No Script. No BS. Just Life, Success & Struggle

I first came across Alexi Ruiz (Alexi Style Official) during a musicality workshop—and within the first 15 seconds, I knew I was watching someone operating at a completely different level.

Coming from a background in Human Performance and Injury Prevention, I’ve been trained to break down what makes a great coach or teacher versus an average one. It’s not just about knowledge—it’s about how you communicate, how you make people understand movement, and how you transfer skill.

Alexi does that at a master level.

This conversation was less of an interview and more of two people getting lost in the weeds—in the best way possible. We talk about his journey, Japan, learning Japanese, my time living in Egypt, emotional growth, boarding schools, and just life as a whole.

No script. No structure. Just a real, honest conversation.

Hope you enjoy it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right, welcome to the Unbreakable Dancer. And today I'm with Alexei Ruiz. I'm gonna make the intro short because we got lost in the weeds with this conversation from Japan, from dancing, from learning, from not learning, from basically everything one could talk about in yeah, two hours. So don't get triggered, don't get scared. You can always break this into pieces. However, at the end, the last couple minutes, we kind of got lost just because I'm literally building this podcast or building the runway as I'm landing the plane. So this is kind of the first one with an online guest. But if you don't know Alexi Ruiz or Alexi Styles on Instagram, or if you're not a dancer, yeah, no big deal. You're gonna meet a great person. You're gonna hear, I think, a fun conversation, and you're gonna enjoy it anyways, because this is just about life. However, if you do know who he is and you like him and you like his style and you like me, then you're gonna have a fun time because you know who we are. But like I said, if not, no worries, enjoy this anyways. And like I said, the last couple minutes, get a little bit funny, a little bit tech stuff going on, me not ending the podcast like a true pro, but god damn it, I'm learning as we go. So, with that being said, enjoy the podcast. I hope to see you all back. And uh subscribe to the Unbreakable Dancer if you have not yet done so and enjoy the podcast. All right, so I got Alexi Style here with me on the Unbreakable Dancer podcast. This is like episode four or something like this. Oh, yeah, true. And we're gonna have the video done too. So that will be, I think I post this bad boy on YouTube and see what happens and make some clips out of it. And uh yeah, but right before we were kind of recording, uh, I was just asking your last name, Ruiz, because I was speaking with Sabrina today and she told me that was your last name. And uh then I saw Alexi Style. So why don't you just go ahead and say exactly what you just said to me uh 10 seconds ago?

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yes, Alexis Styles was uh given a nickname by Mr. Arbel Torres. He was one of the co-founders of the concept of Salsa Congress back in the late 90s. And in 2002, he baptized me with a nickname since I was mixing all the styles and I was not having anything defined, like neither on one, neither on two, neither LA or New York. I was mixing everything and doing things with the music. So he said to me, hey, just just keep doing your Alexis thing, Alexis style that you do. And when I was actually requested to entry my artist name, you know, for the Congress, I was so confused trying to figure out a new name and super corny, super cheesy names, and then I realized what Albert Torres said to me, and then I said, okay, that's it. I will I will I am who I am, Alexis style, you know. That's how we started.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

So I'm gonna throw you out on the uh under the bus here. How how old are you now?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

I'm 43.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

I just turned 43. Just when was your birthday? It's 27th of February. 27th of February, what is this, March? Ah, happy birthday. Nice, man. Thank you, man.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

So so I took the first music class with you in the Stuttgart uh salsa marathon. And uh yeah, man, I was uh blown away by obviously your teaching style. I'll I'll get to that compliment actually in a second. But before that, you told some funny stories about basically you in Cuba when you were learning how to play the percussions and the in the congas, I think it was, and um or the congo. How do you say that in plural? What the congas. Yeah, exactly. And uh so did you start as a dancer or a musician or both?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Uh thing was both. Uh everything started as a play. Well, I never had the dream to be a dancer. I never thought about it, you know. My thing was always the music, and I started playing music with my aunt, which uh she was my my my tutor, like art tutor. I learned how to paint, I learned how to act, and I I learned how to how to play instruments. And dancing was because of my parents, most mostly because of my mother. Together with my father, they started dancing, and then I grew up watching them dance. So kind of I started like like a game, fusing in both of them. But eventually dance was the thing that took over like abruptly since uh after my parents split it up. My mother needed the dance uh assistant. So she scouted me, like, okay, stop doing whatever you're doing after school and don't do more martial arts or whatever you do after, and I want you to school, and I will teach you how to dance, how to teach, and I will pay you, you know. And that's how basically um I started. Yes. I started when I was 12. I started teaching, well, assisting my mother basically.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

But that was uh basically um that was my beginning, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

And you said martial arts. You had some story where you were like in Japan or something. Because I remember you mentioned that in the uh yeah, in the um, whatchamacallit, in the in the festival. You had some stories kind of bouncing around. And yeah, I just made a note of that. So what was your deal with martial arts in in in Japan?

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Well, before I traveled to Japan, I was since a little kid very fascinated about the culture, uh, about everything regarded to Japan eventually. And I started to to practice martial arts first. Was my my cousin, which is uh is uh sensei, he's a karate teacher. He lives in Germany, he has a dojo there. So he was my where? Yeah, it's um uh it's it's close to the border between Switzerland and Germany. He has a school there, quite big now. So he's teaching karate there. All his life he has been dedicated to karate. So he was my first teacher. So I started training with him. And eventually after that, I started to try different uh other styles of martial arts like kenpo and stuff like that. And then when I went to Japan, there I wanted to continue training. And I continued eventually um taking mostly like Iido and Aikido. That was basically what I learned most. And I was always fascinated by the katana, you know, the the Japanese sword. And that's what actually I studied there.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Okay, and so then how long? Sorry, man, I was just making sure this is the so everybody and you too, I am fucking landing this, I'm building the runway as I'm landing this plane, man. I have no clue how to use this Riverside app. Shout out to Yuri, the other guy that has uh like a salsa podcast, because he was the one that kind of told me about Riverside, and I'm just crossing my fingers that when this motherfucker is done, we have like a show, yeah. But so sorry to get off. That's why I didn't want to be rude because you might see sometimes I look at a different direction, and I'm just making sure this thing is recorded. It's running. Yo, but so then so yeah, so your brother was living your uh Switzerland, Germany. You were doing martial arts. Sorry, back up for a second because how old were you when so when you went to Japan, was that for martial arts or was that for dance? It was for dance. Okay, that that's what I was thinking. Okay, okay, but still with the culture and the martial arts. So, how long were you doing martial arts for then?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Well, in Japan, I did it for like well, I stayed in Japan for eight years. Oh shit, really? Eight years. So wow, what were you okay? Whoa. What were you doing in Japan then?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Well, dancing. That's how I got there. Ah, I thought you just went for like a vacation. Okay. So wait, you got a so did I miss something when I was looking at my volume? Did you did you say how you got to Japan? Yeah, through dancing, through the culture. That's basically.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Okay, but then you were you were living there, you were working at a school, or what happened? Yeah, I was working for the cultures, uh, culture school. This is like a when you said a culture center in Japan, it's like it's not just like a house that holds different classes, it's basically one of the branches of a big company, mostly railroad companies. They they normally have the railroad, they have like um uh department stores and also culture centers within the same department building. So it's quite big eventually. So that's how I started to work uh through the culture in some classes. And eventually, after four years, I managed to get my permanency and I started to kind of build up my own thing. And crazy.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

How old were you when you went there?

SPEAKER_01 8:30

17. Wow, really? Yeah. I was uh I wasn't even 18 yet when I started already teaching.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Crazy. So you so your brother was a martial arts uh no, no, my cousin. My cousin. Your cousin, but you did martial arts growing up then. Yes. Okay, and then but I bet a bit seriously, if you were really that um impressed with the culture to go there at 17. I I I fell in love.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

It was like so I I felt this connection with with with it. When I when I arrived to Japan, I knew for the moment I landed that I didn't want to go back to Guatemala. Wow. I was I went there for the first three months, which was basically the tourist uh period for for for trying out, you know. Sure. And after that, after two months, I realized no, I don't want to go back, you know. So I actually figured out how to, you know, get a contract. I went back and eventually I was uh finally um accepted. They sent the papers, I signed everything, and I moved. And that took, yeah, yeah. And is your mom cool with that? Does she didn't need you for the school anymore? Or well, of course she needed me then, but uh she couldn't just clip my wings. Yeah, sure. I said to her, Listen, I have this opportunity. She said to me the never the mambo, the rumba and the cha-cha-cha, go away.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Go and experience. And you so you went there more for dance or martial arts or culture, all three?

SPEAKER_01 9:58

But I knew that eventually I will end up um, you know, wind up with both. I I wanted to to learn about the culture and the language and everything, so um that's how I felt uh in fact, you know, I learned Japanese quite alright. Not just not so long ago, this past weekend, I was um in a festival and I met one um one um girl from Japan, and she knew one of my colleagues when I was working there, and she's an amazing dancer now, quite young. And it's like, okay, uh I asked her her name, is just from Japan, and start, you know, rec recapping my Japanese, and she was quite impressed because I don't use Japanese at all, you know. And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was quite amazed myself that still, after so many years, still stuck in my head. I cannot get rid of it. Yeah, yeah, right. So yeah, and I did I did different things. I actually eventually, by pure coincidence, I got uh a couple of things here. Um that's like uh my VHS all in Japan.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Oh yeah, look at you, man. Crazy, how yo!

SPEAKER_01 11:06

I was like uh and I had a DVD as well, and everything is in Japanese, so it was selling like hot bread because it was quite unusual to see a foreigner instructing in Japanese with Japanese. I mean, not subtitles, but in fact speaking Japanese, yeah, quite unusual. So yeah, it was um it was quite a success uh back in the days. We're talking about before YouTube, man. Imagine that. Sure, sure, sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

So you were so you were also doing martial arts then, right? Growing up, obviously. Yeah, and so at uh 17, what what was your um time like split? Were you doing just as much martial arts as dancing or a lot more dancing and martial arts was kind of like dance took over, man, completely. I was like so. From what, from 12? Because you were like the assistant to your mom or what? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Well, uh exactly. Before that, I I mean, even though I was actually still uh working at the school with my mom, I still couldn't attend classes and and I was actually part of the competition team. We used to do some Pan American Pan American uh competitions. I went to some some gigs in El Salvador at the Capitol, some people from the States came in, you know, um mostly Katan, not so much in fighting, but mostly like uh showing, you know, kata, like figures.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yeah, yeah, sure, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

And in solo, right? So that's what I actually excelled mostly. And that actually was a nice foundation for me to do choreographies. Because doing a kata is like a choreography, right? You have repetition, discipline to gain proper muscle memory, you know, how to break down things. Yep. Yeah, that's basically how I managed to merge both, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Yeah, yeah. I mean, because at the end of the day, I mean, there's that famous samurai that basically said the same thing too, right? Which is like, you know, you need to be a master in everything from like cooking to killing to like, you know, flowers to poetry to torture. Yeah, I mean, you need that's basically how it is, you know. Yes, for sure. So I could really see the be there being quite a big connection between uh martial arts and obviously dancing. I mean, I was when I was younger, I was a little bit of a troublemaker. I'm 44, so I'm actually older than you. Oh, wow. And uh when I was uh yeah, when I was young, I I punched too many people in the face. I got myself in a bit of trouble. So I got I went to military school and I went to some other places. Oh really, and uh yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, and and I and I danced before salsa, it was hip-hop and electro. And um I I definitely see the the the correlation between the two. I mean, one is a little bit used more to uh protect yourself, so to speak, where the other one's it more uh to express like joy. But I mean, yeah, there's there's quite a big similarity between the two, actually. It does. This is body movement at the end of the day, huh?

