Finding Home across Cities, Countries, and Stages (Ursula Grunewald) | Ep. 48

From the sun-soaked streets of Cancun to the elite stages of Cuba and the U.S., Ursula Grunewald shares her journey as a dancer, choreographer, and global performer. 

She talks about training at Havana’s prestigious National Art School, touring with top Latin American artists, and finding a sense of home in the unlikeliest of places. This episode explores resilience, artistry, and the pursuit of passion across continents.

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Transcript

Speaker 4 0:00

Alright, so well welcome to the Walk Up Podcast. Walk Up The Walk Up. So Which Okay. We so this is funny. The reason we started the the podcast with that name, so I live in New York City. We have um a studio in Brooklyn.

Speaker 1 0:18

Okay.

Speaker 4 0:19

So when you live in in New York, and if you live in a building that doesn't have an elevator, and you say you live on the fourth floor, when you tell people, oh, where do you live? I live in a fourth floor walk-up.

Speaker 2 0:34

Right.

Speaker 4 0:35

Because that means no elevator.

Speaker 2 0:37

Okay, yeah.

Speaker 4 0:38

So we are actually on a third floor. This might be a fourth floor walk-up, actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As well.

Speaker 3 0:44

There are no no elevators in Puerto.

Speaker 4 0:47

At all.

Speaker 3 0:47

I mean maybe one or two. Yeah. No, there are no big hotels.

Speaker 4 0:53

Yeah. Well not in not in La Punta. Because I was at a hotel in in uh Zicatela. With uh and they said, Oh, do you want to take the elevator? I'm like, no, I can't.

Speaker 3 1:03

Yeah, fair enough.

Speaker 4 1:04

I understand I'm American, but I can still walk one floor. I can do one.

Speaker 3 1:07

I live in a walk-up in Brooklyn.

Speaker 4 1:10

I can I can handle it. No, I don't live in Brooklyn. I have the public the studio in Brooklyn, but I live in have you heard of Hell's Kitchen?

Speaker 3 1:18

Yeah.

Speaker 4 1:19

So that's the neighborhood.

Speaker 2 1:21

Ah, okay.

Speaker 4 1:22

So the joke was or the joke, I don't know, the reference. So it was an Irish neighborhood back when there was like Irish uh mafia and gangs. So it was a very dangerous neighborhood. And so the idea was, well, what's worse or what's hotter than hell? The kitchen of hell. So hell's kitchen. But anyways, a very important context for our kitchen.

Speaker 2 1:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 1:45

Um so in case people can't can't figure out by your very elegant pose that you are a dancer, you have founded your own dance company here in Puerto Escondido. So so I I know your first name, Ursula.

Speaker 3 1:58

Okay.

Speaker 4 1:59

And then you pronounced the last name.

Speaker 3 2:01

My last name is Grunewald.

Speaker 4 2:03

Grunewald.

Speaker 3 2:04

Grunewald.

Speaker 4 2:05

Grunewald.

Speaker 3 2:06

A D in the end. It's German. Uh the meaning is uh green forest. So Grunewald.

Speaker 4 2:15

It means like you went from the green forest to the green jungle. Jungle rainforest.

Speaker 3 2:20

I was born in Mexico, actually. My dad is German, but my mom is Mexican. Okay. I was born in Cancun. South Caribbean coast. That's a very good question. Very long story. Long story short. Uh he came to Mexico to find adventure, I guess. And love.

Speaker 4 2:42

And a wife, yeah.

Speaker 3 2:44

Yeah, and in the end, three kids.

Speaker 4 2:47

Okay, wow.

Speaker 3 2:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 2:48

So and where was he from in Germany? Bavaria or Berlin or Hamburg. Hamburg.

Speaker 2 2:54

The north.

Speaker 4 2:55

Alright, okay.

Speaker 2 2:56

Yeah.

Speaker 4 2:56

I say that like I know Germany very well. I know enough to at least get into the ballpark. Um, so then so you were born in Cancun.

Speaker 3 3:03

I was born in Cancun, yeah.

Speaker 4 3:04

And then how did you find yourself in Puerto?

Speaker 3 3:08

Well born in Cancun, then I lived in Mexico City for many years uh to work professionally uh as a dancer. And then living in Mexico City, I I knew about Puerto. I came to Puerto a few times with met some friends actually surfers.

Speaker 4 3:30

Um what do people do here in Puerto? This is the place for surfing. I have no ability to surf, so well I mean I I could learn, I'm sure.

Speaker 3 3:38

I've been on a board, I l I loved it, but I've I've been so like kind of like obsessed with my yeah, with my skill, if you can say that, like developing my skill that I I try other things like serve jujitsu and I'm I love it, but then I'm if I have an extra hour I'm gonna put it into dance. So I haven't I haven't learned how to surf yet.

Speaker 4 4:06

You would have more natural balance, I imagine, than I would.

