch it on youtube, I need to be there with the teacher. I can’t wait for them to come to where I live and take a class.

WLD: Salsa is the style where the lady is usually shown off. What can you advise for girls to become more sexy and plastic or is it the partner who needs to do something special to show her beauty during the dance?

Shani: I think you have to do with training and feeling the music. And you need to feel comfortable. Try to surround yourself with its lifestyle: if you wanna do something authentic you need to live that lifestyle. And maybe that is the problem that people don't take class. You need to take class but maybe you need to go and social dance more so that you could be more involved and think less? I have a saying for that: know the rules – break the rules. So if you know the rules and you know the techniques of a dance, you practice it so much that when you go to the dancefloor for social dance you do that but you let it go as it is. You feel free. However I don't know why you ask that because I saw that girls are very good in Russia. The level here is very good for ladies. Cannot say that about the boys but it's just the matter of practice. Listen to the music, feel the music, let it go, feel more free, do not be afraid to explore different movement and forget how you look at the moment. It would all become softer and smother with the time. I remember when I was starting to dance in London, I was perfomring with my friends from Israel and I didn't even know what I was doing.  And my friends were laughing like «What was that? That was very funny» But to me that was ok, so I said to myself «Ok, whatever». But then I explored different styles and that made me create the things I put into my own style. So in spite of their laughs I was exploring my own style.

WLD: What should russian salsa dancers improve in their style – what do you think?

Shani: I don't know how it goes here in the salsa scene but I can tell mostly what it is like in the world. I don't think there are exceptions here. There are two things that usually happen. When you get to the level where you are good, people grow and get compliments, they just stop working. They get to the point when they say: «Ok, now I'm good, I can teach and perform, so I don't need to keep working on my class». That's a critical moment in a dancer's mentality. And if a person thinks «Oh, I am becoming popular, people start liking me, they come to my class, they love my show, I need to work harder». In this case he keeps practicing and creating new moves. But the bad thing is that a lot of dancers don't do that. They come up to a party but they don't social dance that much. They do the shows but don't create new stuff and show the same things.  That is the crucial part in people's career. I always say to my friend who become the independent dancers now – I always tell them: «You have to keep working, keep practicing, keep creating and getting inspired, make yourself grow all the time». If you thing that you are cool and you are done, you are wrong. No matter which style you dance you should never stop. Unfortunately in the salsa world people often stop. They think they are amazing. But in all the other dance world ( I come across hip hop and jazz a lot) – dancers there never stop, they always train. I know the dancers who work with the biggest stars like Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez – they always train. They are always in a class and they are always very humble. The bigger they are the more they are humble.  

WLD: Social dance is always a stress. You need to be communicative and not be afraid to dance with different partners. But how can one learn all this?

Shani: We are calling this a beginner's stage. It is very tricky because people are scared. They are new, they come to a club and only know three moves. The don't wanna ask anybody to dance with them. I know it, I was there. First of all it is the teacher who needs to mark it for his students – how important it is not to be scared. He needs to push the dancers. What I do when I have the beginners. I organize a day when my beginners and I go to a party. I ask them to dance, I pull them out to the dancefloor and I ask my friends to dance with them. And little by little they understand it is not that bad. Another way is to take them social. For example in New York there are many socials where I know the level is not that scary. A lot of beginners come there to practice. And I encourage them to go there. It is not easy but it is really up to the instructor to push the dancers. If a teacher himself relates to the students, it is easier for them to go through that. You need to tell them that it's ok even to know three moves and dance with them these three. Tell them not to compare themselves with a one-year-dancer if you dance only for two months. Help them to change their mentality. Give compliments when you see improvement. That stage is always hard but it's inevitable.

WLD: How important is it to change dance partners?

Shani: You cannot get used to dance with one person.  Because in this case you already know what that person is: you know his style, what he would do, you know his level and tempo and partner work. You are getting comfortable and not necessarily need to adjust to other people. That's not ok because then you would get stuck. You have to be able to dance with everybody and you have to know how to adjust yourself. Because some people are harder, some are stronger, some go softer, all of them are different. Salsa is a social dance. Originally it was brought by people from all over the world from different cultures. They were dancing in one place and there was no criticism or racism. Nowadays the world problem is getting into the salsa world. That is not ok. Back in the days they had Cuban dancing with Puerto Ricans, Jewish people dancing with Italians. During the Palladium Era most of them were Italians and Jewish and that was in New York. People forget that salsa is a social dance where you come to meet people. So you cannot get stuck on one person. That's not the point of salsa.

WLD: There are many dancers but there are always a few that are treated as favorite. How to become the one whom students would love to study from?

Shani: To be a leader you have to have the quality of a leader. Not everybody can be a leader. Not every dancer can say: «Follow me because I'm great!» I know a lot of dancers that are great but they don't have a lot of following because they don't have the quality of a leader. As a leader you have to be very humble and relate to different kind of people. And at the same time you need to understand that you work very hard to be where you are. You have to show strength to engourage somebody else. Our goal is to be inspiring and to be human. We are all human.  It is very important to create relationship because you can be a great dancer and an amazing instructor but as a person you don't get the connection with your students. There would always be a wall. Know your price. When my students attend other classes I don't panic. I would not tell them not to take somebody else's class, I am not insecure. I know they would come back to me. For me opening my mentality is showing the security. A lot of people try to make leadership by a whip. That's no good because in the end people would leave. So my best advice is to be human, to be humble, work hard and lead by example. This is the best thing. If I work hard, my students see me travelling in different places – and they wanna do the same.

Eric Gauthier is the choreographer from Germany. His talent is not to be doubted: there are not so many people who passed the way from a dancer to his own theater as fast as he did. He is very open-minded and his dancers seem to fly over the stage as well. We spoke to Eric during the Context festival in Moscow.

WLD: Eric, does a teacher need to enrich his students with his own experience or is it necessary to see the individual and try to develop it in your students? How important is individuality for a dancer?

E.G.: This is like a special thing still, if it is a workshop you have people of all different levels. So you don’t need to make those who are not so strong feel upset, you make everybody feel good. I always try to support my students with words «Good job», «Nice try», «Try it again». And for the other one I have to say nothing but I will still say «Good» or  «Nice». You need to make them believe that they are doing good because a dancer is a very special artist for me, you need to give him a lot of pampering, a lot of confidence. 

A dancer is very sensitive and just with the wrong word or even a clap it can all go wrong, it is a very special kind of artist. And also it depends on a country. In Germany for example you can be rougher and here I don’t know yet how to treat them so it also depends on the culture of the country where you give lessons.

WLD: And if you are at a workshop but you have a lesson with your company and you already know the dancers, how to empower them with confidence? How to make them feel confident and open his or her individuality?

E.G.: It is a bit the same: being very positive and make them feel they are on a good way. You are doing well but you are not there yet but you are on the way and the person feels «Wow, I am doing better».

WLD: Do you think that a dancer needs to follow the example of great dancers and copy them? Or it shouldn't be done because it ruins your own style?