SPEAKER_01 14:01

You mentioned hip-hop, and that's something that I also did parallel to dance in salsa because I didn't like to dance salsa. My thing was mostly in the martial arts, and hip-hop was the thing, you know, soul train in the 90s. I grew up with that thing. Yeah, yeah. We didn't have teachers, so the only thing you could do is just like get a VHS from a friend, you know, cop in from the TV, and then just go to the to the yard, to the backyard, and and try things, you know, get bruises and you know. And actually, martial arts helped me a lot because it gave me the strength and the flexibility to do more things, you know, like a b-boy stuff and hip-hop stuff. And salsa was kind of yeah, a thing, but it was more for a grown-up thing for me. I saw my parents dancing, so I didn't feel so connected to it. And also the music they they used to listen at the time was a little bit too mature for my taste. I was more like a poppy, more, you know, more cheesy, I would say. But then when once the the pop styles started to merge in the in the 90s, I started to go like, hmm, that sounds something that like I can dance to. It was more appealing. And eventually I just got into it, you know. Yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Yeah, I had uh I so when I was in prep school, because I went uh after I realized I wasn't as badass that I thought I was, uh, I went to uh normal boarding schools, right? And so actually I went to an emotional growth boarding school for two years where I like lived in the woods, fucking drank water and ate like bread and spoke about my feelings for like four hours a day in a group. Yeah, I was not allowed to go home. Yeah, it was wild, man. And all those schools have been like shut down now for like air quotes child abuse. But I mean, actually, there was no when I was there, it was fine. It was a little bit alternative what they did, of course. We had these things called life steps where they would put us in a room with like our peer group for like three days and we basically wouldn't sleep. And they would bring us into like, yeah, pretty, pretty wild states of mind. Yeah, crazy, yeah. And then we would have like uh these like you know, we would be like deliriously tired. And so then they would make us like ride all our feelings down and we would do like these uh emotional growth things where we would be like fucking screaming as loud as we could. Yeah, it was wild, man. Crazy. Something like that for youth these days, I don't think it's allowed anymore. No, no, no, no. So so it's actually quite funny. Well, not quite funny, but interesting that um Paris Hilton, I guess, went to one of them too. There wasn't many of them. Really? And she claimed that she was like, I think, sexually abused or whatever, which I mean, I'm not saying it was or it didn't happen. And so then I was doing an online course like learning how to do this internet stuff. And they were like, okay, well, we want you to talk about like to the people in the course, we want you to talk about something that happened in your life on YouTube. And at the time I had maybe 10,000 subscribers on YouTube. So I was like, okay, I can't just pop up on my YouTube completely off the cuff and like off-brand, like talk about something random. So I said, okay, but I have a Google account with my name. I'll just do, I'll, I'll do it on that one. Everybody has a few emails. And so I just turned on my camera and I was like, hey guys, so I went to a place called Mount Bachelor Academy in Primeville, Oregon, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it was like a two-minute video and I forgot about it. And so then, like, one day I get this email somehow, and it's like, you have like 200 notifications on this one video. And I was like, oh wow. And so I went back and everyone's like, You're such a lying piece of shit. You were never there. They abused. And I was like, whoa. Really? Yeah. So I don't know if like it went crazy after I left. Cause when I was there, I mean, it really put me like on a good path. Like, I have nothing bad to say about it. And then people are like, I was abused, and I was this and I was that. And so I don't know if it like changed after I left and like it really went downhill. They mentioned some teachers that were very helpful for me and said that they were doing a lot of the stuff. So I was kind of like, okay, well, that's a little bit strange because that would be like me finding out that, you know, uh Alexi uh Ruiz is like murdering people, you know, when he's not it. Uh so I found that a little bit strange. But I mean, if a whole bunch of the people left and a whole bunch of new people came in, I mean, anything is possible. But I I it was crazy, man. I had people saying I was lying, that I had never been there. And I was like, wow. So either way, after that experience, yeah, that was so after that experience, I went to a normal boarding school. And um, how the fuck, what was even the point of this? I was what were we talking about? I went off on that random tangent about uh, you know, like oh yeah, dancing, dancing, dancing, sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I realized like when we had a pretty cool band at the at the at the boarding school, and I would always want to dance, but yo, I was terrible. But I for some reason when music came on, I just wanted, I wanted to move, I wanted to dance. So then I went down to University of Tampa because I chose not to play sports in college, went down to University of Tampa, I started getting in the clubs. And I started realizing, okay, so all my buddies are like going up to the girls and they're like, yo, what's up? And the girls are like, yo, piss off. And then I was like, okay, well, if they're just gonna tell me to piss off, like I'm not even gonna try. So then I would just dance, have a good time. And then at the end of the like evening or whatever, the girls would be like, Hey, what's up? Who are you? And I'm like, uh, really? Are you just gonna tell me to piss off after I tell you my name? No, you're really cool. And I was like, oh, wow, this is kind of like a little bit of a hack to get to know the girls. And I have a blast doing it. I'm like, so my buddies get told to piss off. They hate the time at the bar. I just have a blast and I'm dancing, having a good time, anyways. And then at the end, people did the girls chat with me. I was like, this is huge. And that was when I fell in love with like even more so because I enjoyed it. And then I was like, yo, snap, I'm gonna get to know like chicks, and I don't even have to talk to them because they just talk to me after. I'm like, this, I wish I would have learned this when I was like 10.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Yeah, I mean, it's it's an amazing tool, you know. It really connects you in such a level to to any kind of people, you know. Um it just opens a completely different door that doesn't really have to do anything to do with the environment where you live in, but you know, internationally speaking, it's a universal language. I mean, dancing, music, both, both of those things are kind of connecting people, like it's it's amazing the things that actually can do, you know, how beneficial.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Well, speaking of that, when did you start playing all your instruments and when did your instruments become a thing for you? Well, I think it's pure curiosity.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Man, I think, well, I learned, as I said, I learned some fundamentals from my from my aunt, but I left too early. And at that time, you know, I was always so passionate about instruments, so I said to myself, I just gonna learn. But it's like I didn't have the time to to go and take classes because I was busy working, I was teaching. So I said to myself, okay, I will buy the instruments and I will learn on the go. And I start to just buy a lot of batch of instruments just by pure curiosity. Okay. So I just kind of learned. I I got the luck as well. Like, let's say, when I was in in school, in primary school, I joined the corpse, and that's where I started to learn to play the trumpet. Okay, okay. My dream was to play the saxophone, but all the saxophones were taken. So the teacher said, okay, sorry, man, that's a that's a trumpet. Okay, let's start, let's start with the trumpet. And I always was jealous watching my friends playing the saxophone, right? So I said to myself, one day I will get myself a saxophone. And with the time I bought a flute, you know. Yeah, yeah, sure, of course. I mean, like the flute is kind of. My mom played the flute, funny enough, so I know the flute really well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is basically one of the first instruments that I I bought, like a Woodwinds, the proper. Yep. And then with the time I bought a saxophone, it just basically self taught. And I joined a band. The funny thing is, like, you know, I I was not really thinking to make music. I always did music mostly because of dancing.

unknown 21:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Sometimes the thing is this one, it's re was really hard in Japan to get the music that I wanted for the shows. As I said, during that time, you didn't have internet as you have it now with a lot of the. Yeah, Spotify didn't exist, yeah. No, it's it's like it's a lot of random songs. I mean, you go to the normal CD store and you find the cheesiest, the most commercial type of music. And when I saw these dancers from New York and from LA dancing to such a like rare music at the time, I never had a chance. So I start to get to known with DJs in South Geeks. And those DJs start to kind of you know plant in the seed like this is this artist, blah, blah, blah. And I start to get more knowledge. But then, you know, it costs money. You need to invest in music. I have cases, like cases, crates of CDs that I invest buying, trying to find things not just for classes, but mostly for performing. When I was active performing, uh I was like really everybody was jealous about the music. It happens sometimes that you went to a congress in the early 2000s, and at least five five numbers, five groups will perform the same song. And that felt so lame. Yeah, sure. Come on, guys. And you start thinking, who copy me? It's not that anybody's copy, just simply you don't have many options. So everybody was like trying to get as much weird and rare music as possible because that's kind of you know confidential, right? So I start to kind of um mix songs, and all the songs that I was um editing was not in software. I did everything manually with a CDJ and a CD recorder, and I was mixing the songs live and recording live. Okay. A lot of time. Once you fail the fader, then the CD is done. You need to replace another one. Until one of my friends, ex-student, said to me, Hey man, I'm uh he's a pianist. So I'm actually working with sound now, and I have a program for the computer where you can edit stuff there. So I'll give it to you. So he bought it for me. And I was like, okay, thank you, man. And it was actually that that program was laying on on the desk for a year. And didn't we try it to touch it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Usually the most amazing things happen like that.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah. I was thinking, you know, I'm very analog. I can do analog. I start to get um the hand of it. But then I was thinking, okay, some of the sounds that I wanted to add, like special effects, was too difficult to make um like with two turntables. Yeah. So I said to myself, okay, let's give it a try. So I installed it. Uh the program was called Acid Pro for Windows. And the program appeared and no manual. The thing didn't have a manual. So I started thinking, what the heck is this? You know? And I started everything in Japanese. I can't read Japanese, but I cannot read all the kanji. You know, you have uh hiragana, katakana, and kanji. And kanji is kind of I I knew maybe 50, now maybe can 25, but it's more over 3,000, you know, you can, it's impossible, right? So and then I I remember I press one key on the keyboard and a piano row editor appeared. Like, and with the mouse, ping, boom, start, you see the keys of the piano, and you can start drawing things, it starts to appear on the timeline. Like my mind was oh my god. And I start to pump, peep, pump, pimp, you know, experimenting with uh with the keyboard, making a montuno, like a salsa piano thing. And I think, oh my god, that would be cool. And then um I saw this percussion path. I I still have it. I don't know if you can see it. I put there.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

Ah, yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those have saved many parents um headaches.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