Speaker 3 4:11

Maybe, yeah. I think the tricky part is not balance, is which I also love but respect a lot, is the relationship with the ocean. So you can be like a lot, you can have a lot of skills to be on a board, but it's the relationship with the waves and the wind and how to get how to count the waves. Yeah, I learned a little bit with my with my friends, and and that's how I came to Puerto. And and I felt like ever since like from the first time I was here, I felt like huh. This feels familiar because when I grew up in in Cancun, it was like like this, a a little town, uh people walking bear food and it just like little stores, and I went to Moringa, which is like this little uh organic shop in La Punta, and I was just like wow amazed with all these amazing products, and it felt like so like like home, you know. And yeah, that's why I in in uh long story short.

Speaker 4 5:22

And has it changed a lot? I get the sense that it keeps growing and growing and growing.

Speaker 3 5:26

Yeah, just now when I was driving into La Punta because I don't live in this area, I was like, my goodness, when are you going to stop? Like yeah, like when I come to La Punta, I just see more and more and more and it's it's inevitable. I I've been there, you know, with it happened in in in Cancun, happened in Playa del Carmen, Itulum, all that Caribbean area, the Mayan River, all of that. With all the pain in my heart, to be honest, yeah. Because it it does change.

Speaker 4 5:58

Yeah, it's tricky because the secret gets out. I'm almost I've been I'm been surprised since I've been here. I'm like, how how is this not already? Yeah, massive because like I I might be contributing to the problem because I'm gonna start telling people how great how great it is here. Maybe you want me to keep it quiet. Keep it quiet. No, it's we we we won't publish this this episode then. Well we I don't wanna you might be contributing to the your own demise if you Do you know what there are some things you can't control, yeah, and this is one of it.

Speaker 1 6:34

Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 3 6:35

Developing and and in a touristic place like Puerto, uh you cannot stop we cannot stop it, so we might as well just do the right thing and develop it mindfully and bring things to the area that can sum up and that can bring something be beautiful and yeah contribute in a good way.

Speaker 4 7:00

Yeah, yeah, and hopefully it's an opportunity for different types of communities to come together and because our friend Faith, which is how we met, we should mention that. So our friend Faith was performing alongside your performance. Yeah. So I went into this, this was last Friday, and it was a divas show. Yeah. And the first half was was dance, and then the second half was was uh music with uh with Faith. So uh so I so she was saying there's kind of three groups in her mind of of residents or people that visit here's the long-term residents, there's kind of the seasonal, they stay for the winter, they stay for maybe six months, and then of course there's the people that are here for one week, two weeks.

Speaker 2 7:44

Yeah, terrific.

Speaker 4 7:45

Like myself so far, just one week, but I'm already planning to come back. Um so let's talk about dance. That from the moment you were a child, you you were dancing, or was this something you discovered slowly? Did your mother or father have an influence? Where does this come from?

Speaker 3 8:07

Yes, naturally, I think I think it was it's part of my essence. Like big time, I think, I think it's m it's in my in my blood or in in my purpose uh movement. I cannot I cannot sit still for too long. Uh um I do remember being a child and wanting to dance these divas, right? All of this music that I I grew up listening to. Yes, my mom had a big influence. She loved all these divas, you know. Uh and she was musical or she was also somebody who liked to she was she was actually a businesswoman, she's an entrepreneur. Um my dad is a music person. He he had a jazz club. So I grew up, yeah. I grew up in in a jazz club in Cancun.

Speaker 4 9:00

So your German father had a jazz club in Cancun.

Speaker 2 9:04

That's correct. Yeah.

Speaker 4 9:05

That's awesome. So I I have uh Faith knows this. I I've I host I used to host of a jazz night in New York every every Friday for many years. So I've I we've hosted over 300 shows over the years. I have no I have no musical talent, so I have to exploit other people's talents. But I feel this kinship with your father already, because that's pretty amazing.

Speaker 3 9:32

My father was very talented. He is sorry, he is very talented, but he's he's not in music anymore. But he used to sing, play the piano, play the guitar, compose his his own his own music.

Speaker 4 9:47

And specifically to jazz or all types of music?

Speaker 3 9:50

No, kind of like classic rock. Like he had this like Rolling Stones influence. Sure. Like he always used to tell me, you are or Rolling Stones or the Beatles. Like you cannot be both.

Speaker 4 10:07

So it's an important education that you got, yeah.

Speaker 3 10:10

Yeah, very, very, yeah. I I went the Rolling Stones. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 4 10:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So okay, wow. So then so you you're around this musical influence. Were you uh go at the jazz club when you were younger?

Speaker 3 10:24

All the time. Yeah, I grew up there. My father used to live in the club, so his house was behind on the backs.

Speaker 1 10:32

Okay.

Speaker 3 10:33

So sometimes he was he all he was always the host and he was always like producing and getting everything ready and the musicians and everything. But when he didn't want to be like in the front front of house, he would just stay at the back of his house and just like watch everything from the top and yeah, just like it. Wow. Smoking fantastic.

Speaker 4 10:54

That's cool. Yeah. How big of a space was it?

Speaker 3 10:57

Like not too big.

Speaker 4 10:58

50 people, a hundred people. Like compare it to where you performed the other night.

Speaker 3 11:03

Mass o menos. Yeah, see. More or less like that. Yeah. Like a lot of people. But I like the I like the intimacy.

Speaker 4 11:09

Yes, totally.