E.G.: All the dancers need to watch other dancers, this is so important. You always need to look at them to realize that you can do better.  And if you find the right artist like I dance with Diana here. So I told my dancers: if you have time, if you are in the wings – just watch her because you will take something.

WLD: What about the mistakes? What is the right way to show them to your students?

E.G.: If you just say No, It is not like that – a dancer won't understand you. If you want a dog to do a trick you cannot yell at him. He will only do the trick of you explain it to him. A dancer is also an animal, he has to understand. You have to explain everything and tell the dancer what is missing to do it correct.

WLD: Your career from dancer to choreographer was quite quick. And also you have your own dance troupe. Should a dancer be doing everything quite fast or everything comes as it is and to realize it you need to make your own mistakes?

E.G.: I think it depends on an artist. Some dancers discover they want to be choreographer very early so it is good that they start early and have more years. But for the normal person who wants to be a dancer I think this is a good idea at least to try to make a number. You understand things a little bit different. Everybody should try it.

WLD: What will be you major advice to young dance teachers? What is the main thing during the class?

E.G. There are so many, I don’t know. I always say: «It looks so easy what we do but it is so hard». I always say to my dancers: «Nobody said this would be easy, no one ever said dancing is easy». So when my dancers are tired I always say: «Don’t show me that you are tired» and they get it. Don’t give up. Always finish and never give up. And they understand it.

Chris Martin is a famous dancer, choreographer and member of dance team «Cookies». We met him before the start of Show Me What You Got festival and asked him about Russian dancers.

 WLD: Music tells a lot about a person. Can you tell us which track is in your player now?

C.M.: Music played a big part in my life ever since I’ve been a kid. I grew up dancing with my parents and my sister. We liked soul, funk and jazz exactly. We usually had dinner and put the music on. It was just my Mum, Dad, my sister and myself dancing in the kitchen. It brought me a lot of happiness. So what I play now is a lot of classic music that I listened to when I was younger – old music. I also like new music that still have instruments: like guitar, drums, horns, sax, – all of that. Any musical artist that has a life band with him (like Allen Stone) is someone who I would applaud.

WLD: You are one of the judges in Show Me What You Got show. What do you look at when you judge?

C.M.:Many times when I judge competitions it almost seems like everybody is trying to be someone that they are not. I want to see people like genuine and happy for what they do. And on top of course there’s technique, choreography, timing, formations, all of that. But what is most important to me of something not original but true: like you’re not faking to be someone else.  

WLD: It is not your first visit to Russia. Is there anything you appreciate in Russian dancers?

C.M.: What is really cool – you have little kids and professional dancers in the same pursuit where they both have the same respect. They respect each other and this seems really amazing because you don’t see this in many places. It’s cool because for everybody it’s about learning. This is what a lot of other countries could take from Russia.

WLD: You started with breaking. Why have you given up your b-boy career?

C.M.: B-boying was really fun. But it came to the point when it’s too competitive. For the team that I was with it was like winning battles. But when I started trying to win all the time I wasn’t having fun.

WLD: Is it still competitive when you dance hip hop?

C.M.: It’s just fun. We do it when we enter competitions but it’s just fun.

WLD: Your team is the winner of Body Rock this year. Was it difficult?

C.M.: It’s difficult as the best teams from all around the world go there. But I think we don’t do it for the competition. In our mind it’s never like “It’s gonna be hard to win!” It’s like “We gonna do what we do!”

WLD: What would your profession be if you were not a choreographer?

C.M.: I would have been cooking food out in the street. I love cooking so much. Or maybe with my sister and my parents we would have opened a restaurant like food-truck: it’s like a store on wheels with which you can go everywhere!

WLD: You are travelling a lot. Do you bring souvenirs or maybe you collect women’s hearts?

C.M.: Nooo! I collect tiny rocks from every country. I have a bonsai tree at home and I put the rocks into the pot.

WLD: Do you know how many valid visas there are in you passport?

C.M.: You don’t need a visa for everywhere you go! I have about two pages left in my passport.

WLD: Can you give any advice for all the dancers?

C.M.: I’d say you have to want to get better. Not just go to the class and do the movements but really push yourself as hard as you can.

This spring Michelle Maniscalco, the famous dancer from Pussycat Dolls, visited Russia during her workshop with Project 818. She started as a cheerleader, acted in many dance movies and took part in famous dance projects. Now she is full of energy, promises to shoot again and is raising two beautiful twins. We asked her a few questions about her dance career and plans for future.

WLD: Michelle, what are your impressions of Moscow, you are not here for the first time?

Michelle: Actually this is my 3rd time in Moscow. Students do work really hard and they try really hard. They give a lot of good energy, pick up really quick and are motivated. I think that during last time there were a couple of students with a little higher level and this time the level is more like intermediate. There are lots of students on the “events level”.

WLD: There are usually two types of choreographers and dancers. Some of them prefer going to the hotel after master-classes, others enjoy sightseeing. What about you?

Michelle: Well. I always get jetlag and I am always tired. I wish I could go sightseeing more, but I like to rest. I’m kind of homebody, anyway. So, I just like to go in a hotel room and take a little sleep and eat a little bit. I like to stay safe in one spot and then I use all my energy to teach. So, I feel if I am here for work, I’m shortly here to do my job, not to go sightseeing. If I was going on a vacation, yes I would go sightseeing. Since I’m here on business I’m totally focused on giving the best classes that I can give, exerting all my energy towards the students.

WLD: You took part in many dance films. What are the peculiarities of shooting in such movies as a dancer?

Michelle: Special moments about shooting in dance films… You become so close with the people you are working with. You build such great relationships. It comes through on the film. When you are dancing in a film you also have to act. So, you are not just dancing and doing steps, but you are also acting. On the show I was, Hit the floor, we were like sisters. The whole team is just a group of girls who get together. We are friends and we are sisters. We dance together and rehearse together. There are always funny moments on set and I feel very much at home and alive when I am filming on camera. I like filming on television. That’s just everything to me.

WLD: You mentioned funny moments. Can you remember any?

Michelle: We stuff our boobs. So, when one of my friends was dancing her boob pad fell out – we call it the “checking cotlette”. And we made a joke about it. Like “Here is your boob!” So we do silly things like that. One time I was dancing and we had to do a kick, and I kicked my sneaker right off my foot. That was funny. One time we were filming in the water. We were doing a water dance. The camera was up high. It was shooting us from down low. This wasn’t funny but it went “Hoooo!” and it almost landed on top of us. We had a scary out of the water and clear out really quick. But no one got hurt.

WLD: Do you remember your first experience in filming?

Michelle: That was with Wade Robson Project. It was the very first dance reality show ever on TV. It was on MTV. And I actually was the run-upper of the whole show. And I was the only girl left standing in the end with all the guys. It was one of the best times in my life. It’s actually what brought me out to LA and pursued the professional career in industry. I got my agent from there and from there I started auditioning, joined the Pussycat Dolls, went to Vegas. I did the Pussycat Dolls live show in Vegas. I came back to LA and that’s when I started filming on television. So, my first movie I ever booked on was “Bring it on: All or Nothing” – cheerleading movie. I always book cheerleading stuff. Then I did VH1 show – “Hit the floor”. So, I was booked on cheerleader role.