So that eventually was like a revolution at the time because you could play the conga there and the timbal and the bongo, and I was thinking, okay, this is good. And you used to take that tomb to the school, and I was showing the people this is the conga, this is the club. And it was like a toy for me, you know. I was like a kid showing the students what I'm learning, right? At the time I already went to Cuba, 1997 was my first trip. And there, like, I started to get bombarded with the music. That's how I started to get to play the congas and the timbales and a little bit of everything. And what brought you to Cuba? Was it for dancing then? Yeah, that was purely to get to know more about the dance and to get to know about the music because I wanted to learn. You know, I didn't have the chance to see live bands as you know, you will you you will assume that in Guatemala it's live bands. Of course, we have great bands. But uh at the time I was too young to actually go hang out to those uh gigs. When I started teaching with my mom, my mom already knew about these things, she used to talk about these things, but I was like, I I want to see this by my own, right? And I had the opportunity to travel to Cuba, and in Cuba I met uh which became my mentor. He he died in 2015. His name was uh Daniel, Daniel Rodriguez. This guy was a hard, hardcore guy, like really, you know, didn't have the pedagogy that we are having nowadays, but he was like uh like a mentor, you know. Used to say the the drum is the conga, you have to you have to be careful because the conga is gonna hurt you. Then you will hurt the conga. And at the end, you will be able to communicate, you will make the conga talk. So it's all about you know you have to you have to go through the pain. You know, about skill in my hands. And conga is one of the instruments that in the beginning I didn't want to play much because I it was too hard. Yeah, you know, it's like it doesn't matter how hard you hit, it doesn't sound good, right? Yeah and it doesn't sound loud. It's just it's just very painful, right? And then when I started thinking about conga, maybe it's not for me. And I said I would buy a bongo. So I buy my first set of bongo. I said, okay, the bongo might be easier, but then I figured out it's really painful for the needs because you have to clinch it between your legs. And then fingertips, man, my goodness, it was so much pain. And I said to myself, no, maybe this is not the one. I because I was dancing and I was like watching all these uh pioneers back in the days, and I always saw the timbale, like Tito Puente. Tito Puente was my hero, like for many other dancers. Like, okay, this guy was a dancer, he was playing and being so cocky, so flashy, so I will get myself a timbal. So I I I bought a set of timbales, and I was like, okay, this is my instrument because I don't have to hit it with my hands, right? But then you realize that it's not just about hitting it, you need to make it sound nice. Yeah. I started to take classes in Japan. Eventually, I met some people that um they work with the Orchestra de la Luz, one of the greatest salsa bands from Japan. And all of the members were Japanese and they played better than many Latino bands, you know. So I had the chance to meet some of them and they showed me some of the techniques. So I had already bongos and I had the timbales, and the conga was at the last one. I said, okay, I will I will maybe play one day. So I started actually playing the bongos just for pure fun. And I was teaching in a city called Kyoto. Kyoto is very beautiful. And in that club where I was teaching, the um the owner of the pub, because it's like a pub slash dance dance dance dance school kind of dance club. So after the classes, I used to eat dinner, like a Cuban food, because the one of the staff used to make Cuban food, and I used to play the bongos, right? And this guy said to me, hey, listen, I would like to have some live music here one day, and there is a band, a Latin jazz band that is quite uh up and coming, it's quite popular, and I would like to bring them. Would you like to play with them? I said, dude, I'm not a musician. I mean, I know what I know, but I I I'm not really for a gig. So would you like would you like just try to jam with them? I said, well, I could try. So he called them, and it was uh half Japanese and half uh from the States. Uh a guy from from LA, one from Utah, one from Washington, DC. The drummer was from Washington, D.C., the trombone player was from Utah, and the trumpet was from LA. And we kind of started to click, you know? And so I was playing with them, and they were not playing Latin, Latin. Like with some Bossa Novas, some Latin jazz, super cheap with the drum set. It was not even team bales, you know, it was not really Latin. So I kind of already knew the foundation. I said, guys, you sound good, but you kind of need to sound more Latin. I said, okay, can you teach us? I said, well, I could try to teach you the concepts that I learned. So, okay, let's do this together. Okay, start kind of joining them and start teaching them. Okay, this is the concept of the clave, things that I learned in Cuba, and start to plant in. And then I start to, in retrospect, learning from the language of jazz because I didn't know that. Yeah, and that's what they were kind of, I guess. Exactly. They were good at jazz. Yeah, yeah. And and how to compose, how to arrange, which I didn't have any clue about. You know, it was funny because I was actually in one of the gigs with them. Okay, let's start with a song called Night in Tunisia. Okay, I was trying to cue them in. Okay, let's go. Five, six, seven, eight. And looking at me, dude, don't talk to us like a dancer. What the fuck is five, six, seven, eight? It's one, two, three, four. Man, I said, what do you mean? I said, you're counting on eights. That's that's not how we count. Yeah, they're on four counts, right? Four. Yeah, yeah. I understood that it's dancing count and musical count is different. So I start to understand the difference between choreographical timing and musical timing. So that kind of you know put me in my place to really pick a lane and and learn to differentiate both and how to communicate with both, right? I mean, to pick a lane and choose both.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

I mean, basically what you did. Usually people pick a lane and stay in one. You pick a lane and like, fuck it, I'll take both.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

I was I was like skating on both sides, man. So one side learned I learned from one's from one to another, was exchanging information. And especially in Latin music, you start to see that the dance and the music are so well connected. And that starts to kind of really explode my head, you know, start to really understand much more how to connect the dancing with the music. Teaching them the musicians how to how to understand the Latin music and the question they asked me, very technical question, also put me in a position where I can actually figure out better systems and better techniques to how to break down for dancing students. Yeah, yeah. Have a clue about the music, but then you understand it's very important for them to understand about the music, and now I have the tools that I have learned from them, experiencing with them. So it's that kind of you know growing back growing together, right? The music side and dancing side growing at the same time, you know. It was a great school.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

So that's really interesting because uh I was gonna say I wrote a note uh in my phone when I was gonna speak with you. And uh one of the things I recognized uh with you was quite funny because uh, you know, I had met um the way I met Anietzie was actually really funny. I would have been dancing salsa for like, I don't know, man, three, yeah, basically like five months. And it was, I think, the conference in Düsseldorf, which no longer exists anymore. And uh I had broke up with my ex-girlfriend who got me dancing salsa, and I came here, and then I remember seeing her in the class, and she was like, I can't believe you're here. Like you're ruining my experience. So it was like, oh shit, sorry. And uh and it was a Nietzsche's class, and I was like trying, it was a spinning class, and I was trying to do some spins, and I was terrible, man. And uh and I didn't know who a Nietzsche was, and he was like, yo, if anyone wanna if anyone has any questions, like don't hesitate to ask. Dog, we're in Germany, no one's gonna say anything. So I'm like, okay. So I just kept raising my hand and nobody else had any questions, but I knew I was asking the questions that like everybody wanted the answers to. You know what I'm saying? Like Germans, they they they want to ask, but they just have been told not to. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So then um I remember we were doing uh learning how to like prep the turn, and uh and he did it in a circle. And I was like, oh, that's interesting because everybody always kind of I've always seen this like, you know, I call it the Christmas tree, like where they prep the turn kind of more looking like a Christmas tree. And uh and I yeah, right. And I found his circle really nice. And I was like, oh, that's cool. Hey, excuse me, man, why do you do a circle and not, you know, the Christmas tree thing? And he's like, Oh, yeah, you know, I just find it nicer. I was like, Oh, okay, that's cool. And so then I leave and I thought, oh, what a nice guy. And a buddy of mine, a Mexican guy, was like, yo, isn't will you just buy that a Nietzsche guy? And I was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that was his name. I didn't know anybody. And he was like, bro, I think that dude won like the world salsa championships and like da-da-da-da-da-da. And I was like, wow, how cool is that? Like, what a for me, I was like, what a humble guy. Like, here he is. I just thought I didn't know who he was. And uh, so that was kind of the initial way that I met a Nietzsche. But what most people didn't know about me was my master's is in human performance. So I studied basically, my undergrad is like sports physio. So I could, I'm the guy if you watch an American football game, when someone gets injured and the guy with the medical kit runs out and does all the tests, that's what I studied. And uh and then we do all the rehabs. So if Ronaldo, or let's take an American, if uh LeBron James sprains, uh Terror's gets an injury, I do the rehab. Where if like his wife gets an injury, a physical therapist would do it. Now, obviously, a lot of PTs, physical therapists, also get our degree or we get their degree, and we kind of have like a marriage where we do both. But that's what I studied. And then I chose to do my master's in human performance. And in that, I learned a lot about teaching and what makes a great teacher. And there's a book by Daniel Koile, I think it's how you pronounce his name, The Talent Code. And this dude, he's a journalist, he took 10 years, went to like, God, where was it? He went to Russia for tennis because all the tennis players come off of like one tennis court. He went to Brazil for um soccer and he studied these hot beds of talent, is what he called it. And ironically enough, he also went to Germany to study how a hotbed like full of talent can not, can, can, can collapse. And so he was talking about like why, like I said, uh Brazil was so successful in soccer, Russia in tennis. Um, I think it was like, you know, art schools for art. He went to China, I think he was all over the world. And not to keep rambling here, but basically he had like certain points where um what made a master master level teacher. And usually they're like 40 plus years old, like because you need experience. And uh one of the things I'll never forget in the book, he said is it's like, you know, they know how to connect with everyone. And a great example is I was at a strength and conditioning seminar with a very famous strength coach, and he had some kids and he said, Okay, I want you to step on the box, and then you're gonna drop off the box, and I want you to explode up the minute you hit the ground. So basic plyrometrics. And some kids like, okay, I'm gonna do it. And he steps off the box and he there's no explosion. Yeah, it was terrible. And the in the in the um the the coach was like, Hey, you know those balls that you buy for like 25 cents in a gumball machine that you bounce and they bounce like rocket high, like right away. And the kid's like, yeah. He's like, I want you to land like that. The kid's like, okay. And so boom, he does it. And he's like, Yeah, there you go. So then, like a few kids come by, he uses that same example. And then another kid comes and he's like, okay, same thing. Kid lands, no explosion. And he's like, you know that ball? And the kid's like, yeah. And he's like, try to land like that. Kid does it again, nothing. And so when he's like, you know, when a tomato is a little bit like going bad and you drop it on the floor, it just kind of lands like a beanbag. The kid's like, yeah, we have those at home all the time. It's like, that's what I don't want you to land like. The kid's like, oh, okay, boom, boom, starts jumping. And so when I was with yeah, yeah. And so they know how to connect with everyone and they have the experience to do it. And you and a Nietzsche are the two that I have seen. So a Nietzsche at first, that's why I brought him up, is because I remember, oh, this Alexi music guy, who's this asshole? Like, who is this guy? Like when I do my musicality, I do it with a Nietzsche. So I kind of walked in, you know, open-minded. I mean, Salsa's a cool community. I'm sure you're a nice guy. I didn't know who you were. And within like five seconds, I mean, it was it maximum. I just the way that the presence that you held in the room, the way that you started it, I was like, yo, this dude is legit. And then by the, I mean, by minute two, nonetheless, by the end of our workshop, I was just like, yo, this, him and Anichi, do you are the two that have this master level teaching style where you really know how to connect with everyone? And since then, man, I've been like, you know, I was like your biggest fan because it's cool when you walk into something being like, oh, this guy's gonna be amazing. Yeah, maybe they suck, but it's, you know, it's it's you're biased, you think it's gonna be good. But if you walk in being like, Yeah, you know, okay, we'll see. And somebody asked me right before, they're like, yo, are you gonna do the social? And I looked at my watch. I'm like, give me, give this guy 10 minutes and I'll let you know. Meaning, like, I was curious to see how good it was gonna be. And then I ended up coming early and staying late both days with you. Appreciate it, man. So when did you know? I mean, I so actually with that long ramble, I would say, when did you know that you start were being good at teaching? But if you started helping at 12 with your mom, I mean, you were kind of thrown to the fire at a young age. Yeah, that's one of the things, but that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

It's like I could have chose not to do it because I think you have to feel the calling in your heart. You know, I I like communicating with people, I like breaking down things, right? And eventually dance for me became a therapy because I was extremely shy. Like I was so introvert. That's why I said, you know, I don't want to dance, I want to play music. Yeah, because yeah, sure. Sure. Music will be my own bubble. Yeah, 100%. But you know, dancing is like in performing, like okay, dance is one thing, but performing in front of people, people are watching, you know, I couldn't think of it, you know. And eventually, you know, dancing and teaching kind of make me kind of break the shell in a way. Um and the most the the sometimes the thing you fear the most is you have you have to kind of confront. And like it or not, I had to do it. And I said, okay, I had the opportunity, let's say, to go to Japan. A very unknown place. I don't know anybody really, except for the guy who actually gave me the opportunity. I don't know the language. And if I would have the fear not to go because I want to stay in my comfort zone, I will lose the opportunity. Yeah. So what do I have to lose, right? Right. So I said to myself, no, I just gotta jump and and and and see what's gonna happen, right? Like it or not, okay, I can come back and that's it. Yeah. And and that was basically that leap completely completely changed me because I was so nervous. I was afraid.