Speaker 3 11:11

Less is more.

Speaker 4 11:12

Yeah, because we had our first place that we hosted jazz was uh in the theater districts. Uh and it was small. I mean it was like twice the size. No, no, four times three or four times the size of this, but not very big. But that meant if there was only twenty people, it still felt great. And when you had sixty people in there it was packed, you know. Um and then we went to some bigger venues, and it just wasn't quite there's something about a physical space.

Speaker 2 11:42

Yeah, totally.

Speaker 4 11:43

Right? Like it just really matters. So, okay, so then you're you're exposed to music, you're exposed to jazz club, you're and then at one point do you start like dancing in some sort of formal way?

Speaker 3 11:59

Yeah, um I started when I was about 13, 13, 14 years old. That's the age when I went to Cuba to study.

Speaker 1 12:10

Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 12:11

Yeah, I studied in the National Art School in La Habana.

Speaker 4 12:15

Wow. So you're in Havana at the National Art School for Dance.

Speaker 3 12:19

Wow.

Speaker 4 12:24

Well, we'll we'll make sure to link to them. Um that's amazing. Okay. So then but you had to audition? You had to how does that work?

Speaker 3 12:32

Yeah, kind of actually, now that you ask, um I remember I was so young, I was like 13 and I went there and the headmistress, the directora, she looked at me and she was like, hmm, yeah, like up and down. She's like, yeah, okay, we can make we can make some like tests, like uh the captacion. Like they make some some tests, like if you have musicality, if you understand, they see your body. But you're not going to believe this. She said, like she says, you're fat. Yeah, I'm I'm talking like I was like this when I was 13 years old. But their way of looking at the body is like uh like a ballet institution. They have so much influence from from Russia uh that they are like military you know in in in the dance scene or or sports.

Speaker 2 13:33

Yeah.

Speaker 3 13:35

So yeah, it was like uh what? And I was it it was a big trauma, but anyways.

Speaker 4 13:42

I So then you had you had to lose weight or I had to lose weight. 13 years old.

Speaker 3 13:47

Yeah. And that's when it's like my preparation started. And she was like, come back in a year, make the tests, and then if you are like in the shape, we'll get you, we'll get you in.

Speaker 4 14:02

So in shape in terms of weight, but also in terms of practice and technique or no?

Speaker 3 14:07

That's correct. Yes, exactly. Uh in condición physical, like preparación physical, which means like your body has to be like bendable, you have to be flexible, you need to have strength, you need to have like these qualities. And if you fit, because they make these tests all over the the country, the people and the kids that go into L Escuela Nacional de Arte have to go through like um tests and test like waves or of uh lots of examinations. Filters, filters, uh okay, the real and they get selected, exam narrowing to the just like the top of the top of the country.

Speaker 4 14:55

So in that and they're pull they're they're getting a lot from dancers from Mexico specifically or from all of No, that's another thing.

Speaker 3 15:04

I think I was of my year, I was the only foreigner that completed. Oh like until graduation.

Speaker 4 15:14

Because they're they're really just uh just Cubans.

Speaker 3 15:17

Yeah.

Speaker 4 15:18

I had a f I friend uh uh I I knew this guy whose daughter was the only American to be in the Russian ballet. And that was also like a big deal, yeah, you know, because it's very, very specific.

Speaker 3 15:34

It is it is a big deal. I saw I saw like two or three foreigners coming in and out during the five years I was there, but no one really got the title, you know, no one really finished the cycle. I did I did stay.

Speaker 4 15:51

But you so you're moving to Cuba at 13? 14 14 years old, and your family is like okay, or were they concerned?

Speaker 3 16:00

No, my mom was like, go for it. Like she was the main supporter. When I was like, mom, I want to become a professional dancer. I want I I know what I want in my life. I was so proud. Like, I really know, and I'm 13. And she was like, Oh yeah, you want to be a dancer? Well, you're late. In Cuba, they start at three years old with ballet. If you're ri if you're if you're serious about this, let's go.

Speaker 4 16:25

Yeah, this would be like saying uh I I I I'm from uh Argentina and I at 13 years old, now I want to be a professional footballer. It's like no no, you should have been playing since you were four years old.

Speaker 3 16:37

Four or five, yeah, that's correct.

Speaker 4 16:39

Decide to be messy when you're 14.

Speaker 3 16:41

Exactly, exactly. And because of everything I was talking to you now about the bending of the like the molding, you know, shaping of the body, the feet, the flexibility. I had to like uh swim against current because I can't catch up with everybody else. Exactly.

Speaker 4 17:01

Okay, so then so what was it like? You get there and are you like intimidated? Is it like oh my gosh, I'm way out of my league, or did you feel like oh no, I can I can I can get it.

Speaker 3 17:12

It was hard. It was hard, it was very hard. It was very hard, but I I was a very strange teenager. I was so committed, so disciplined. I knew I wanted to finish, so I just gave it all. Like it was it was difficult, very hard.

Speaker 4 17:31

And it was dance instruction and school as well, like normal high school as well?