WLD: Do you watch dance TV shows? What are the differences between old school shows and nowadays?

Michelle: Basically, the dance shows that I watch like “So you think you can dance”, “Dancing with the stars” – there are a lot of reality dance shows that are more like competition based shows. It’s very cool to give people opportunity to make it in the industry cause it’s actually really hard to get in the industry. So, I think if you have a stepping stone with a reality on television it helps you to get that push because when you are in the industry there are so many people, it’s over packed with dancers. You need something to help you stand out, light up during the competition, unless you are just lucky. There are hundreds of dancers, all competing for the same role, the same tour, the same movie, the same dancing job. I feel like television definitely does help you to gain more of popularity.

WLD: How can a dancer keep this popularity after the show is over?

Michelle: That’s a good question. See, in the industry you have your ups and downs, you have to be able to sustain yourself, you have to keep reinventing yourself. I’ve been in LA as a professional dancer for 11 years. So, my journey has been awesome. I feel like every year you have to have one big thing that pumps you up again. Then it can be a low line. But then you book another big thing. It’s really important to stay relevant in the industry. Filming on television is a perfect way to do that but if you are not fortunate enough to book filming, teaching is another great way to stay relevant. Also there are a lot of dancers who go on tour. But within that layer there are different categories – like this is the Britney dancer, this is the Janet dancer. You are lucky if you are able to cross worlds. Usually teacher-choreographers they are not filming. But if you are one – it’s just a plus, you know. It’s different for everyone. You have to find where you fit in.

WLD: What will be your advice for those who would like to take part in a dance show?

Michelle: I really do have to say that dance shows really help. If your face is on TV, people wanna know you. You can gain like 10 000 followers just from that and that is just on a lower scale. If you do well on the show you can get even more. It just depends on what the show is and how well you do there. I work with tons of people from “So you think you can dance”, and they do great. People know them from the TV show. It’s just a great stepping stone. I’m not sure of other dance reality shows… Some of them are silly… But others are good. Whenever there is something that can take you in - I would say – go for it. 100%

WLD: Do you think dancers can make living only by dancing?

Michelle: You have to be completely 100% driven to make it as a dancer. You also might have a great business mind set. Some dancers are so free. They just go with whatever. But when you get to a certain age and a certain point you have to sit down with yourself and say: “Hey, I’m not gonna be able to dance forever, so what’s the next step? Is it choreography? Is it filming on television? Is it being an agent? Is it directing, producing?” It’s a kind of short-lived business. You have to be prepared for that. It’s not like selling your dream. You have to have a tough skin because you are going to have a lot of rejection. There are a lot of times when you are going to auditions and you are not going to get booked and you would leave crying and upset. But there are times when you do get it. It’s even more for feeling. I would say – save your money, be smart. Don’t run through your money as you get it as a dancer. You know, they get excited and they buy cars and everything… 

I would say save your money and be smart. And yes, you can totally make a career out of dancing. You just have to be smart.

WLD: Besides, there are a lot of extra situations. For example, you get pregnant…

Michelle: Oh, my God! Let me tell you one thing – I was not planning on getting pregnant. So, when I was pregnant, I was on a TV show. I was on “Hit the Floor: on the VH1. I’ve spent my entire career, waiting to book something substantial like the show. So, I literally was on my second season, I was going great, I was getting speaking parts. I couldn’t have been in a better place. In my heart, in my mind I was doing what I loved. Every single day I was going to my job. And then I got pregnant, just a boom out of nowhere. I was like “I don't know what I’m gonna do, this is really hard”. Because I’m in to fitness, I was always working out, I always had my stomach. I was known for my body, basically. Then it happened and I went to the doctor to see and found out that were twins. And I was like: “Wait! What? What did you say?” And I thought: “God! You are giving me twins right now”. I prayed about it and understood it was a total blessing. So, I didn’t tell anyone on the show I was pregnant until I started to get a little tommy. So I had to tell them. Then I did six dances pregnant. Those dances were hard. I did all the dance rehearsals, eight hours, filming fourteen hours shoot days, doing flips, rawing on the floor with twins, four and a half months pregnant. When the show ended I was still teaching my high heels class. Then I went home for a while. I just had to take it easy. And then I had to have a C section which really was upsetting to me because I didn’t know what’s gonna happen with my life. Like am I done? How I’m gonna find my way back? Then little by little God just brought me back. And my C section… Just after six weeks I went to the gym and started working, I wanted to get my body back. After two months I put on my high heels and I started dancing around on those heels again. And it’s only been 3 months and I’m here doing what I’m doing. I’m still in working progress. And I have those two little ones. 

If you want something in life you should just make it happen. And the path will be set for you.

WLD: Are you going to keep filming?

Michelle: I still wanna do filming on television. I have such a passion inside to act. I wanna tap into choreography. I feel like one fits another. Whatever comes first, I’m just gonna keep working hard and doing my thing,  see where this path leads me.

WLD: What is your dream film and dream actress to work with?

Michelle: A dream actress I would like to work with is Meryl Strip because she is like an acting genius. I just wanna be around her. I just wanna pick her brain and see how she does what she does in the way she just transfers into each role. I worked on “Hit the floor” with Katherine Bailess. I have to tell you – she is spectacular. She actually is somebody who I look up to and learn a lot from her. So, I would like to do some scenes with her, too. I would love to be in a dance film, but with a true story line. Not like – “Oh, we battle in”. The real one, more like a drama. May be it can do with drugs. And she finds her way back through dance. Something people could relate to.

Natalia Horecna is a well-known choreographer. The German magazine Tanz called her «The Choreographer of the Year» in 2012, in 2014 she was chosen as «The Best Young Choreographer» in the competition of Taglioni European Ballet. We were lucky to be able to talk to her and find out some interesting details about her career.

WLD: Natalia, you are the choreographer with classic ballet background BUT in your performances you mix ballet with contemporary dance and acting. So, you are going the way modern choreographers do – you integrate ballet into contemporary art. What is the future of ballet in your opinion? Will it stay the art for intellectual audience or become a more mass market product?

Natalia: I cannot predict the future because we are not able to know. But I think as an artist and as an artist we always aim at bringing everybody into the scene. Like me personally – I try not to distinguish what is for artists and what is for public. I try to give the food the way it is accessible to everyone. It doesn’t need intellectual to understand, its just simply for people. I dedicate my work fully to people, they are my greatest care, so as my dancers. I try to use the vocabulary and timing that would be very accessible to the human eye, mind and heart. So that people could absorb it in a very nice way without feeling awkward, being able to interpret his or her own story.

WLD:  For many years you have been dancing the choreography of others. Which useful tips of teaching dance, delivering information to the audience did you learn from your teachers and may be you have your own ones?