SPEAKER_00 41:34

Especially back then, man, because I mean people think now, you know, you go on Instagram and you look at like Jap Japanese videos and you're like, oh, okay. And you see so much about Japan, you think you're actually there. Yeah. Where but back then, man, when like, yeah, sure. There was no, there was nothing. I went to Egypt in 2008, I guess. I forget when I moved there. I lived there for five and a half years. And I remember I was just, they they needed, I was almost in Mexico for pro soccer, and that was gonna take a little while. Then I think some coach got kidnapped and thrown in the fucking trunk of a car by some. So my mom was like, please don't go there. And so then I went to Egypt. And I, yo, I remember I woke up the first day. So I get there, you know, I fly there, whatever, and I wake up and I it's to the call, the call of prayer. Yeah. And I it was like on a pretty, I was, I don't know, I was in a in a very nice uh flat, like apartment, but quite high up. And I remember I woke up being like, I felt like I was in a Hollywood movie where, you know, it's like one of those Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio, whatever movies. And I walked to the window and I look, and you see all these, we were above other buildings, so you see all these massive satellites covered in dust, and it's kind of like uh the the horizon is a little bit also yellow-ish because there's just so much sand or whatever in the air. And I was like, yo, I never forgot that. And I was like, yo, what did I just get myself into?

SPEAKER_01 42:55

If only you had a video on Instagram to check it out, right? It was nothing at the time. Nothing, nothing. You just gotta gamble and just jump, jump. It has to take the leap of faith, man. But that's that's kind of the beauty of you know, not knowing exactly what you're getting, because everything that you experience, you have no expectation. And the lack of expectation is what makes you really have a fulfilling experience. You know, the expectation is actually one of the reasons why people suffer the most. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't get as you expected, then you are disappointed. You should not get disappointed by anything. You're disappointing yourself by expecting something, right? Sure, 100%. Is always a problem here. And that's why, you know, maybe it was terrible, but for me it was a dream come true. Because of course it was hard. I will not lie to you, that say everything was super smooth. Of course, I had a lot of hardships there, right? A lot of culture shocks. Like a first, you know, you get introduced to some Japanese little girls and say, hello. And the first thing is that I wanna go give the give a hug and kiss. Like, no, no, no, no, you don't do this, you know. You and I never experienced some so such a lack of physical contact in my life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A youngster, 17 years old, like everything is so easy, everything is fun. Latino, you know. Sure, sure. Very respectful. Time, my gosh. Like, you know, you don't arrive late. Sometimes you don't know what what to order because you don't read the menu, and you just go iny mini miny mo, boom, and something weird appeared on the plate. It's like it's a lot of things, man. I could write a book about all this crazy experience and all the culture shock experience that I had at the time. Mostly because, you know, of course, ignorance and then other things, lack of information, right?

SPEAKER_00 44:43

Yeah, but I mean, ignorance, sure. I mean, I think ignorance has like a negative connotation. Yeah, it means like like we purposely were ignorant or something like that. And I think a lot of times, I mean, uh, it was I was thinking of a picture, and this is a little bit correlated, but then I'll get back on the uh on the um lack of lack, like ignorance thing. But there was a there's a meme that went around a while ago. And you know, it was a dog looking in one of those like fun house mirrors, right? And so if you look in the mirror, there's like six or seven of you or whatever. And so one dog, there's two pictures of it. One dog looks into the the fun house mirror, if you want to call it that, and he gets guarded because he's like, yo, there's seven other dogs that I gotta defend myself against. Like, I need to get in fight mode. And then they showed the picture again, and it was a dog looking into the same mirror, and he his tail was wagging, he was all excited because he saw seven dogs that wanted to play with him. You know what I'm saying? And so I mean, I think a lot of times, you know, of course there's hardships no matter what, just because, you know, we we can only factor in so many situations in our head that will happen about a situation we don't about a country we don't know. But at the same time, there's so many people that are, you know, the common denominator of all their problems, and they don't realize that it's them. And I think one of the biggest things I learned was, you know, uh Americans are always like, yeah, well, you know, in this country, whatever, this is wrong. And a buddy of mine told me, he said, Dave, don't ever say it's wrong, say it's different. It's different, correct. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

It's a matter of perspective. It's like, you know, like pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. It's up to you. Right? So that's the thing with the how you want to take the things, you know, is suffering something you have to choose. You know, pain is inevitable. It's gonna be there. Sure, sure, sure. And learn from it, right? How you're gonna take it, right? And that's one of the things that maybe, you know, helped me a lot because I was many, many times quite always believing that there is always a bright side, let's say, right? And somehow, some way, you know, you manage. There's not nothing is so terrible. Everything once the day is over and the new day starts, and then you just keep moving. You end up somewhere, right? And teaching has been exactly the same. Sometimes you got a bad experience because you don't know how to break down things. And eventually you kind of find out a way, and that's how you learn and experience, right?

SPEAKER_00 46:59

And also that's also the best way with teaching. I think a lot of times, like, because I also teach at the university for the sports science department, or I'm teaching practicants, or I'm teaching a client of mine, whatever, talking about why their elbow hurts or sorry, your shoulder hurts. And uh sometimes you start saying things and you realize, like, you're like, yo, I actually can't explain this. Like, I know why it's like this, but I can't explain it. So then when that happens, either A, you just accept the fact that you can't explain it and move on, or what I always did was like, why can't I explain this? And then I went back in my own books and then said, okay, but I want to understand, you know, if if I truly understand a concept, then I should be able to explain it to an age-year-old.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Exactly. Exactly. And this is something that actually, you know, Japan has become a very, it was my very good school, you know, how to become a better teacher, right? How to thrive to get better information and, you know, educate myself. Once I was actually having, I I have told this anecdote many times. And it never ceased to amuse me and to, you know, make me reflect. I was teaching a movement. There was actually like a wiggle in the knees, like I had to kind of rotate my knees one after the other, like a type of wave, in a workshop in the class in Japan. And people were struggling and was trying to break down, you had to do this, you gotta do that. And one of the students didn't do the movement. He just crossed his hands and just observed me, you know, analyzing what I was doing. And I felt observed, you know, when you feel somebody's like they're just judging you, like quietly, just observing. Yeah. I felt a little uncomfortable, I said, okay, just kind of let it be. And then I finished breaking down the movement. We try a couple times, and I put the music. Okay, does anybody have a question? Nobody says anything. He was the only one raising the hand. Hi, sensey, I have a question. Yes, then. I will never forget about it. He said to me, I want to know if this movement you're teaching me is anatomically correct for my body. And I was like, this movement is anatomically correct for your body, you know. It put me to think, not thinking what I was doing. And then I didn't know what to answer. Then I realized I am not sure. I'm not qualified enough to actually break down something like this. And it was quite silent in a second, and I said to him, Very good question. Let me think about it. When I have a proper answer, I will give it to you. Thank you, he said. He never came back. Oh man, my pride. It was tarnished. I was thinking, man, it hurt. Because he he realized that I don't know. He knew that I didn't know. And realizing that I know that I don't know, it was kind of painful as well because okay, I don't want this to let happen again. Of course, and nobody's perfect, right? But if I claim myself to be a teacher, I should know what I'm trying to do, right?

SPEAKER_00 49:54

Yeah, it's funny because sure. But at the same time, I just had a conversation with uh Sean Mambo, is uh my teacher, and he's a very, very, very good dancer, was very well known in in South Africa and in Africa, the continent, he's from Ghana. And uh now he's in Europe. And uh he's got two kids, a school, and he's not spending all his time traveling around. So, you know, sometimes people are not aware, like the newer dancers, you know, Terry, Cecile, the ones that are a little bit older, of course they know who he is. And uh, and I'll I was speaking with him today, and I'm not gonna talk about the conference we were talking about. But he was like, Yeah, you know, um, I was like, are you gonna perform? Because he doesn't perform much anymore because he's just busy with his school. He said, Yeah, maybe I will. He was like, but I would have to prepare for something. So he was like, I think if I speak with this person, I'll let him know that, you know, hey, I don't really have anything prepared at the moment, but um, but uh if if need be I can. And I was like, Sean, you know what? Actually, like, I wouldn't say that. And he's like, why? What do you mean? I said, because the average person, like, I'll I'll I'll send you a video after class, after class, after this podcast. And it will all and it would be Sean just doing his thing. And everyone's like, oh, wow, that's really impressive. And I said, Yeah, he had no clue what he was gonna do at the beginning of the class, put a song on, and this is what he created. They're like, wait, what? Yeah, yeah, this took him 20, 30 minutes. He built it in front of us, and this is what we recorded at the end. And and it is just this is what he does. I mean, he's just a very talented dancer. However, he, just like you, will is honest sometimes. And the problem, unfortunately, is I think when we're honest, people then say, okay, well, that's fine, Sean. You haven't prepared anything. And then they think of everyone else they know that hasn't prepared anything. Yeah. When in reality, Sean can prepare something off the top of his head in 20 minutes, which is probably gonna be better than anyone else they will bring in. You know what I'm saying? So I told Sean, I was like, Doc, just lie. I was like, Because by you lying, I mean, I lie all the time like this because I know. For example, I I I'm a physio, right? So if someone's like, hey man, uh blah, blah, blah, what about like, you know, this test for the shoulder? Or can you fix my shoulder? Or can you fix my knee, for example? And I say, Yeah, of course I can. Okay, but I have an ACL, MCL, unhappy triad. Do you know that? Yeah, of course I know it. So you're the best, of course I am. Of course I studied in university and I know I'm a beast, but of course I need to go and take maybe an hour or so and refresh myself. But I never tell the people that because then what's gonna happen is some asshole that doesn't know anything, that thinks he knows everything, is gonna sell that person confidently. That person's gonna go there and they're gonna get a terrible job done. And then they're gonna come to me and I'm gonna fix everything, and they're gonna be like, yeah, but you made me a little bit worried because you sounded like you weren't 100% confident. And this is the problem with human beings, is if we're honest, a lot of times they take it the wrong fucking way, man. It does.