Speaker 3 17:39

Yeah, I actually finished my high school there, but there was one year because I was behind that I had to stop my scholarity, and I went to the ballet school in downtown, and they would give me uh physical preparation, like exercise and everything. And then I would go in the afternoons to the to the to my school and do all of the technique and the folklore and ballet and like everything like it was m from morning to evening all in the body.

Speaker 4 18:16

And then the and then the education in terms of school um was like a t was it a tutor or was there actual classes for high school, okay.

Speaker 3 18:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 18:26

Oh that's great. How many people in the school?

Speaker 3 18:29

Uh like big, big, big, big rooms.

Speaker 4 18:33

But I mean in the entire in your program, like in the day with the dancers, is it in my group? 20, 30, 50, in the whole thing.

Speaker 3 18:40

I would say like like a hundred.

Speaker 4 18:42

Oh, that's not very big, already.

Speaker 3 18:44

No.

Speaker 4 18:45

Well, I guess you it's well it is when it's very elite, right?

Speaker 3 18:48

Right. Because only a hundred people could call it I'm talking maybe six groups.

Speaker 4 18:54

Okay, so six kind of like grade levels like uh yeah.

Speaker 3 18:58

Most or menos, see. Six of twenty, yeah. Yeah. Matto menos.

Speaker 4 19:04

Right around a hundred. Um okay, so so you're one of the only f foreigners to get all the way through the program. So now you're 18?

Speaker 19:15

19.

Speaker 4 19:16

19. So now what now what happens? What what do a the graduates of this uh dance school, where do they usually go? They go to they stay in Cuba, they go to the States, they go to Russia, where do they go?

Speaker 3 19:29

Most of them they go into um into dance companies in Cuba, different dance companies. And they actually start performing in different parts of the world. And what happened with most of the people in my generation is that they they stayed outside Cuba with these trips because that was that was the way like unfortunately.

Speaker 4 20:00

Cuba didn't have economic Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 20:03

And they were most of them, like see, 99% of them, they just uh stayed outside Cuba and made amazing careers.

Speaker 4 20:16

And the and you were trained in all different types of dance, or was there a particular discipline, a particular specialty?

Speaker 3 20:23

Contemporary and Cuban folklore.

Speaker 4 20:26

Cuban folklore.

Speaker 3 20:27

See, fol folklore cubano, okay. Which includes all the Latin rumba, Afro Cubano, uh of course salsa son.

Speaker 4 20:39

Okay. Interesting. So then where was your first which c you joined a company?

Speaker 3 20:45

No, I uh well I came back to Mexico and then went to live in Mexico City.

Speaker 4 20:50

Because that's where there would be lots of opportunities.

Speaker 3 20:52

Exactly, yeah. I was I was not gonna do anything with a career like that in Cancun. Nothing. There were no opportunities in Cancun. So I had to go and seek opportunities to Mexico City, which was very hard actually. It took me a few years to get into my like yeah, I mean imagine being 19 in a massive city. I I had to go in I learned learned the city by maps, you know. We didn't have phones then, like I we did have phones, but not with the technology we do know. Exactly. And and then I had I had my first job uh working for a very important Mexican singer when I was 21, 20, 21, 22.

Speaker 4 21:40

Okay, and and that was just you because of your persistence or you auditioned or how did you persistence, training, getting choreographers to see me, uh finding my own way, getting contacts, just being in the right place at the right time and being ready. And she had she was a a performer that was traveling and doing tours, or she had like a a main venue that she pro or she mainly performed in in Mexico City?

Speaker 3 22:12

He actually was a uh a a Latin American singer. Okay, he uh he's called Ricardo Montaner. Uh he yes, he's touring all the time. Okay.

Speaker 4 22:25

So you would be part of the tour?

Speaker 3 22:26

I was in a little tour in Mexico. Okay, gotcha. Only uh for with him, yeah.

Speaker 4 22:31

Yeah. So alright, so you're building these credentials and was it what you imagined when you no, I actually wanted to be a contemporary dancer.

Speaker 3 22:42

I I entered the show business because I kind of learned in the in the way that this was like if I wanted to have a like a nice lifestyle and make r money out of dance, I had to go in the in the show business because being a contemporary dancer in Mexico wouldn't make much.

Speaker 4 23:04

Because like, I mean, I know we have you know, we're very lucky in New York, of course, there's so much opportunity. Uh but even still, I mean, you know, I I I've had friends that have been in the in the in the New York City in the at the at the at the ballet, and it's a it's very difficult. I mean they w they retire at 29, 30 years old because the body is just, you know, after becoming a solo dancer or uh or a soloist, uh, and we have contemporary dance, of course, as well. Um but when you were in in this school for dance, was the expectation that there was more like that there was contemporary dance opportunities, or you just didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know they don't like place you somewhere.

Speaker 3 23:50

They don't imagine you're in Cuba, you're in a socialist country, in the middle of the ocean, in an island. Like no, there's no information at all. There's no kind of like taking you from with you with your hand. There's just people getting out of the country and escaping and and finding their own way and with the blessing and good luck. No, I had to find my own way, Mexico City, and like yeah, you know, like swim against curious. I see myself like that, just like that and now what? No, I wanted to be a contemporary dancer and I had these like ideas of you know being like political and doing things with a message and you know, but then I I I just went in you know show business and then I was like, ah, I kind of like this too. Okay, all right. I love the shiny things and I love I love being in big stages with lots of people. I love touring, which I started doing soon enough. And yeah, I was like, okay, this is I like this too. It's fun.