Natalia: I was very lucky to grow up with very talented ballet teachers. So when I was not very good dancing my teacher would come and say: «Natashka, it was very bad what you did today but I see the light in your eyes». I have been always given a lot of love as a child. So I am very fortunate in that sense. So I think with a lot of love we can make a lot of miracles. And I have got this from all my artistic fathers – the only thing I really understood is what comes really from the heart and what's the best for the student. It's a gift for me that I can teach and make choreography, so it is my duty to give this further, so I cannot be egoistic about it. For me it is really a gift to give my students a lot of love, self-confidence, trust in themselves. So they find the love for themselves and other people. We really can reach higher grounds because then everything seems blooming after that. So my advise is to do everything from the heart. Only.

WLD: But how do you give this to your students? You cannot only enter the class with a broad smile and this is it. You need to be strict at the same time. And also to share love with them. What are your tips?

Natalia: Many times I do not work so much with my dancers as I work more with energies. So when I see a person in front of me I detect by feeling his weaker places or where he wants to make it more. Then I try to help him to accept whatever the situation is. I really love what I do so I do need to give them a lot of love and understanding what they are hiding and what they don't want to show to the public. At the same time they are artists, too. It's just the skill of how to get free from their own fear. So this is I naturally can sense. It's a special thing I don't know but they usually understand that I am no there to hurt them or damage them. We are there purely to share and when they open up, it is really beautiful to see.

WLD: You often have to explain to the audience how to treat this or that performance – what you see in it and how you want people to see it. How can you help the dancer to see the scene as you see it? And do you need him to see that at all?

Natalia: I always have the idea what I want to say with the ballet. I have a very specific and clear mind on that thing. As an artist I always try to open myself but I am always passionate to people and their problems from outside. And very often I use the artists to solve some problems in society or human lives. Many times when they portray somebody hurt or desperate they can free themselves as well. Portraying somebody and putting their own layer on top of that and I love to open their doors and I love to see when they step through themselves. I love to see they take the material and make it their own. The freedom they take and the honesty we do with each other is wonderful.

WLD: So you prefer to give them freedom, don’t you?

Natalia: Yes, but sometimes you need to understand what this freedom is, it takes them time to organize themselves because they suddenly have freedom to strip their clothes off. Ones they break through the wall of shyness, they are doing great.

WLD: Do you think that modern dancer should lean to become multifunctional- to study classical  dance, street dance, folk dance and be able to dance them all at a good level?

Natalia: I think that it's great when dancers do whatever they want to do (laughing). But if I choose to do ballet then it;s good to concentrate there, the focus will be clear. But at the same time if I try other things it's also good. If we talk about contemporary ballet, it is really good when they have strong classical base. It gives them a lot of freedom. They can express anything.

WLD: Should a dance student be better than his teacher? Or should a teacher develop his own skills at the same speed as his dancers do?

Natalia: It's a good question. Of course it's an exchange but at the same time a teacher is older than a student. I grew up in the environment where I was very respectful to my teachers and the respect was demanded. And I understad it. When we are young we don't often have the direction. I think it's very important when student listen to their teachers. But as a teacher I also know that I have to give my student their own world as well. I have to keep growing as well. There is a lot of listening to the heart and not to my ego. It always returns to you. I always can sense when there is a growing conflict in the studio and I try to take it away immediately. There must be a harmony in the class. But in a natural way, if they scream and cry, I love that too ( laughing).

WLD: Wienner Staatsballet is world known for its performances but in Russia it will be performing for the first time, though Russia is the country known for its ballet traditions. How do you think – it is good to see the innovators shows – to see something different than people used to see?

Natalia: Sometimes the shock therapy is also good, isn’t it? I believe that there is a certain time for certain things. It is meant to be there at this time. I think it is very good you will have this extraordinary company in Russia. Beautiful dancers and beautiful people. It is very good for the public to see something different from what they are used to and see what they will feel. Whatever is based on the level of the heart – they will understand. Nothing can shock anybody. I hope so (laughing again). I hope everything will be all right.

Just before the World Kremlin Cup 2013 WeLoveDance was lucky to speak to Victor Da Silva, four-time World Exhibition Champion. Together with his partner Hannah Karttunen they make sensational numbers specializing in soulful, rhythmic combinations with acrobatic flair, two of which were brought to Moscow.

“In my childhood I lived in the country in the South Africa where it was not good for boys to dance. But I wanted to dance very much, I had respect and admiration for such great dancers as Nureev and Baryshnikov since I was a little boy. All I could do was just to take part in a school theatre. Fortunately at the age of 16 I started doing street dance with the boys much older than me, who made me like this cool occupation. At that stage I was in a model agency, we used to do a lot of works and they needed dancers. So part time dancing and modeling - it was good for me, I started to go to more jazz classes, taking more lessons and learning.

At the age of 19 I started learning Latin and adagio, which dance technique is used in exhibition style, as you can see. I also used to go to the ballet classes, where very experienced dancers involved me in a lot of shows and forced me to learn very quickly from great choreographers. Later I didn’t want to be restricted taking part in competitions, I felt like doing shows.

And my dream came true. Together with Hanna, my outstanding partner, we used our unlimited dance ideas and fused Latin and adagio into the art of dance, which is known as VH dance. There are a lot of dance movements which require much flexibility. But the key is the real touch, real sensuality, notice, not sexuality. Here you can find the main principle of Latin dance - the human form of two body's touching. 

Male is a frame, female is a beautiful picture.

We draw inspiration and create a story, which usually starts with the song, specific music that we like. It's all about giving the feeling to people who love what we do. We let our audience interpret the dance story themselves and do not try to push a character or a story to our spectators. The idea of the show can come from any field, and also from our knowledge and experience. By the way, I have been dancing for 24 years! And my every single day starts at 6 o'clock in the morning. I have a cup of coffee, no breakfast, do cardiovascular exercises, dance, and in the end of the day I practice bikram yoga, called hot yoga.

Of course, injuries happen from time to time, usually when your body is tired or even during the show. And you cannot stop anyway. You should only have a good physiotherapist, who can help you to stay away from medicine and to rest properly“.

If you ever talk to Lombard Twins you should remember to call them Martin and Facundo. They both have personal view on things and at the same time are very close friends in real life. While they were getting ready for performance at Dance Open Festival in Saint Petersburg we asked them a few questions.

WLD: Here in Russia people know you very well by your work. But what do you know about Russia? Any Russian dancers?

Martin: Not really. I have never been to Russia, I don’t know people there. I just know I have some fans in Russia because they talk to me on Facebook or Twitter. I am very excited that I am coming. The most important thing for me is that I want to perform and be able to show what I do.

Facundo: I am also excited to learn about Russia and the dancers and the community.

Martin: Well, I know dancers from Russia – I know Baryshnikov, I never met him but I know that he is the greatest ballet dancer in the world of all the time but I am not familiar about what happens in the country.

WLD: At least you have a chance to see Saint Petersburg and ballet dancers live on the stage. Now you come to perform at Dance Open. Can you give us a hint what this show will be about?  We used to see you as street style or tap dance. What do you do in ballet?

Martin: We have been doing galas like this for a long time, it seems that they like the idea that we do something different. I think the Gala needs a little color that we add. Because it is all about ballet. For sure, people love ballet and they come to see it but sometimes it is nice to put something else for people to disconnect. They might like the music..