SPEAKER_01 52:57

I mean, it actually got as I said, it really kind of um moved my self-esteem, my self-confidence. And I said to myself, okay, let's let's do let's work about it, right? I know, I knew that I need to work on my self-confidence, and of course, my experience, because you know, still didn't have been working for such a long time. Um like nowadays, it's like you know, I don't need to plan a class. I can plan a class before I was like a control freak. I needed to create plan A, plan B, and plan C in the workshop. And then I write to the workshop, neither of A, B, and C work because nothing of what the people this in class will take it. Yeah. And it's not, it's not I I will not give them what I want, but I want to give them what I know for a fact they need, right? So you start to kind of improvise on the spot. Sometimes you fail, sometimes you you do good. And with the time, with experience, once you get experience, sometimes you just wing it and just it gets better exactly as as you said with Sean, right? With experience, you manage to to just you know break it down and it's a talent. It's also I think it's talent and hard work. Both I think it's I think it's I think it's hard work and experience.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

Yeah, yeah. That's that's the deal. That's what the talent code said is at the end of the day, like scientifically, man, talent doesn't exist. Like um Michelangelo was almost fired a million times as a kid because he sucked. Yeah, and then when I guess he created whatever at like 19, they were like, Oh, blah, blah, blah, you're so amazing. And I guess his answer, I don't know who the fuck recorded this, it was so long ago, but his answer was literally like, if you only knew how many hours I put in, you wouldn't be that impressed.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

Yeah. So it's it's it's about the the constancy and repeating, right? So and and another thing is like, as I said, I didn't have the options back in the days to travel often and go to to take the mentorships that I wanted. So most of the stuff I did was kind of, you know, self-work. Buy books, travel as much as I could, talk to musicians, had the blessing to meet musicians that actually went were some of them were the pioneers, you know. Yeah and I have so much to say thanks to Albert Torres because he was the one who was bringing to the Congress many legends, right? Many people that was kind of forgotten. And he started to put them together once again and to make seminars in the congresses, like musical seminars. And I met like, you know, people like, you know, the Spanish Holly Orchestra, people from the funny all-stars, people that played with in the original band of Eddie Palmieri, you know, got the chance to actually have breakfast with them and ask them questions. Yeah. How was back in the days, right, compared to now? And he just, you know, very c normal people having breakfast with me and then sharing. I'm there just taking note, you know. Sure. Trying to get as much information as possible. Many of them are eventually dead now. Yeah. So I was actually quite lucky to have got the opportunity to ask to the pioneers, right? And, you know, experiment and and and have the blessing to travel and teach, not just simply in different areas, and I mean one country, but once you start to teach to different people in different countries, you start to realize more than just simply how they will perceive the movement, but you get to learn a lot about their culture, how how the mindset of that particular country is, how their education is in in a particular country, and how they assimilate, how they see the teacher. Like in Japan, I mean the teacher is uh somebody untouchable, right? You will never have to raise your voice. I I remember going back and going to workshops in in Japan or teaching a class, I go to the classroom and people is already there training. And I'm there 15 minutes before, they're already there training. Yeah. When people walk into the room, they're quiet and they kind of already self-place themselves in in their own spot. They self-assign themselves up a spot in the in the in the room. And okay, everybody, let's start, like warm up, quiet. I'm like just doing a movement, and then I realize that maybe my shoelace is undone, and I go down to fix it, and everybody, whoa, copy the same movement. Like this amazing feeling of no, you are the teacher, you are the sensor. Yeah, you're unquestionable, right? While in other countries you have to scream in the middle, attention, please, and nobody gives a rat ass. What are you saying, right? They're running the show themselves. So you have to put your foot down and say, okay, you should you have to show other type of authority in class. Like teaching performance as well. It's like you see how people, some people are more keen to you know, tough love, while other people will get offended and start crying after it's tough. So you start to see so many nuances and in different things about how you approach people. And only you can get that by by being with them, teaching them, right?

SPEAKER_00 57:56

So when I was uh when I I worked at a few of the like most famous tennis academies in the world, and then also with tons of pros, tons of top-level coaches. And I was um I always had an approach where I was like, okay, well, if you want to be in the top 1%, I can't teach, I can't treat you like the top 99%, or with the other 99%. And and I didn't care about their age. And so I always kind of, you know, everyone's like, oh, Dave is so nice. Yeah, okay. Well, if you think I'm a nice guy, then that just means you're doing everything, you're trying hard. I don't care if you do it right or wrong, but you try hard. The minute you get a little bit lazy or like you don't listen, or I feel like some attitude, oh man, uh, you see a whole different side of me. And so I was working with a professional coach, Rob Um Rafael Fante Mora, and he had uh two girls that were not very talented. Ah, that's un that's not nice to say. He had two females that were were obviously talented, but they weren't supposed to be like good players. And he had them both in the top 10 at the same time, and he was coaching both of them, which is pretty impressive. And he was a little crazy, fair enough. And so I remember I was helping him out. I was working with a girl named Victoria Azarenka, and she ended up being number one in the world. She was number one junior in the world. She ended up winning the Australian Open a few years later, and he was he was hitting with her. And so I was doing her strength and conditioning uh on another court, whatever. And uh, and I I remember hearing on the court above, I knew uh uh Fante Mora, I knew that he had uh some kids on the court. And next thing you know, I just hear this fucking Jesus Christ, what are you just goddamn morons? Like, he's going fucking bananas, right? And so I'm like, oh man, here we go. So I run up to the court because I'm just curious what's going on because I knew he had this side with me. He was always cool. Um, but a lot of times us focused people get along. And so he never screamed at me because I didn't give him any reason to scream at. And so I run up and I want to see what happened. And you know, a lot of times when you're hitting balls on the tennis, I didn't grow up playing tennis, so I learned tennis working it professionally. And so you, you know, you've seen it probably in like with your own eyes or on TV, where they they have like the basket of balls and there's kids on the baseline, so on the ball, the on the on the baseline of the tennis court, and they're hitting forehands, backhands, whatever. And a lot of times the balls uh start to pile up, like literally, because they have maybe 40, 50 balls. And what you're supposed to do is you hit the balls and anything by your ankles, you just push away with your racket, you know, so you don't, so you don't get an injury. And uh, so this, you know, he was uh reminding the 11, 12 year olds, probably their age, guys, when you're done, push the balls away. When you're done, push the balls away. When you're done, push the balls away. He was already being cool enough about it. And then one girl that was supposed to go to like junior Wimbledon, I mean, these are good players, hit the ball and stepped on one and sprained her ankle. And you know, if you sprain your ankle, man, you're out. And he lost his shit. And this is when he started screaming. And so I went up to him and I knew exactly why he was screaming. And I went up to him when he liked calmed down and I was like, dude, what was that? He said, David, if these kids want to be professional, they have to learn how to be professional at a young age. And what I realized was, like me, I look at those little 12-year-olds like adults. Of course, I'm I understand that they're not adults. I get it. Like at the end, I've made so many kids cry, but then at the end, I make sure that they learn the lesson behind it. Where with an adult, I don't care. But at the end of the day, he saw those little kids like little adults. And so seeing it from his eyes, I totally understood why he lost his shit. Because at the end of the day, if those kids would have listened and done what he asked, that wouldn't have happened. He wouldn't have been screaming. Now, I'm not saying it's okay, I'm not saying it's not okay, but I'm saying I understand the logic and the situation that happened.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:46

Exactly. I mean, you you understand if you're in a place like that, you're not you're not playing. I mean, you are we are people, we you're working with people that are professionals, right? So you are there is because you are thriving to excel. Sure. So you're you have different expectations. If you it's gonna be like uh playing in the park, whatever, then you know, there's no reason.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:07

And then no need to scream and send him home crying. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:10

Dealing with professionals, so it doesn't matter if you're a kid or not. I mean, you have to learn that it's that is a consequence for your actions, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:18

Well, and a great one a quick story, also, is I had a Russian kid that wanted to go pro. And I said, Okay, Nik uh Nikki was his name. So Nikola, I think is his full name was. And he was like 10, 11, maybe, and he couldn't hit his jump, he sucked at jump robing. So I said, Okay, that's not a problem. I get a jump rope and you need to practice. So his dad was like a scientist for like NASA or something like that. So not an athlete. Comes back with, you know, those jump ropes you were did martial arts that have like the wire wrapped with like thin plastic. Yeah. Oh, his dad got him that one. And I was like, oof, okay. And so I told him, Yo, I want you to go home and I want you to practice. So he's like, okay. So he had a normal jump rope. And then when he came back like two weeks later, I wanted him to do 30 jumps with no mistake. And that was when he had this rope. So every time he made a mistake, yo, he felt it. And so next thing you know, he starts crying. And I'm like, Nikki, why are you crying? Yeah, because it hurts. I said, no, no, no, no. The jump rope doesn't hurt. Your mistakes hurt. And he was like, Yeah, but yeah. And I said, if you would have done your homework and you would have jumped with the other rope, that rope, yes, it's horrible, but it's not what's hurting you. Your mistakes and you not doing the practice is what hurt you. So then, of course, his birthday is like two weeks later. I buy him a nice rope that's not made of like, you know, like surgical steel. You know what I mean? But at the end of the day, he needed to learn a lesson at 10 that the rope is not the rope is not causing his pain. Him not doing what he needed to do. I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, I'm sorry, but if you want to go pro, you need to learn these lessons at a young age or you stand no chance.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:58

You need to pay your dues, man. That's exactly how it is. You know, it does like reminds me when I was also doing martial arts and we had two competitions back to back. One was in November and the other was in February. One was in my country in Guatemala and the other was in in San Salvador.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:18

And how old were you at this time doing those competitions then?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:20

I think I was 15 or something like that, 14, 15. And I was supposed to do uh kata, like very nice with a sword, you know. And I was quite sloppy, I didn't prepare myself enough. And I had this beautiful costume that my own teacher gave to me, my sense is you wear this, you know. And I went to the competition and everybody excelled, I got the fourth place. And I was quite bummed, you know. And and went back home and my teacher was calling me, like, hey, you you didn't deliver, right? So next time you you you have a few months now to the competition, it's international again, and you have to deliver or you have to deliver, right? And he said to me, Well, you the the dojo is occupied, you cannot train, but it's now it's on your hands. You you know what you have to do. And I kinda I felt it because you know my pride was damaged. I didn't have a sword. That my my sense didn't want to give me the sword that he used for the for the show. So I went to my my grandpa and I borrowed his machete, man. It's a freaky machete. That shit is it's it's a real thing, man. That's not not exhibition stuff. You're gonna chop your fingers if you know how to handle the thing. And I went daily to the school, uh, dance school with my mom before the classes started, and I was, you know, I injured myself a couple of times. Had to teach myself a couple of times, you know. And I was training with that in there, it was heavy as hell, man. The time when I actually rehearsed that and went back to the dojo and I get the soul from my teacher, you feel Felt like water, like like air. It was so light. My teacher was like, what happened to you? No, if you only knew, right? But I had to go through the pain, right? Because my assets was in the line, right? Didn't want to embarrass myself, not just simply the name of the teacher, but my myself. It's like what happened with the students, right? I have student teams and I have my professional team. And it's a huge difference because, you know, people come to dance with different reasons. Some of them, you know, I said, okay, we have a choreography class. Anybody is allowed, but you have to come and take an audition just to see if this is for you or not. It's not about me, it's about them, right? So they come and say, okay, and I I assign everybody has a spot. At least in my classes like that, everybody has a spot for different levels in the choreography, right? So you are gonna be for Monday, you will be for Wednesday, etc. I divide them. And I start to you know break down the choreography, but then start to see that actually the learning process taking time because people are not taking it seriously. And of course, you know, I had to sugarcoat a little bit, but I tell them, guys, at the end of the day, it's not me who's gonna be making a phone on the stage. It's you guys. Right? People will looking at you and saying, okay, this guy messed up, right? You don't wanna be that person feeling embarrassed because you didn't deliver. And on top of that, you can't smell my name. And I'm doing I didn't I'm doing my job, you need to deliver. The sooner you get to learn and memorize your material, the more time you will have to cook the sauce. Yep. You don't want to go standing on, it's the waste to feel nervous on stage. Nervous because it's exciting, you're excited, and it's oh my god, the thrills. And the second is because you feel unprepared. And that's the wor being being there knowing that you don't belong there yet. That's the one happened.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:52