Speaker 4 25:02

And what are what are some of the places you got to perform? Like you're saying?

Speaker 3 25:06

Well, the US. That that was like my my biggest. Oh, okay.

Speaker 4 25:10

So eventually you go from Mexico to the US with the same singer or different?

Speaker 3 25:14

Oh, others, yeah.

Speaker 4 25:15

So where did where did you get to perform?

Speaker 3 25:18

With the American Airlines in in Miami, uh I think in LA, I don't remember the name of the stadium, but massive stadiums in in LA, Chicago, New York, I was in Madison Square Garden. Oh, that's great. Yeah, I mean, for a town girl from Cancun, you know, and and studied in Cuba for me that was like Yeah, to be in Madison Square Art. Yeah, and being paid.

Speaker 4 25:45

And that was for Latin American singers or okay Latin American singer.

Speaker 3 25:50

This was his name, he's called El Buki, we call him El Buki, Marco Antonio Solis, and I did a tour with him with Cheyenne and Mark Anthony.

Speaker 4 26:00

Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 26:01

So we got to tour all around the US.

Speaker 4 26:04

Oh, that's amazing.

Speaker 3 26:05

See, it was fun.

Speaker 4 26:06

So then so how many years you were in the States traveling? Where where would home be?

Speaker 3 26:11

Was home Mexico City and then you Yeah, at the beginning Mexico City, and then I would say like for the my last years in in the US, I moved into LA for a couple of years.

Speaker 4 26:22

Okay.

Speaker 3 26:23

Yeah.

Speaker 4 26:24

And so and then did any of those fe that they feel like home to you?

Speaker 2 26:30

Mexico City or LA or LA, I LA, yeah. I I think I had some I had some issues with my paperwork.

Speaker 1 26:41

Ah, okay, that's it.

Speaker 3 26:43

But I think that if I wouldn't have had that, I would have stayed forever in LA. Yeah. I was so happy there.

Speaker 4 26:51

Yeah, yeah. No, it's uh yeah, I think there are certain places, whether it's LA or New York, you kind of know right away. Like, all right, this is my for me is New York. I'm there, I'm like, this is me, right? Um as long as I can escape to Puerto.

Speaker 3 27:07

Yeah, fair enough. Me too. But you know, there's there's some places that you get to be who you are, and that everybody gets it. You know what I mean? And in in LA Oh, it's it's a performance. Oh my goodness, everyone is doing everything. And I'm like, in Mexico they're like, oh no, like you need to fit into this box or this box or this box or this box or this you cannot be and I learned from my time in in LA, which is very much of my personality, is that you can do everything you want. I like I got to meet uh dancers that were singers that were uh directors and choreographers and and costume designers and yeah, like you name it.

Speaker 4 27:51

Yeah.

Speaker 3 27:51

So what and and when you say in Mexico, people trying to put you into different was it like oh you should have a more stable, you should not be traveling or you should get married or you should have children and like what was 100%, hundred percent the story of if you want to have a family, then you need to stop performing. You need to like okay, you've done that. Like you've done that.

Speaker 4 28:14

Yeah, okay, check.

Speaker 3 28:15

Aha, check now.

Speaker 4 28:16

Even though it took you five years of school and no no no no no imagine all of that.

Speaker 3 28:20

Yeah, no. It's like now you need to be still and be the perfect wife and cook and this and that and da da da da.

Speaker 1 28:28

Okay.

Speaker 3 28:29

Or uh you want to make money, then this is the only way you're gonna make money because there's this is oh no, this is just an illusion, no like being in in the arts. You know, like unfortunately in Mexico there are still very closed-minded people.

Speaker 4 28:47

Well stereo, yeah, stereotypes or certainly. Um yeah, and I think I'm always fascinated by the the what I would call the voc the vocation of the artist, right? And I I explained to uh so my we have this production company now, we're doing obviously this podcast and some documentaries and some other things like that. And I've been in New York almost 13 years now, and my the distributors that I work with are like, how do you find all these such amazing talented people? And I was like, well, New York is just overflowing with them, and I think what I what I believe, and you tell me what you think, I think that the vocation of the artist, the soul of the artist, it's like um it's like a sickness. You can't you have to perform. It's like I I I I have this infection and I I have no choice but to to dance or to sing or to whatever. Like I've never I I don't quite have that. I'm more comfortable being like a producer and helping an artist like see their vision. And so when I say it's like a compulsion, it's like I can't I can't saying to somebody, oh don't perform or don't I would say it's the opposite.

Speaker 3 30:16

Exactly, yeah. It's the opposite for me. Like if I if I stop dancing, I die. You know, it's not an infection, it's it's what keeps me alive.

Speaker 4 30:27

Ah, okay.

Speaker 3 30:28

You know, it's what gives me life and joy and it's your breath of life. It's healing for me. Like it's my therapy, it's my exercise, it's my creativity, it's everything. But if I dare to stop dancing, then my soul starts to shrink, and then I become someone that I'm not and take it against everybody else, you know. Then I'm not then I'm not happy.