Facundo: and probably they just like what I do as well. I think they just want to bring something different to the show. If we do a show only about tap – sometimes it is nice to have different styles in it as well – for the audience. I really enjoy this. People will expect me to dance ballet but I'm not gonna do that. I don’t know how they will react but I’m gonna do what I wanna do.

WLD: So what will that show be like? A mix of tap dance and street dance?

Martin: Only tap dance, we will show The Escualo.

WLD: Should a dancer be universal? Should he study many different styles or is it better to stick to one and be perfect in it?

Facundo: It all depends what your goal is. If you wanna become a dancer, you should learn all the styles so that you can go an audition for different companies and recording artists. But if you wanna become more like an artist expressing yourself – you don't need to learn the styles because it's a different thing. If you wanna become a dancer, you need to study. If you wanna become an artist – just learn to dance. I don't know if John Lennon was a great musician, if he knew how to play jazz and classics but I know that he was a outstanding person. I am more on this side. If I recommend a dancer to learn the style and it is good for him – it is ok, but when it comes to expressing your own world I beleive you have to start a search within you.

Martin: Discover yourself emotionally.

Facundo: And say what you wanna say througn your words. Break the rules and do your own thing. I don't think you need to learn many styles, a lot of people say that ballet is the basics for everything but I will say it is not. It is not the base for everything. If you go to Cuba and see people dancing social dance – they never dance ballet. It is just a style. If you wanna dance hip hop or tap dance, you don't need ballet at all. But it's like a completely different world.

WLD: You dance street style, tap dance, we even saw some salsa in «Step Up»☺ And we like it. What about Argetinian tango? You come from Argentina – can you dance it?

Martin: Actually there are no styles in my life. I believe that for me it is better to do whatever the music makes me feel, no matter what style it is. When I listen to tango I don't see tango when I listen to this music, I just feel something and I want to express what I feel. I don't feel embracing a woman and dancing tango. I just feel to dance in a certain way. Of course I love to watch tango, it is incredible but I don't see this is what I want to do in future.

Facundo: The styles are not for us. You said that you saw us dancing salsa in Step Up or hip hop. I don't know, I was just doing what they told me to do, I don't think I dance hip hop the way I should and I don't think that I did these 3-4 steps of salsa at the end of the movie the way it shoud be. We have no styles no rules, we call ot free expression, it is based only on emotions. The process of our creation is photography, rhythm and emotion, it’s like in tango – when I listen to it, I don’t see two people embracing. I feel something and want to express it. 

You know, when you are watching a movie and there is a lonely man in the room crying and the put very sad and nostalgic music? That’s how I feel it. This guy will never stand up and start to dance contemporary. He is just crying sitting on a chair with the music playing. If I can show things the same way and add my moves to that – that’s what I like to do. I like to find the feeling and only after that do any move. And the same with styles for us. It is not the movement, it is the attitude. The attitude defines the style (he gets up and shows a wave with his arm). If I do this – which style is it?

WLD: I don’t know what you mean, waving? Hip hop?

Facundo: This will be hip hop if I give you the attitude of hip hop like this (bending his back and adding some grove) but if I give you Swan Lake (goes on points) – the step is the same, the attitude changes. All the movements that we see in different styles to me are all the same. It can be a letter A written by Picasso and an A written by Dali, but it is still the A letter. When we see Michael Jackson – we didn’t see anything else by MJ, why? Because he expressed himself beyond any style. Nobody can say that Michael danced hip hop, he didn’t dance hip hop at all. So, no styles and no rules. I wanna choreograph a Bach composition, a MJ song, some salsa, but I am not going to choreograph the dance. We want to create to expression of ourselves. Since we were kids I never studied dancing in my life – I started to go to a dance school when I was 21-  but just to watch. I didn’t take classes, I never felt comfortable in the room, I was always watching the class from the glass outside the room. I could never connect with the style. And even tap dancing. I started to tap when I was 21 and it was during these sessions with the greatest tap dancers. And a started to become all of them and I couldn’t realize who I am, couldn’t find myself. So I stopped dancing and couldn’t create anything for years. I didn’t feel comfortable so why in my dance I couldn't feel myself? So what we did is that we created the “free expression” theory and we put it into tap dance. No more rules. I don’t know if I do tap dance or now but what I am doing makes me happy and makes me express myself.

Martin: The thing is that we don’t think about tap dance when we create a piece like The Escualo. When we created it, we just listened to the song. If I thought about tap dancing, I don’t think I would have done that piece. And after a period I realized ok, tap dance is what I want to do. I don’t think about the style, I just take a pair of shoes and I do what I want.

WLD: Did I get it right that you started dancing at 21 but you started separately?

Martin: No, actually everything he said he meant ‘we’.

Facundo: Yes, I tell “I” but I mean “we”. I started tap dance at the age of 21 but we started dancing when we were 7 years old.

WLD: You have an experience of working with Tito Puente. Can you tell us about it? How did it happen?

Facundo: well I was always a big admirer of Tito Puente since I was young. The first time I heard about him was when I watched the movie “Salsa”. I love Tito Puente and once in New York we had a chance to do something with him. There is a great salsa dancer – Eddie Torres- he lives in New York, he was the one who introduced salsa to Tito Puente. So, he saw us dancing tap and said “Oh, I have an idea, why don’t we do this with Tito Puente because I am his choreographer and my company will dance with him, in a few weeks they are going on tour and I would like to take you, too. I think Tito Puente will love what you do”. I thought that was great but I didn’t know what to do with Tito Puente because I don’t do salsa and I don’t do mambo. But he came with the idea of doing the tap dance with him. We did many shows with him, that was a great experience.

WLD: You are producers of your own shows, you are screenwriters and directors. But the world knows you by your role in Step Up. Don’t you feel a little disappointed?

Both: Not really, no.

Martin: Actually somehow people need to know about you and your art. You think that people will learn about you by this or that but actually you never know how it happens. It was great that it was with Step Up, I had great time doing the movie and it opened doors for us all over the world. And there are a lot of people who watch what I am doing now.

Facundo: Yes, we do everything you say and it is good because people come and say “Oh, I didn’t know you do this- I didn’t know you direct and like music, I didn’t know you do your own short films”. That is surprise for them, so I like that.

WLD: And what do you do now to support your popularity and keep the interest in yourself? Do you use social media?

Martin: Actually we do not use social media the way we should, we don't show off. We do the videos because I love to create. I'm gonna put it online for people to see it. But I never push to be more recognized or pay someone to promote my videos.

Facundo: I just make the video and let it live, I don’t care. One day people will see it.

Martin: One day people will see it, I’m not rushing. I just do what I do. Once the project is done, it’s there and no matter when people will see it – today or 10 years later.

WLD: In Step Up there was a moment when in the beginning everyone answered one question – Why do you dance? Was there any script what to say or it was improvisation? That was very nice.