Yeah, and I think also you can I remember when I played lacrosse and uh something clicked in my face off. So, like when you when you set the ball down and you have to win the ball, basically, and something clicked and I turned into a machine. Then when I was at the line, you're nervous, but you're like, let's go. Because there's no way this asshole on the other side has a chance against you.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:14

You know where you are.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:15

Yeah, you know, you know, sure. And I always thought that, you know, I don't do the choreos and I'm just a social dancer and I have no desire to perform because I performed as a kid younger in sports and I had enough stress. But I always, it's funny because in the choreo, I feel that like, oh, cameras on, I hope I don't forget it. And I realized that if I really was like on a team, I would be like, you know what, teacher, put me in the front because I'm gonna make that video shine. You just have a different attitude. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:43

That's that and that's the thing. People think like uh you you put a person in the front because you're the favorite. It has nothing to do with that because I know the missing link, and I know the the weak side of every student. And just because you're on the back doesn't mean you are less prepared. But I know that you might actually blackout and then no one can rescue you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. You can still copy and get yourself together, right? It happens. I I have some people maybe are not so, how can I say, committed to practice, but they they they are fearless. Yeah. I know some people they've handled stress in such a different way. Some people I got a couple of buddies I'm thinking about right now. And some people are like trying before the show to do the same movement 45,000 times when I know they know how to do it. As the dudes, you know how to do it. Now, by doing it now, thousand times with the music that is in the background because other people is performing, you're gonna get more confused. Yeah, 100%. 100%. So let it be as it is. No, but this part doesn't work. Okay, if it didn't work on the tech rehearsal, it didn't work in the rehearsal, then it's is is it it only a miracle can happen. Maybe adrenaline can happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you know, don't touch it. It's gonna it's gonna make you anxious and you are not gonna enjoy the show. Right? It's only three minutes, it's no more than that. You put it on. It's wild, actually. It's wild, yeah. Three months for three minutes only. Yeah, crazy, huh? But you you have to just sense the day. I mean, enjoy. Enjoy the ride. You're here. That's the final line. There's no way back.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:22

Have you ever read the book Psychocybernetics? No, I haven't. So it's a book that was written in the 50s, and uh, it was so amazing about mindset, and it was so phenomenal. It's been sold like 500 billion times, and it's translated to like 60 million languages, and um, it was so crazy that uh Salvador Dali got a hold of it, and it meant so much to him, he painted a picture about what the book meant to him. So it is one of the most amazing books I've ever read. And he has a lot of um really cool. He was a he was a uh a plastic surgeon, and he wanted to know why when he fixed some people's faces, for example, they went back to who they were. And when he did fixed other people's faces, sometimes they didn't go back to who they were. And so he found that very interesting and he just went on this journey of like self-help. And one of the things his clients said was he was one of his clients was a big gambler, but like in a good way. Like he, you know, he won and it was okay. He had it in control. And he said, you know, and I guess what is it, Russian roulette, where you throw the craps. Or what is that? Where you throw the ball and it bounces around and you need a certain color. It's like a bingo type of yeah, it's like roulette. I think it's like roulette, right? You throw it or whatever. Uh you can tell I don't gamble. And uh and basically he said, you know what I do is he said, I study the odds. Because I mean, I think, you know, red or black or blue or whatever it goes on. You can study like your chances and the numbers and all of that. He said, and I do all my homework about the statistics and the chances and the odds and all of that. He's like, but the minute I throw the the dice or the ball or whatever it is, he's like, then I let I have no more control and I let it go. He said, but the people that throw it and they get nervous, come on, come on, come on, come on, like blue 15, blue 15, blue 15. He said, they're just they they didn't do their homework. They don't know the odds, they don't know their chances, they don't know anything. He's like, and that's why they're freaking out, why that ball's bouncing around. He said, I do all my homework before. So the minute I throw it, the minute they release my hand, I'm calm. And the guy said, This is what you need to do in life. He was like, you need to prepare yourself to where you can be prepared. And then the minute, you know, the lights come on, the song comes on, and you're on that stage for the choreo, yo, let it shine.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:34

Exactly. You know, and that's when that thing happens, like, you know, anybody can blackout. Like I do blackout. Yeah, all the time. The difference between me and my students is that I have messed up many more times than they actually ever dream of. You know, I messed up so many times. But then I realized that okay, messing up is one thing, blacking out is one thing, but what always rescues me is muscle memory. I might not remember what's gonna happen, but then I let my body just take the wheel, you know, and it solves the situation because it's already printed in my body. And that's just the magic of repetition, man. I don't believe that actually practice makes perfect. That's a lie. Practice makes makes permanency. Meaning you have to be careful how you practice. You don't know about sports. You know, if you practice the wrong technique, it's gonna be much more slow and painful to fix a bad habit than starting from scratch.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:29

For sure. For sure. And that's actually what the talent code goes into is it's the number, it's the 10,000 hours, but it's also correct learning. Like if you do, you know, sometimes people are like, oh, but he's been doing it for 60 years and he has so much experience. I'm like, yeah, but if he's been doing it for 60 years wrong, that's the last guy you want to help you.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:45

This is what happened with some students that come to me and say, Yeah, but they get frustrated because they believe they are advanced level. And they come to the class to intermediate level and they cannot cope with the class and they feel frustrated, but I should be able to do it, yes, but it there is a reason why it's not working for you. You have a fundamental problem. It's not about the surface, it's about the structure, how you are moving, your mechanics, your body mechanics are all over the place. Yeah, yeah. You can actually just do the figure, yeah, but that's just simply the facet, just makeup on top. It's never gonna feel organic. You are not gonna make it feel organic because you have a fundamental problem. We need to go back to the beginning and start to fix it. No, but I had done this for 10 years, okay, then live happy ever after with the technique you have and and not realizing basically you can actually become much, much better and have much more fulfilling experience on the dance floor because your ego, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:41

Yeah, and I also call that the trampoline effect. I say, you know, a lot of times you got to go down to shoot way high back up. And uh we have a we have a teacher uh that Sean that that uh uh is like one of our assistants, and I knew him back in the day, and he was a nice guy, and I wasn't super impressed with him. He wasn't a bad dancer, but he was he was okay. He taught some classes, whatever. And then uh he was humble enough to say, hey, you know what, Sean, I know you're a great dancer. Can I be a student? Where most of the local teachers could never do something like that. They're arrogant, their ego is too high. And so I thought, okay, well, that's really cool that this guy is down to come in and say that he wants to be a student. Well, Sean saw, like, also what what what he saw. He saw that, you know, this guy's a very good dancer, actually, but he needed just a few things tuned and fixed. Fundamental things, right? Yeah, sure. And Kahlo was down with it. I mean, I'll mention his name. Kahlo knew that he had some things he needed to work on. And now, yo, Kahlo is dancing so well. And he's also teaching so well, you know, and and so I call it the trampoline effect. A lot of times people are already at a high level, but then they, you know, but someone like you or Sean or whoever can see just a few things that need to be fixed. It might not be much. And the people just need to be humble enough, like Kahlo was, to go down a little bit, and then he just Yeah, man, it's the trampoline effect. And it's it, but you have to be humble enough to realize, you know what? Like I've been the king of Stuttgart forever, but Sean comes or who or Alexi comes or whoever comes. And you know, I was a big fish in a little sea. Not saying this is what Carlo thought, but this is just in general the kind of the concept. And then a big fish in a big sea comes to your city. And then the question is, are you able to accept that fact? Because at the end of the day, it's only gonna make that person better. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:31

That's the I mean, and that's the thing, right? There's many people I see that um they stop taking classes. I think that's the most like uh ridiculous thing you can do. Even a SUSE Q, man, whenever I had the chance to take a workshop, it doesn't have to be somebody who has more experience than me. Even this new new generation, these kids in the new era, man, they come with something different, a different chip, they have different techniques, different understanding. And and uh it's very interesting to see the approach. It's not about that they that I don't know how to do a Suzy Q, let's say, but it's how they break it down. Right? That would give g give you like a uh-huh moment. And I have got many of them. I I don't know how many times I had to basically reinvent my my technique. It's like a fifth five five times, the fifth time in my career already that I had to relearn my basics. Because let's let's let's be honest. This dance is still young, right? Like salsa as a concept is just from the 70s. And the mass of floating now.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:34

I mean, I think now with the internet and social media, and I mean just look at look look at bachata. I mean, look at all the moves and the central stuff and just all these different things and the pattern work in salsa. I mean, it's crazy now because people are able to communicate together because of the internet and really just bring it to a whole nother level.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:54

And this is something that you couldn't experience before, right? It was not the opportunity to clean up the technique the way it is right now, right? So I don't mean to say that the technique before was bad. I mean, it was good, but I like to make um a comparison with a Nokia telephone, right? Nokia's weren't bad. I mean, they were sturdy, they were reliable, the battery lasted long. But why people don't use Nokia these days? Because it's bulky, it doesn't have so many options. So I mean, I mean, you need to update. Doesn't mean that the Nokia are bad, just something better has happened. So updating is actually a positive thing, right? Still uh a phone nowadays, still make a phone call, you can still do the same thing, but it's more ergonomic, you have more options, right? So, and that's the thing with trying to update as a teacher. I think it's a very important thing to revisit your material and update, look what's going on around. And always never forget about the foundation, right? Because every everything everything is built from some root. Once you understand the root, you understand the rules, you can bend them. You know why you're bending them, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:03

Well, and you also see other people bend them. I mean, think about like um I'm going, what is the Kansas City Chiefs uh quarterback, Holmes, Holmes, Holmes. I'm going blank on his first name. And then you feel the ice hockey players that were in the uh in the I think the Olympics this year. I think, I mean, uh Holmes won the uh Super Bowl. I think he was like 22 or 23 years old. And I think the difference is, you know, this was a while back, he's a little bit older now. And but the difference is is, you know, when you had a Renault uh Ralodinho or Ronaldo, whatever, and then you had someone in, you know, a different part of the country doing it or a different part of the world, you didn't know because there was no way to share. Where now you see, you know, some 12-year-old kid sees what um Ronaldo was doing with a soccer ball, and he's like, Oh, I'm gonna try that. Maybe I can do that too. And then everybody just sees what everybody is doing, and you know, it's like, okay, Alexi Style can do this. Well, what can I maybe do? Okay, well, what if I changed it like this? And everybody's able to just, you know, basically Dropbox their information on the internet that it just gives, and you see what's possible. I mean, in the talent code, they mention that usually a world record is not broken for however long. And then when it's broken, it's usually broken like seven or eight or ten times more the next few years. Because, you know, all the me and you are running track, and then you break the hundred-meter world record, and I'm like, wait, Alexi, fuck that guy. I used the beat of in high school. How the hell did he break the world record? And then I realize it's possible. And then I'm like, I can do it too. Where when the record's been for a hundred years, I'm like, yo, no way can I break that. And so now everybody, you know, you got probably 10-year-old kids in Japan or South Korea watching the videos that you're doing, and they're trying what you're doing at 44 years old. So imagine when they're gonna be 44 years old.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:51