Speaker 4 30:58

Yeah, it's yeah, because like if you had this option, okay, there's this uh life of uh performance and dance, but it has you know you have to travel and there's a lot of um un uneven times and and uh not consistency in terms of schedule and travel and li or and over here you could make whatever the amount of money is, I don't know, whatever the amount that makes people feel comfortable, but it's like in an office Exactly I get I understand Yeah and it's do you know what and it's just it's just a way of thinking, it's just a paradigm because we've been told that. I agree, yeah.

Speaker 3 31:48

Because we've been told that because we've I've I I've grew up with the idea that this is not gonna give me this and I need to do this to give me these, and it's not. It's it's just it's actually changing the mindset in order to create abundance from a place of abundance.

Speaker 4 32:05

Hmm. Unwrap that abundance from a place of abundance. What do you mean by that?

Speaker 3 32:11

Because you create more of what you already have.

Speaker 4 32:15

Okay, gotcha. So it's almost like investing in the thing that you have, like a deep well of of knowledge and expertise is gonna create a better return sort of thing.

Speaker 3 32:26

Less rational.

Speaker 4 32:28

It's a gringo over here. I've got a very gunner's So what you're saying is there's a X equals.

Speaker 3 32:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. Just like more more intuitive, you know, like more into like okay, what what gives me life is gonna produce more life and light and things, you know, and then you make it and then you manifest things. It is a process because we are against all of these paradigms and mindsets, and and and and the process to create that abundance, money, etc. I think it is a process, but we need to stay true to the to our calling. You know, and once we are in that abundance, everything will flow and everything will align. And you're gonna get to create amazing productions and things will f you know things will unwrap by themselves without without so much.

Speaker 4 33:33

Yeah, uh it would be less uh not less effort, but less uh resistance.

Speaker 3 33:38

Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 4 33:40

No, it's interesting because um and I need to I need to reread this, but it was a long time ago. So Pope John Paul II wrote a a letter to artists, uh, I think in the 90s maybe. Because he was an artist, he was an actor. He like wrote plays. People don't know that he's a pope, right? They don't think of him as but he was an actor. He loved he loved perfor the stage. Pope John Paul II.

Speaker 34:06

Ah, Pope, okay.

Speaker 4 34:07

So but he has this whole idea of the letter to artists and the the the role of artists in culture and society. And so what you're making me think about is this abundance idea, right? Is that from a spiritual standpoint almost, it's like I guess I struggle with sometimes this this maybe the overly rational brain, right? Of uh of on one side, and this is what moving to New York did for me, because I I didn't have this real exposure to artists and and seeing this artistic process and the flourishing of and what that does for culture and what it does for community, uh, because I was I was uh born and raised around Washington, DC, which is more like you know, talk about rational, right? Like government and you know my parents weren't in government, but like the whole the culture around it was was more about you know the practical and the institutional, if you will. So part of me looks at it from a spiritual standpoint and says, well, God gave you these abilities, right? Like, why would he want to give you those abilities until you go work in an office? Yeah, right?

Speaker 2 35:27

That's what I tell faith.

Speaker 4 35:32

She's hiding over there. She's not paying her. I've been preaching the same thing.

Speaker 1 35:36

Talk about talking about spiriting.

Speaker 4 35:37

I'm I'm preaching. I've never been preaching. She's delighting. Um so okay, so so there's the one part which I I can see like, oh, there's this is a strong word, but denying the gifts, right? Then there's this other part of the practicality of like, well, that's nice. Don't get me wrong, that's nice if you can do that, but that's not always is it a luxury, right? Is it uh I don't want to say an indulgence, but like, yeah, sure, it'll be great, you know, but um but sometimes you don't we don't get the luxury of being a performer. I'm sure there's millions of people throughout the centuries who had talents and abilities but were working on a farm to just get by, or working in a mine, or working in, you know, as a domestic servant or as a laborer of some sort, and they had all this ability, but then there was no outlet for it. So you could argue like, well, it's for them that you do that, right? Because they they didn't get the chance and I I might have the chance, uh, versus kind of the the practical side. Because I I struggle with it even even in a much smaller way in terms of um like doing this the this now production company work. It oh it it it to me felt a little bit like that's an it's an indulgence. Like just do something practical, like work in finance or some stable job or whatever. Um so how do you respond to that? That this like responding to the gifts that you have and but also the practicalities of the world.

Speaker 3 37:23

Well small question that's a difficult question. I would I wouldn't say it's um a luxury but a privilege. More a privilege, yeah, because I would say there are many people that don't get that opportunity, right? Especially in third world countries like Mexico, you know. I think myself I'm I'm in that process of finding that balance between this practicality and my gifts. But the more I give in into my purpose and into my recognition of these like deeper connection and knowing that everything is gonna be okay, the more everything unfolds.

Speaker 4 38:20

And because previously you you were putting up some resistance?

Speaker 3 38:24

Oh my goodness, yes.

Speaker 4 38:26

In what way why? Because it seems like to me you would you would have the most openness coming right out of school, right? Because you'd be like, oh, I'm gonna go do all these things.