Martin: For this beginning part some of the answers were scripted and some were not.  Our interview was there. They put the camera there and we answered them. Some of the answers were part of the characters so some people confuse. For exapmle the guy is playing the one from Uganda and he is from USA, so he was acting.

Facundo: I remember that John Chu the director of «Step Up 3» – he came with the camera and said: «I wanna interview you, guys. We interview all the guys». He never said that would be in the movie. So he asked us some questions and we answered them as wer are – as Martin and Facundo. May be he had a plan, I don't know.

Martin: May be he told us – I just don't remember. Facundo: We told our truth anyway.

WLD: Do you remember the time of casting and first days at the shooting?

Facundo: The audition was funny, first of all, the day of audition I was on my way to rehearsal and I met a guy in the street who told me there was an audition for a movie. I said ok but I don’t wanna to go for an audition where I only have to dance, I don’t wanna just dance in a movie, I want to act. The guy says that I should try. Then I talked to Martin and we decided to go and check it out. We went to audition, there were about 1000 people and I asked a woman there «Are you looking for dancers or for actors?» – she said «We are looking for dancers with personalities to create characters». So I had the number 116, he had the number 115 and first we learned the choreography for audition of choreography, they put together 10 people, put choreography, watch, they leave, next 10 people and so on. We did the choreography so wrong, we confused all the steps and when it was finished I said to the director “Sorry, I mixed all these steps’ and he said “Don’t worry, now you are gonna freestyle” – I said “Ok, can I do it with him? Can we do it together?” He said “Ok”. So we danced our choreography, he liked it and told us to come tomorrow. We came next day, they welcomed us very excited and there was another audition. Then we didn’t here from them for about a month and though we didn’t get that job. But then they called me and said that Disney want you for the movie. We start rehearsing tomorrow. Part of the story is funny because I don’t think they were looking for dancers with personalities because they already have the cast from LA. Audition was in New York (we used to live there), so I believe they were trying to put together different dance crews for different scenes. And out of nowhere we appeared and they loved the fact that we are brothers, that we have funny ideas, so they took us. In the movie, in the script, we didn’t really have many dialogues. But during the shooting we always came up with the ideas like “ Why don’t we do something here because in the script nobody talks here”- and the director started to like our ideas.

Martin: Like the idea to speak Spanish and English, arguing about women. In each scene where we appeared we always tried to add something into it. And improvise. He said: “Ok, let’s do it, do you wanna rehearse?” I said “No, no, just shoot”.  There is a scene where the main actress comes to our room and we show the sneakers. In that scene the only dialogue was that I showed her my room but I said “ Why don’t we sit on the bed, she comes, we kiss her hand, we argue in Spanish and English?” – He said ok and we did it again without rehearsing. We did it twice but we didn’t need it. The first shoot was the one that they used and that was the best. So in the movie we really had freedom to create, so I really enjoyed it.

WLD: Was it difficult for you as dancers to become actors?

Facundo: No, we have been acting for years. Martin: For years. Facundo: First of all we never consider ourselves dancers. We are just people who love to dance, people who express ourselves through moves. That is dancing, but I am not a dancer. Martin: I am not a dancer at all. Facundo: I don't think the way a dancer thinks, I don't live the way a dancer lives. I just create because I like to create. It could be dancing, it could be acting. People know us as dancers because this is what we have been doing all our life, we never had opportunities to show as actors. But we have been acting since we were very young.

Martin: This is our personal view because when I see a dancer I say «Wow, man, this guy is a dancer!» Yes, this is amazing what he is doing, he can dance all the styles, he is very technical. He can do things I don't know how to do. So when I see dancers I understand these people really work hard, they take 3 classes a day, they go for every audition, they can do any style. I don't do that, I neer did it in my life. I don't know how to dance styles, I don't take classes so I don't consider myself a dancer. Like my brother said – we like to create.

Facundo: We go with expression. We wake up and say «Oh, today I wanna create this piece, what do you think?» - «Oh, me too, let's work on it». Or «I wanna shoot a short film, let's put together the script, let's make it»

Martin: But I don't think it makes me a film maker. Why? Am I a screenwriter, musician, composer, dancer, everything??

Facundo: No, no.

Martin: No, this doesn't make sense, too much. I just create films. I am everything but no, I am nothing. I know probably about 5% about film making and if you compare me with the real film maker like Stephen Spielberg. If you compare me with a dancer, I know also only 5% if compared to 100% of dancers. I am always 5% of the knowledge they have. My knowledge doesn't come from technical aspects.

Facundo: Yeah, it comes from feelings.

Martin: You become a film maker if you go to a special school.

Facundo: You study about 3 years, they give you a degree, here we go, you are a film maker!

Martin: I just have my own ideas and I just put them together.

WLD: But actually you have the freedom of expressing yourself. And this is worth 95% that you don’t have because actually many film makers that have 100% of this list don’t have the freedom of expressing so many ideas.

Facundo: Yes.

Martin: I like that, I like that idea.

Facundo: The fact that we don’t know much makes me work harder and find out things and try to find the way to make it work with a few tools that I have. There are hundreds of them and I know 2 or 3.

Martin: and at school they would tell you that when this character is sad you should use this take, this shot, put the camera here and do this move. And since then you have it in your mind. But as for us, when I do the shot, I don’t feel anything, I just have to find my own camera movement that would show that the character is sad. So, I am always searching.

Facundo: Not knowing something is good because when you know just a few things you start to work hard with those things. You use as much as you can.

Martin: But we learn a lot.

Facundo: Yes, we learn a lot. We do not study at school, we have our own way. We watch other films, we like to listen to directors, scriptwriters, actors.

Martin: We didn’t study to act but we started acting before I started to study. We always begin by emotion and then decide to study it. I met a teacher, we started to talk, I said I loved acting, he told me “Do you know about this and this?” I said “No, but I’d love to learn”. He said “ok, come to my class’. So we spent there about 3,5 years learning different ways to approach scenes and all that. And then I started to read about different famous teachers. So I started to learn from them and now try to see in actors what these people were talking about. And I see it in many actors. That’s the way we study…

Facundo: Analyzing things.

WLD: You mentioned moving to New York but after that you came back to Argentina. Many dancers are afraid of coming back – afraid to be laughed at. Were you afraid of it?

Facundo: I never felt I was unlucky because I never believed in luck. Actually luck to me is an excuse. People have to blame someone and they blame luck. I felt it was my faith to go back to Argentina because I didn’t want to go, I had to as I didn’t have my papers and all the stuff. But then I learned many things that helped me a lot with what I do now.

Martin: Yes, I started to be connected with myself more.

Facundo: Most of the people try to escape when they travel and don’t wanna go back to their country. So I felt the same- I didn't want to go back, there was nothing for me there. I wanted to go to USA, to New York to make movies, whatever. But life took me back to Argentina. It was hard to understand in the beginning.

Martin: It was hard to understand the reason.