It's it's insane to think. I mean, I I look at these uh kids performing these days and what they can do. And I remember when I was their age, right? I was thinking, okay, it's uh it's an exponential difference, right? You're the Nokia.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:05

Yeah, I'm the Nokia now, but it's actually it's it's true, right? Well, no, not the Nokia now. You I mean, now you're the iPhone, you've upgraded yourself. But back then, back then you were the Nokia. I mean, where else can you be?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:16

And this is the thing, I I think you have to learn to reinvent yourself. Or you're gonna stay the Nokia. Yeah, correct. So you need you need to constantly learn from your limitations because of course I I am not as flexible as I was uh 30, 20 years ago, but I got other skill set that I only could dream of 20, 30 years ago, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:38

Yeah, I mean the pro athletes work smarter and harder. Yeah, you know, so you know, uh a quarterback that's you know 40 years old still playing, you know, doesn't take as many hits, maybe doesn't run the ball. But he, you know, or Roger Federer, he just understands how to hit the ball and where to hit it better.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:54

And this is the thing, you know, it's like before I could bounce like a tennis ball up and down and in order to impress on stage. And then you see somebody with experience, they don't even have to to sweat a drop, but they they have this kind of aura when they stand on stage and you look at them like a eh, this is a top dog, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:19

OG. It's just doing something so simple, but with such a flavor and such a confidence and such a maturity that whatever ping-pong bouncing, splitting, and jumping I can do, nothing can actually match to that degree. But of course, not it it's not for everybody. It's like it's like wine. When you're a kid, you you don't like wine. Give me give me a soda, give me a Coca-Cola, give me a Dr. Pepper, whatever. And only with time you really understand to how to value uh a performance in such a degree, right? And that's what I said there's a difference between a show, a performance, and uh choreography, right? A choreography is just anybody can learn a choreography. A show is a wow, right? You do something to impress people, it's for the people. A performance is more like closer to art, I would say. It's more personal. The performer is basically doing their something very can be so ethereal. It just doesn't have to have any particular meaning, but you can see that they're putting their soul on the dance floor and uh without caring if people like it or not. You know, it's gonna touch you in a different way. And I can see many performers that way. They they might be very impressive. I'm I I might get very impressed by technique, and of course, it's amazing to see the technique of dances these days, but there's quite quite it's just that it's plastic, right? It doesn't give me anything. I see them and say, wow, but after the third show of the same kind of just showing technique, it's kind of redundant. While then comes somebody with just saying nothing, like with silence, they can say many more things. It's like when you go it's it's funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:01

Have you seen the show to make sure it's next on uh with uh Fricenzo and uh Maria? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and he has and I and I told him the same thing. I said, you know, you're one of the first ones to bring, I mean, I'm not watching shows like galore here, so maybe I'm not the most qualified one to you know comment. However, I always say I am the most qualified one because I'm the most average guy. You know, I don't know all the dancers, I don't know all the names. I mean, if anything, I I know a little bit more maybe than the average person because I'm working with them. But I always say my, I would say that my opinion is probably good because I'm the average guy opinion, right? And when I saw Frenchenzo do his show and I looked at some of his stuff on on Instagram, he has he's one of the few that really they pull that emotion and that like almost like I don't even know how to like the art of dance, not salsa, but dance, good do their show. And I'm like, wow, you know, there's amazing, many good uh Radu, I think is another young guy. I saw him do a performance, and I thought, you know, he was like hitting brakes, like doing backflips and like getting the brakes with his foot, like as he's back flipping. And I'm like, wow. And so that was really impressive. And he also pulls some emotion, but to me, in my opinion, like I said, I haven't watched every show in the world, just the opposite. I don't watch many at all. But when I saw Fercenzo and Maria, that was the first time I was like almost breathtaking. I was like, wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:30

But this is exactly what I'm what I'm meaning about um you don't have, well, of course, you want to show technique and clearness, but if on top of that, you have you have the emotion. You are going to move somebody, you be you become memorable. And that was one of the lessons that I got from Mr. Albert Torres when I was a rookie and I was performing, and I used to ask him many times, I was bugging him, what do you think? What should I do better, better? Uh give me some tips, right? And I think he was annoyed by me after a while, me always nagging him and bugging him. And he said to me, Hey kid, I will tell you one thing. Honestly, I don't care if you're a professional or not. I mean, what does that I mean, what is it, what is the difference between a professional and a non-professional when it comes to performance? For me in my festival, what I care is somebody that is memorable. Bring something memorable and you will be in my show. So okay, let's put me to think, okay, memorable. Well, that could be taken so many ways, but okay. It could be taken so many ways, and I think I gonna I wanna be myself. I want to be memorable because it's me, not the copy of somebody else, right? And that's what I start comparing to films. When you compare a film, let's say a blockbuster, let's say let's just watch Superman, you know for a fact who's gonna win. You go there, you eat drink your soda, you get your popcorn, and at the end, okay, Superman wins, and that's it. And you got entertained, but then you will forget about it. Then you watch another film where the protagonist eventually dies. And it's such a drama thing. It's like it gives you a lot of emotional cliffhangers. And then the film ends, and this you learn something from it. You you cannot stop thinking about it. It just implanted a question. It didn't give you an answer, it gave you a question. So that's the difference between, you know, let's say a show to a performance. A performance will move something inside you, like you experience now. And you felt something like okay, it it it it leaves you thinking, it just kind of moves something in you. That's art. Something that can move you. So art is very ethereal, it's very personal, it's very subjective. But if it's moving you in such a way, then that's art. In your eyes, that's art, right? Who's gonna judge that, right? How you feel, how something is making you feel, right? And if it move you like deepen in deepen your emotions, that's something. Something special, right? And that's what music can do the same, film can do the same, dance can do the same, right? And you can find art in so many ways, how it's moving you. It's not just simply here, but it's touching you in your soul, touching in your heart, you know. And that's showing that not just simply how dedicated you are, but the purity of what you're doing, how much dedication, how much you mean what you do, right? Especially if you truly believe that what you do is from the heart, people in one way or another will feel it. People that resonate with your way of feeling, right? So I know for a fact that no my job like a performer maybe is not for everybody. I'm not a circus clown anymore. Before I used to kind of focus on what might please the people. And it's very interesting because when you're choreographing and you are not, you know, performing it yet, it's a lot of question marks. You have an anticipation and an idea in your brain, thinking maybe this will be a success, a success, and then you start to make a movement, and this movement will be good. And I remember making a choreography, making a very complex pattern. Like this is a wow movement. People will scream here. And then what section on the song? I was thinking, okay, I don't know what to do, I will just make a wave, right? And the was the premiere, I did the choreography, and this complex pattern, it was impeccable, and people didn't react at all. And I was like, I was so confused. And the moment that I did the wave, whoa, people start screaming, they go, What? you know, I was so confused. And I started to realize that I had to stop thinking how to please people when I don't perform.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:43

So what are you performing for, right? If you're performing for a competition, that's something else. Right? You need to impress the judges. But I'm not competing, so I'm performing and I want to do something that resonates with who I am. What I believe is actually something that I feel and I will do it. And once I perform it, people might like it, people might not. But I know for a fact that people that resonate with me will like it. That's my crowd.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:10

Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah, but that's the thing though, too, is then it's a you know, if you perform something for yourself from an emotion that you're feeling, then you're already ice uh you're already not isolating, what is the word I'm looking for? Uh isolating, I'll use that word. Uh the people that are gonna relate with it, because like you said earlier, if the people don't feel that emotion, then they're probably not gonna relate with the art. And so, I mean, it's kind of like a movie, you know. If I'm in the mood for, you know, an entrepreneurial movie that's gonna get me thinking kind of crazy or a show, whatever, I think of like peaky blinders. But if I want to go to bed with good dreams, that's the last thing I'm gonna watch. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so I think a lot of times too, with emotions, it's also, you know, what does the person, you know, either A want to feel, what do they want to find, or maybe what suppressed emotions do they have that they don't know? And maybe the show they go to watch, you know, I don't know, uh, some can complex figures or whatever. And somehow somebody has a show that's much more emotional to an emotion that they didn't realize they suppressed or needed to feel. And next thing you know, they're just, yeah, sure. They're just taken by, taken, they thought, I thought the first show was going to be my favorite, and the third made me cry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:22

Exactly. And this is actually quite interesting when you see when you go to a festival and you see shows and how the palette of variations is there, right? How how different uh the shows can be. And this is um it's a hard, hard work to be uh, I would say, uh as an organizer to pick up the lineup for the shows. And sometimes it's a Russian roulette, you never you never know what you put in there, especially for uh somebody who's performing for the first time. It can be an amazing show, it can be a bomb, it can be super terrible, you never know, right? So and as a let's say, as the publicum, as the public, you're watching it, and everybody will feel completely different. Sure. At the end of the night, you can you know make uh let's say uh survey, and you will be surprised. Yeah, and that's the way it says like, okay, of course you have amazing choreographies by amazing groups that they are flawless because of the creativity, the formation, the colorful, the music. So many things that plays uh a role, right, in a in a performing art. And you with the time, with experience, you find out the the formula where to be emotional and at the same time give candy, not just simply raw beef, but sometimes a little sweets. But at the same time, you can actually still show depth, right? Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. So it's uh it's I think it's it's balance. It's it's so personal and so subjective that it's it's really interesting in this um in this type of um art form, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:07

Like in the sports might be a little different, but performing arts is I mean sports is completely different because sports is just the the the goal is to win. Yeah, exactly. I mean yeah, you gotta perform in performance is uh you know what is a good performance? Yeah, that's simple. Yeah, you're big, fast, strong, uh skilled, and you can put the ball in the net, the I don't know, the the ball, get the ball behind the line, like whatever. Yeah, swim to the other end faster. I mean, it's it's pretty, you know, and how do you get there? Okay, good question. How do you train? What do you eat? What's sleeping, you know, what is the best weight, size, you know, exercise program. Yeah, sure. Okay, that's where, you know, that's where the science, so to speak, and experience comes in. But at the end of the day, everybody knows, you know, the best is the one that won the championship. How do you win the championship? You make the most fucking points. Yeah. And where art is completely something different. I mean, you know, you see on Instagram those ones where they like take the piss out of a, you know, the super like progressive liberal stuff or whatever, like where a guy like, you know, throws paint against the wall and everybody like starts clapping, you know. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, but at the end of the day, I mean, by the definition of art, hey man, if that moves somebody, then you know, fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:16

Yeah, exactly. It's so it's so subjective, so personal. And and that's why for me, well, it's kind of hard. I still have a little problem still in competitions in salsa dance. Because well, unless it's like uh if you're gonna take this competition as a street dance form, then yes, if you see a hip hop competition, like break dance competition, it's it's a skill set, but at the same time the attitude, right? Like when you see a freestyle competition, I I enjoy watching it because you see something 100% improvised.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:53

Like improvise on the side, improvise with with you know, knowing that they have to improvise. I mean, it's pretty easy to be funny when the door is closed and no one's around and you're just in a good mood, but to turn the camera on, to turn the lights on and deliver the same jokes, you know, then pressure. So, yeah, when people can improvise and pull out, you know, their A game, you know, at the right time, at the same spot, when they're supposed to do it, I mean that's I'm like, okay, man, respect.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:19