Speaker 3 38:38

Because of this part of of my story where I I I told you I I was in Mexico I was trying to feed a box, you know, like um maybe I skip a little part of my story. But yeah, there was a lot of resistance at some point, and I did doubt it. And I get that resistance till today from people questioning myself. Um and and and and then even myself, I question myself uh when you have this big responsibility of you know, a team of dancers, uh big production, like I mean big for for Puerto, you know, we we're not talking like big theaters, but it was that was an elaborate production I saw the other night.

Speaker 4 39:34

I I I'm I'm in New York, I see a lot of a lot of performances. That was that was incredible.

Speaker 3 39:41

Thank you. Well, you know, well, that's a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, right? Yeah, and I want everything to go like a clock, so I put a lot of on on myself, and then I'm like, oh why? Like and maybe I should just be in a office and you know and give in and do something practical but then I imagine myself doing that and I'm like no no no no I rather just like I yeah I mm it might sound cliche but I just I I need to have faith and I'm I I'm not gonna lose hope you know I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna believe in myself and I'm gonna and I need to be strong you know and that was something I was thinking driving here I was like what I'm finding myself now and I tell my dancers all the time is that we need to be comfortable in uncomfortable places like find comfort in in discomfort in discomfort right so learning to be resilient and because we are dancing in high heels is not you know it's it hurts it's actually painful and we need to make it seem like it's like ha you know like we're just here doing turns and going splits and up and jump you know like and doing it with grace and beauty right but that is a translation for life for life because it's it's your your own attitude life is hard there are many challenges in life and then how are you going to appear and how are you going what's your attitude going to be towards these things you know so what have been the because everything comes with sacrifices right and you can't do it without them so what have been the sacrifices you've had to make to continue to pursue your your vocation well first of all I had to sacrifice my teenage years but I did I don't think it was a sacrifice. I see teenagers these days I have a teenager in my company and I'm like oh it's been so hard because they don't they don't know hardship. Right everything is convenient everything is on a screen and I'm like you know it gets me like desperate you know I it's about it's about yeah sacrifice is okay no maybe my teenage years maybe but not really because I'm I'm I'm I'm proud of that and maybe a lot of time with family a lot of time with family I did sacrifice a lot of time with family I left when I was 14 my home and never never came back leaving leaving it my uh on my own maybe a marriage mar marriage yeah my my partner because he couldn't understand me so I had to make a conscious decision it was just feeding on the box that he wanted me to be or being true to who I am and my essence with all that it takes my shows my classes my craziness my everything and that that was a big sacrifice because it it's hard but I'm also like no I'm I'm proud of that too you know so I don't know um time with my son I have a very a very yeah I have a toddler a three year three year old boy and yeah when I when I go back home after rehearsals and I see him and maybe he's sleeping you know because the nanny had to stay because I was rehearsing until late and I see him sleeping like an angel and I was like oh I wish I was here to read him a book you know but I was like okay but mommy is getting something together you know there's it there was a show to be done and now now that the the show happened now I have some more free time and I'm gonna I'm gonna be with him all the time. So I don't know it's just a balance.

Speaker 4 44:33

There's no exact and if it didn't there would be no uh flavor accomplishment or yeah satisfaction or whatever um so then so what connected to to to Puerto So you how did you end up here and then you was it when you became here that you founded your own dance company or you had done that before?

Speaker 3 44:55

No it was here it was here I think when I became a mother I was like oop there's no time to lo to waste I was like no it has to be now like I I like you know motherhood gives you something and is the power of give birth to to give birth you know and and creating life it expands you like like no other in in in my experience like nothing before so it like just projected me to being more like urgency. Yeah urgency like I I have no time to wait as you said as a as a dancer professional dancer the clock is ticking as an athlete the clock is ticking so yeah just after I moved into Puerto and my son was six months old I I went back to the studio and started uh founded Puerto Giuse and then and then this uh last December 24 uh I founded my school yeah finally so what does that look like you're so you have students you there's a a dance company part of it and in terms of performance yeah and then there's a school is that kind of the two parts yeah yeah yeah yeah it my dream was always to uh mirror the the system I I had in Cuba because they prepare they prepare kids young kids to become professional dancers and be ready to perform performing dance companies professional dance companies so I have now I have a kids groups that I am um very lucky to have and I I want to you know like take them into that professional stage maybe not with the military aspect of Cuba in a more gentle way but not but basically all all of my dancers have been my students like I formed them. Okay so you're really you know exactly their skills their abilities exactly you train them in your model exactly so then how are you obviously this is smaller population to pull from so how are you finding young students do you advertise how do people find you I'm curious about that process well most most of it has been word of mouth here in Puerto We're a very small town of course we do social media and we do the best to promote but the most um effective has been word of mouth and it's incredible I have a a very multicultural company of very different skills but I have people from Germany Canada the US um Argentina and the kids are kids that most of them I would say not all of them maybe all of them were born in in Puerto and their parents are just desperate to get them to get them into and and and because the kids these days and they get exposed to so much uh TikTok you know dancing they all want to dance.