Facundo: But once we learned that, it’s a long story, I will make it short. We just realized that things happen for a reason. You take every moment of your life as it is. You don’t think that I am unlucky, I am in Argentina, no. What is the meaning of the word ‘luck’? When something happens the way you wanted it, you say “I am lucky”, but when something doesn't go the way you wanted you say “ I am unlucky”. It’s not like that. It’s not bad, it is always good. I’m not talking about tragic things. And with this we learn not to escape and to live every moment of your life. You will understand that there is no correct time to make your dreams come true. You never know when it's gonna happen. Just keep working hard, this is what I learned by coming back to Argentina. 

My life put me back here in the USA and that was to me like God telling me this was not time yet, go back to Argentina, learn the things again, there is something missing in yourself. Once you learn this and I feel that you are ready, I’m gonna put you back there. Some people say it’s luck, others say it’s God, some people say it’s Universe but to my believe it’s God.

Martin: And people who find themselves in life will be able to express themselves in art. Otherwise they will never be honest to themselves.

WLD: So now you work in LA…

Martin: Actually we live in LA. We are not working, we live here.

Facundo: But yes, we make the films, actually we moved here because of the film industry.

Martin: We like movies since we were young and now we are working on a script right now, we are writing a feature film, that's why we moved to LA. Actually we moved from New York because we needed a more quiet place, with more sun.

Facundo: Some people move to a city because they have to do something, we chose because we love the city. No, we love New York and we like LA.

Martin: we are always in the house writing or creating a new dance composition or music. And we travel a lot. We have Russia in April, Canada in May, Mexico, Argentina and many other countries.

WLD: And the last one. Are you among those twins who like to stress the equality or those who wants to be individual?

Martin: No, we are individuals.

Facudo: We are individuals.

Martin: Even though we think alike, we feel the same, we like the same things, when it comes to create and we hear a song for the first time, it gives us the same feelings, we feel the same. When we watch a movie, we feel the same emotions, when we are writing a scene; we know what we wanna to bring into that scene. That’s why when I said “I”, I mean “we”. But also we are individual, we try not to learn 50/50

Facundo: That’s right.

Martin: Each of us learn 100% and try to be ourselves 100% and then we put it all together. That’s what makes us individual. We both know the same, there is nothing that I know and he doesn’t. At least we try.

“I never knew people are going to fall in love with me because of my dancing”.

The winner of the 7th season of SYTYCD speaks about love, mistakes and travelling.

Famous dancer, choreographer and the member of «Mos Wanted Crew» in an interview for WeLoveDance.

WLD: Jun, have you always known that you would be a choreographer? J.Q.: You know I’ve never known I’d be a choreographer and travel around the world teaching classes because my first dancing was just for fun. I thought I’d be a veterinarian and take care of animals. As a kid I loved dancing, but then it became my career as I started making money of it. 

I practiced very, very hard and trained myself and after that it became my career.

WLD: Were your relatives for or against your choice? J.Q.: It’s very funny than you’ve asked this as they were really against me dancing as they wanted me to go to school first. Bur I love dancing so much that I actually stopped going to school and danced more. It was actually bad because I had free scholarship to go to school and I stopped it to become a dancer.

WLD: In Russia many parents don’t want their children to become dancers… J.Q.: For me it was really hard not to listen to my family. But it’s not fair to yourself not to listen to your heart. If you love to dance and actually it’s your passion, then you should be able to do it. It’s your choice. It’s not anyone else’s, it should be yours. It was really hard for my family to see me dancing and not making a career. I think here in Russia families are against it because it’s not a job that you can really establish and make a career. But for me if you’re really passionate about something you should really go for it. That’s how you achieve your goals.

WLD: How important is a team for a professional dancer? J.Q.: It is hard for the individuals to dance together as a team. For me a team is like a family. You have to know them and be very good friends.

WLD: Is teaching cooler than just dancing? J.Q.: I don’t know that. I love dancing as it gives me a chance to express myself. Teaching gives me a different feeling because you have to make something that is yours and you have to teach people. 

It’s the blessing to share something with other people who have the same passion as you.

WLD: Today there are so many professional dancers. How do you think will there be enough place in people’s hearts for all of them? J.Q.: I think so. There shouldn’t be a difference in people’s hearts for dancers because it’s not what they think of us as dancers that we are. You think for yourself as a dancer because it’s what you love to do. And no one should be able to affect that.

WLD: What would you do when you have children? Would you let them dance? J.Q.: Oh, of course! I’ll let them do whatever they want! If it’s their passion and that’s something they want to do I’d let them do it. There’s no reason to hold anyone back. I think I might open my own dance studio when I get older. I’ll try to keep dancing when I have kids. If they want to dance – they can dance. If not – they don’t have to.

WLD: You train and keep training a lot. Would you advise other dancers to spend more time in studios? J.Q.: Sure! If they want to become better in what they love to do – they have to train. You know, it’s not given to you, you have to work hard for it. I think for other dancers the most important thing is to train, take classes and stretch your body.

WLD: Do you believe in natural talent? J.Q.: It’s easy to say “natural talent” because some people could be good at something right out the way but right away you can’t be great. You have to work to be great.

«My style comes from the milongeros but I put something more animal like, try to be an animal, I don’t respect the statics in tango. This is in performances. When I dance in social world I dance like a 100 years old».

Horacio Godoy started his career in tango in the beginning of 90-s and now he is always welcome at many European, American and Asian tango-festivals. In February he visited Moscow festival «PLANETANGO» and there we had a chance to ask him a few questions.

WLD: Horacio, you have been dancing for 25 years. What has changed in the culture of tango during his time?

Horacio: Actually 22 years. Well, many things have changed. We call those guys who danced tango in the 40s – milongeros. These are the people who have been dancing tango all life. They've created the style, sequence, steps – they created everything. The spirit of tango as well. The last generation of milongeros died during last 10 years – we lost almost all of them. Now we are almost 100 years after the best period of tango so now we lost the biggest tango dancers. 

So for me that period was like the good food. Your grandmom cooked real food, real “borsch” and then appeared fastfood. So the life is faster and everything is faster. And that's what happened to tango now.

WLD: Does tango dance reflect the economic, historic or political events? Or it goes as it is no matter what?

Horacio: In the history – yes, we had time when they said that tango is not good for the society. But that was years ago, not now. Now if you want to dance tango, you can do it. Of course sometimes money is the problem and things change with tango. But it’s not a big problem with economy or politics.

WLD: How did you start to dance with Magdalena Gutierrez?

Horacio: We started almost four years ago as my last partner was pregnant. And when I called Magdalena she said ok because this is like possibility in life. If you have the same ideas about the show. It is impossible to do it without it.

WLD: What do you feel when you dance tango? When you look from outside – it is filled with passion, but what is inside?

Horacio: Every time when I am dancing I am not thinking of anything. I am just waiting for what music or the lady gives me. Normally I wait to be stimulated and give my answer. Sometimes I want to speak but for me the most important part is to see what is happening with the music and the lady to create the next movement.

WLD: How difficult is it to come to dialogue in a couple?

Horacio: To try to speak with your body you need at least 8-10 years – for men. The lady gets ready to speak with her body in 2-3 years. So you need about 2-10 years to try to understand your body when you are dancing. Until that it is just movement.

WLD: What do you do when you cannot come to agreement in your couple when dancing?