Speaker 4 48:29

That's yeah you're right but there are no there are no dance schools at the I mean my dot my school is the first official dance school in Puerto It is okay yeah interesting yeah I f I forget about that part that TikTok certainly but even even some of the more uh you know Disney shows that become very popular whether it's like high school musical or there's a lot more dance and performance I was joking with Faith earlier that like I I didn't I I I played soccer with football for you of course but uh and I I didn't know I the idea of performing and also being an athlete didn't I thought you had to choose because there was a different id identity than being like on stage versus being on the soccer pitch. Just they're very different. Uh in my mind. But then I didn't have those influences where like the cool kids were also uh you know performing on stage I thought it was you know the for me the one route to being cool was to you know be the athlete. So um so I feel like I didn't even give that an opportunity to to to to to flourish. So that's great. So and then what are the age groups? Well I have uh the Keith's group is from 7 to 10 11 more or less then we have a teens that goes from 12 11 12 to 16 maybe 15 16 and then and then Puerto Gilles and they're how often are they are they coming in once a week twice a week it depends the kids twice a week and teens twice a week yeah okay so what has that done for you from where you were touring and traveling but doing more performing you're still performing but for your own company but you're doing a lot more teaching so what is that what is that like for you?

Speaker 3 50:34

That's I think going back to your question about sacrifice that's a that's a sacrifice now I had to sacrifice the life of a traveling of a professional dancer and being on tour on stage that is is just intoxicating in that aspect. Yeah I I did sacrifice because I always wanted I want I wanted to be I knew I wanted to be a mom so I knew I didn't want to be in the city. I wanted to go to a place like this and I kind of like how do you say like yeah I was like not convincing myself but knowing that this new stage of my life was going to give me um fru uh como frutos like it's gonna it was gonna give me back in very different ways. It's gonna be very fruitful exactly and spiritually also because being a teacher to kids and new generations for me is a very big responsibility because I am not only teaching them how to move and dance and express but I'm teaching them values of respect, unity of discipline exactly discipline resilience and respect most in some ways you're being a mother like a mentor a mentor but you're also being a maternal figure giving them an idea of and love yeah I've I I've realized some kids come like just wanting some love and affection and understanding and I I've told my teachers like we we don't know what happens behind sometimes. We don't know we don't know so we we really have to be at this space of joy and happiness and love and of course we are teaching them something but we need to gain their trust and and and be there for them.

Speaker 4 52:55

No I've seen that in my time in in in athletics the same thing you know certain you could see that certain teammates really needed a father figure. Yeah or just a teacher or a mentor to get like you say that positive feedback like hey you're doing well and you're progressing and I'm watching and I'm looking out for you and I'm proud of you and yeah those are all very very powerful and we we can't get enough of that like you know I'm I'm very blessed with a great dad but it doesn't mean I couldn't use always more encouragement from a teacher or a coach or or or dance instructor I never got the chance to do dance. But uh maybe maybe I missed my calling I don't know it's never too late.

Speaker 3 53:37

You're evaluating me now like you don't have the raw no no no judgment I'm a good teacher I can I can do magic even even with this raw piece of clay we can make nothing happen.

Speaker 4 53:53

Cool um well that's uh perhaps an awkward place to stop but we'll we'll we'll wrap it up because I know you have to go uh to spend time with your son I assume yeah you're gonna my son yeah I need to pick him up from both well that's very important so yeah very uh well thank you for spending time and to talk about the your experiences and giving people an idea of like what is it like to be a professional dancer and uh learn about your dad's jazz club and and you being in Cuba to traveling the States and Latin America and now here in Puerto with uh with your son. I'm sorry what is your son's name?

Speaker 3 54:29

Pio.

Speaker 4 54:29

Pio okay great well and now raising it raising a child here in this beautiful place so so thank you for being on the on the program and uh we'll we'll be tracking with your with your progress.

Speaker 3 54:41

Yes come to Puerto and but not too many not too many maybe not too many just a few no I hope we can we can be ready to receive you with something beautiful I mean I I I want people coming to Puerto and and see something cultural musical artistic you know and that oh Mexico they don't do those things.

Speaker 4 55:10

Well I will say uh and I I know I saw I was gonna wrap up but the thing that struck me and I I I should have given this feedback before so when I was there at that performance because I I was of course coming to to support my friend Faith and and and see her perform so it was a bonus to get to see your dance company and I thought the quality and the production value is what I see in New York but the benefit is because it is a kind of a smaller community you rarely get a one hour show. It's hard to do that in New York to get a one hour dance performance and then a one hour music performance because the venues are too expensive it's hard you have to move people quickly or the venues are too small or so it it's a great combination to have that intimacy and still very very high quality but more opportunity for you to perform for a longer period of time or and really kind of sink into it. I felt like I felt like I was in honestly I felt like I was in in Brooklyn or something. Like in some like cool like you know secret uh dance club or something.

Speaker 3 56:20

That's what we want to do more of and we really hope we can make it well well then I'll I'll when I when I come back because I think that's definitely happening I'll just I'll have to coordinate with one of your shows. Yes thank you for coming to our show and and yeah and thank you for being on the show.

Speaker 4 56:36

Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 56:37

My pleasure thank you