Horacio: When I make the show I always try to give something or to receive something. So you can go to the stage just for dance or you go to dance to give something. So what do you want to say? In this choreography I want to say about love or sex or romantic story - then you put the steps and sequence. But first you choose the music and then decide what you want to say with it. So sometimes we have problems with what we want to say - I see it like this and my partner sees it like that. Not always you can agree.

WLD: How can you describe your style of dance?

Horacio: My style comes from the milongeros but I put something more animal like, try to be an animal, I don’t respect the statics in tango. This is in performances. When I am dancing in social world I dance like a 100 years old.

WLD: What are the typical mistakes for beginners in tango and how to avoid them?

Horacio: I think typical mistakes of beginners are for all styles and arts. You want to go faster but you can't do it. Everybody tries to run and not to walk – loosing many interesting things. It's not about tango only – it's about life. Now everybody is running somewhere and they don't take time to really learn something without thinking what's next.

WLD: And what about the mistakes for teachers - how to avoid them?

Horacio: Normally they don't know about tango. The first mistake is that they have to learn more. They think that they are ready to teach but they are not.

WLD: Should they know the history of tango?

Horacio: They should know everything. Not everything for 100% but they have to understand lyrics, know orchestras, people who created different styles. If you don't you just create your own style. But I love the rules. Like in soccer: you cannot touch the ball with your hands. The goal is only with the ball inside. So you have a lot of rules and you have to create magic within them.

 So in tango I try to create into the rules, I try to create magic inside. If you create your rules nobody will understand them – these are your rules.

WLD: Are there any precautions for tango dancing when you can refuse a person to study tango?

Horacio: I never did that. Everybody can dance in his own way but a few people can teach and that's another story. To receive the dance in a social way is ok but to work with your student is the point. In the end of 5 years they will dance. So the problem is the teacher, not the student.

We had a chance to speak with the talented dancer and choreographer Sorah Yang during her visit to St. Petersburg in 2013.

WLD: You’re from team GRV, it means you may judge about Russian dancers not only by classes. Are they hard-working enough?

Sora: Jane and Alex, yeah. They are actually two of the most talented and the most hardworking, fun, nice people in the team, two of my favorite for sure. Whenever they’re around I think everyone else is in a really good mood. They are so good.

WLD: For Russian girls it is more difficult to win the authority in dance world. How was it for you? Sora: I think being in GRV helped me a lot. The biggest thing for me was probably World of Dance 2012 when Jawn Ha was with Mos Wanted Crew on American Best Dance, the TV show, so he could not dance with us and so David Lane, the director of GRV, put me in his place, in the center. People learned more about me because they were wondering like "Where's Jawn Ha and who's this girl, like who's that little girl? I teach a lot around California.  So I teach like a lot of workshop in the ally area. So i think just having classes and my flyers on the Internet going around and videos.

I’ve been singing a lot longer than I’ve been dancing because my dad is a musician so I sing since I was 4 and I only started dancing in high school but I think that signing is something that is like a hobby and dance is like a passion, you know. I like being a dancer. I love it.

WLD: If you were not a choreographer who would you like to be? Sora: Who or what? Beyoncé☺ No, I’m kidding. WLD: What, of course Sora: I think I went to school to study business. I studied business so I think I started working if I wasn’t dancing… boring (laugh). I mean I was trying to find something … I’m the type of person that I have to have fun whatever I am doing. If I’m working, dancing, whatever, I have to be having fun or to be happy, so I was trying to find job that was fun and happy. That really is not the business.

WLD: Who’s your favorite dancer. Or singer maybe? Sora: I think right now my favorite dancer is Koharu, one of the top dancer/choreographers in the Hip Hop dance community worldwide from Japan. She’s crazy. She’s such a good mover, you know. So I really like her. I like Beyoncé only like a performer. On stage. She’s amazing performer, she never gets tired, she’s perfect. You know, I like everyone, I like a lot of different people. I like older music like Stevie Wander.

WLD: Have you ever wanted to play in a movie? Sora: Maybe as a dancer. I don’t know as an actor. I’ve done my acting thing before but I don’t think it’s for me. I really love dancing and that’s what I wanna do, so I think not right now.

WLD: Today you’re in St.Petersburg with workshops. What do you like in teaching most of all? Sora: For me it’s seeing people fun, number one. Like to see they get excited, you know. I think that I challenge people in terms of established movements, fastness and so on. Not all of people are used to it. I love seeing the students’ growth from the very beginning of class to the end of class. In the beginning they were kind of confused, struggling a little bit, but then they get it, so you’re just watching the profession in them grow. Just in one or two hours, and you're helping them to improve.

WLD: Have you met any of your student that danced better than you?? Sora: Absolutely, yeah. I think I’m the best stuff master, you know. Like everyone is the best in what they do so I think… Chris Martin and June took my classes today. I think they’re amazing,I wouldn't even compare myself to them. I think they’re so great but they are not the best in my style, because it’s my style, you know. So I think even if there is a dancer who might have trained longer than me and experienced I still can teach him something because I am teaching my style.    

WLD: Don't you think that all dancers are alike? It seems that they've become a separate nation. Sora: I think, all around the world dances have a culture regardless of where they are and I think that is why it is so cool when you do events where dances of all around the world get together and you can get along with them.

WLD: Do you like to follow on your popularity? Is it important for you how many followers and youtube views you have? Sora: I think, yes and no. It’s important that people around the world know about you if they want to be doing what I do. I think you should focus on yourself and always put out the best you can and naturally hope that that will get you a better quality, as not just like “what can I do to get more people to follow me?”, it should be like “what can I do to make myself so good, I just need to focus on being good and people will follow me”.

WLD: When judging - what do you pay attention to and are there things that you can just miss? Sora: I’ve judged before and I think what I notice most is performance for sure. So even if a team is doing really good choreography or they are really perfect and clean, but if their faces and their body language is really boring, then it’s really… Performance is number one and then obviously it’s important to dance impressive, like not just to go on stage and do something, you know. I mean it’s a competition so I think competitions are important because it drives people to improve themselves. So, performance and clear dance.

WLD: Do you dance only hip hop or maybe you also like ballet, salsa, vogue, etc.?

Sora: When I first studied dancing I took like a little bit of jazz and contemporary. Just a little. But I’ve always been like a choreography dancer.   

You know, hip hop is like so broad now, it stands like old school hip hip and then all these new urban choreography. I would consider myself strictly right now urban choreography dancer.

WLD: Can you give some advice on how the dancer may become better today then he or she was yesterday? Sora: Number one is to understand yourself. Because you should know what your strengths are and make them stronger, and know your weaknesses and make them stronger too. For example, my strength I hit hard and I dance very fast, but I don’t wanna just stay here. I wanna hit harder and I wanna dance harder. I also know my weaknesses and I think that you should improve your weaknesses. Find teachers, take different classes. For example if people have trouble in grooving, they should find a grooving teacher. They should take a class at what they are week, you know. It will help them grow, so I think taking classes is very important, from different types of teachers. And understand yourself.