That that's actually something that I enjoy watching. It's it's happening in the SASA world. But when it's going to be like choreographies, it's very hard. Uh I would never like to be a judge for this type of competition because it's very subjective. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How can you judge? Let's say that's why borroom works, because ballroom is a sport. Yeah. Everybody knows exactly the same repertoire movements. You need to have exactly the same technique. 45 degrees, the shoulder should be there, it's a little off, and you're you have bad technique. Yeah, straight arms, straight lines, yeah, yeah. Exactly. But in salsa or mambo, it's different because everybody has their own flavor. Yeah. How can you judge the flavor, right? Or the creativity, maybe the music. Um if this is if we're gonna be, let's say, judging a choreography based on the same song, then I agree to be a judge. Because it's the same song. Let's see who actually can use the juice of the song better. Yeah, more complex. But is anybody can just come with a very lyrical, soft song and a very heavy, full of acrobatic song? Of course, that acrobatic and full of explosions and heavy hits, it's gonna be more impressive.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:35

But that doesn't make it more valuable than emotional and more lyrical song. But that's a good question because I don't know the names of the two from um Yamoule from New York. Uh the one big dude, usually kind of bigger American guy, has uh usually has a beard. And I don't know his name, but I know there are two very good acrobatic couples. Couple.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:56

Well, I don't know the names, but in general, they are really good on on leaves and and aerials.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:02

And he was he, I want to say, performed at one of the I was at a few different events last year as a physio, and uh that is when I met um ah yeah, exactly. It was uh was it? I think it was the Kos Salsa Festival, the for the King Salsa Kings, the first one. I think it was there. And they were there, and I mean super impressive what they're doing. Like, respect, and actually very nice couple too. Dude's cool, she's very nice. But for me, for some reason, Fratenzo and his emotion and within the way that they danced drew me more to being like, wow, that's really impressive. And funny enough, I got in a conversation with um, is it Fernando, the guy, uh Nando and Margarita? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I got in a conversation with Nando about it. And he was like, Yeah, but he was like that couple from New York, you know, they're top of their game for that style of stuff. And he was and he was being very fair. I mean, he was looking at it from like a dancing perspective. And that's when I told him, I said, Yeah, bro, but I'm like average Joe. Yeah, like so. I'm not gonna, I'm gonna comment from like, you know, I'm basically just one of the peasants in the crowd. And I was like, and for me, you know, the the the the connection and the emotion that Fricenzo and Maria were able to pull was something for me just breathtaking. Now, does it mean it's any easier, any harder? I mean, it's a little bit more dangerous to throw people around in the air because I mean a lot can go wrong. But if someone told me, okay, David, I need you to learn like this acrobatic stuff. I mean, I come from a lifetime of being an athlete, so I would have a better chance. I'm not saying I could do it. I mean, 15 years of practice, I'm not saying I could do it. But if someone told me I need to pull that emotion from your face, I could tell you right now, bro, find somebody else, man. I would love to do that, but I just I don't I don't know even know where to begin. But that doesn't mean one is better than the other. So judging the two, how the fuck do you do it?

SPEAKER_01 1:38:55

Thank you. So this is why I have problems with it. As I said, I will accept a competition and I will be more than willing to watch and be impressed, let's say, as a freestyle competition, but it's a choreography competition. I have problems unless you have a very nice, rigid criteria. Yeah. And I would like to see a competition where they actually do the same song. Yeah. Just for the sake of it. Just to see what you can come up with.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:21

And that would be really interesting seeing the New York couple I'm talking about having all these acrobatics, because that's their style, maybe, for example. And then seeing maybe Frasenzo in Maria having this emotion, and then you'd be like, wow, that's crazy, man. That's like, you know, a steak cooked two different ways. That's the thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:39:38

Yeah. So it's it's uh very like that's why I actually, you know, I I tiptoe around uh competing. I compete uh in the very beginning when I when I was actually starting to compete, I won eventually, but I I felt um the unfairness because you know, just because you can do a backflip that doesn't take the the effort and the flavor of doing a nice rumba move. Sure. A backflip a trained monkey can do. The rumba move, maybe you can train, but how to get the flavor and the expression, exactly what you just mentioned, that it requires an an extra type of technique, an extra effort, and an extra emotion. You need to be connected to the movement, and that not everybody can do, right? And then do that on stage. Yeah. That's the thing. And this is why maybe this is not for me because I saw the unfairness of you know trying to just judge uh somebody who does flashy movements, then somebody who maybe that particular style doesn't have the flashy movements, but it has a lot of cadence and and and flavor, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:40:45

And I think the thing is that both of them can show up. And what I mean by on a stage is, you know, I listened to a uh a long jump guy who won the gold. He was a British guy. And uh he said, you know, it's pretty crazy. He was like, because and they were talking about steroids in China and no Russia and everybody cheating. And he said, Well, you know, he was like, for me, uh the steroids was a weakness. And yeah, why? He said, Because you're not on them anymore. And he was like, and you've trained on them, and every all the conditions maybe were perfect. He said, But for me, what happens if the day that I show up, it's the Olympics, it's raining, it usually doesn't rain, it's like this, the conditions change, and I'm no longer on that thing that I know made me jump farther, then I'm gonna feel insecure. But if I trained and on my own never cheated, then the conditions don't matter. Yeah. And at the end of the day, to go back onto the point, that was a little bit of a tangent, but it's still a very good point. At the end of the day, you know, you you train for, you know, five, six, seven years, whatever, you make it to the Olympics, and this motherfucker is gonna be judged basically on one jump. I mean, you have a few, fair enough. But I mean, and so for the when the people get on stage, like we were talking about with the freestyle, you know, uh non-core stuff, whatever, just freestyling, you know, to be able to be, you know, to be when I move alone in my mirror and I'm doing my stuff, I look great. But the minute I'm in front of people and I need to pull it out at that moment, at this time, with people watching, and it's a competition. I dude, no way, I'm gonna look like SpongeBob. Like I won't have it at that time. So for the people to really be able to pull it out at that moment, not black out, not forget everything, hit everything perfectly, have even better movement because they're in the flow. I mean, how are you gonna say A is better than B?

SPEAKER_01 1:42:29

They're both amazing. That that's that that's exactly that's that's uh the the point when it comes to this in this particular well dance, where I if people ask me what do you think about it, you know, I have like mixed feelings in competitions. Because it's not it's not being 100% fair, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:50

Yeah. I mean, but I think at the end of the day, it it you know it if it if it grows the the scene and people know what they're signing up for. Like at the end of the day, you know, it's not like they're being forced into it. And so if they're signing up for, you know, that competition, then they're they know what they're getting those, they know what they're getting themselves into. They know that they're they're their their art is gonna be objectively judged, basically.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:16

This is the thing, it's like, you know, I know people that are really great at it. They love the competition. They they have the threes and they are so driven by it. And I see the positive side of it because thanks to that, uh the technique is getting cleaner and and the dance is getting more how can I say this the scientific aspect of this dance is much more clear.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:41

Yeah, much more advanced.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:42

Yeah. Yeah. It's more more defined, it's it's easier to break down, it's more scientifical, more technical. And the technique is important. Obviously. In technique, well, it's just a tool. Many people get caught up with the technique and they get stuck there. Technique is just simply a tool to set you free. Yeah. Why? Because you technique is gonna make it things easier for you and to have more fun. I say technique is the grammar of a language. You need to you wanna have fun and you wanna have fun properly. It's like a language. If you wanna have a nice conversation with somebody, you need to learn some grammar. Right?

SPEAKER_00 1:44:16

Yeah, exactly. That's why I say the technique is the grammar of the language. Is that once you if you learn the technique? One second. If you learn the technique, thank you. If you learn the technique, then you get onto the dance floor and you you have fun faster. Yeah. I always say that class, you know, people used to ask me why I don't have fun in class. And when I was a beginner, and I'm like, yo, I'm not here to have fun, I'm here to get good fast so I can have fun on the dance floor. Yeah, you go. Yeah, you go because when people have fun in class and they don't do anything, and then they get to the dance floor, they're frustrated. I was like, I want to work hard here because my fun is gonna be on the dance floor. And until I can dance, I can't have fun on the dance floor. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:57

That's that's the purpose of a class, you know? Yep. Otherwise, just learn in the club, you know. Yep. Who cares? But you will end up, you know, maybe injuring yourself, injuring somebody. And it's not something you do alone. You do with somebody, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:12

Or you just never wonder why nobody wants to dance with you. There you go. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I've told girls that a thousand times. I don't want to be rude. And I'm like, listen, I said, you know, you you don't go to class. I said, you're a pretty girl, so guys are gonna dance with you. And you know, they're the way around, nothing against women, it's just I'm not dancing with many men, so this is the way that I see it. And I say, you know, and then you wonder why the only top-level pros that ask you to dance multiple times are asking for your number after, but the ones that don't want your number don't dance with you multiple times. And I said, it's because when they're dancing with you, you are having a good time because every time you do something wrong, they're able to fix it with another move. I said, but they feel that. And so if you're okay with that, that's not a problem. But if you want to continue to have the better guys ask you to dance, you got to do your part. I mean, it's a it's a to to weigh a street, right? It's a course the men are just as guilty, don't get me wrong. I'm just not dancing with men all the time, so I don't see it. But yeah, of course, men have the same men make the same mistake.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:10

Exactly. So you know, it's it's um it's that fun factor to to reach the fun factor, of course, you need to sweat, you need to sweat the the thick drop, as we say, you know. Sure. You need to you need to do the work, and and eventually, once you get the the vocabulary, you understand the grammar, you are free. That's why technique is important. It's not the most important thing, but without that, that's the backbone of this this dance. And then the rest comes extra, like you know, the styling. And you know, styling goes way beyond how you move on the dance floor. It goes how you present yourself. Do you smell good? Is your breath okay? How do you approach your partner? I see many people on the dance floor just calling the girl like whistling, like a calling a horse, you know. Come on, have some class, man. Go and invite your partner, take it by the arm, make some dance, eye connection, you know, have fun, level up, you know, try to level your dance, level to your partner's level. Score her back after the dance, you know, small details really say a lot, right? Like what I say is like the technique might get you to how to start dancing, but dance etiquette will will keep you on the dance floor having fun, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:47:23

And it will also get you more people wanting to dance with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:27

That's it. You're gonna keep you there, it's the etiquette, right? And the etiquette many people don't talk so much about. There's a lot of unspoken rules that are going on the dance floor. Nobody wants the to say, or maybe they don't have the guts to say because they're a little uncomfortable, a little edgy, but somebody has to say. I I actually, you know, teach my classes and sometimes, you know, I feel in the dance room. Stinks here, man. Somebody didn't change the shirt or forgot to put the other on. I mean, for the love of God, you're dancing with for a human being with the opposite sex. You gotta show some some class, some respect. And that goes both sides. Sure, sure.

unknown 1:48:07

Right?

SPEAKER_00 1:48:07

I don't need a bowl of goddamn garlic before you go dancing. There you go. I mean, you gotta be careful.

unknown 1:48:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:13

So stuff like that, you know, it needs to be addressed uh in this particular dance because it's it's a social dance, right? That's it that's the purpose. You wanna communicate with people, and it's gonna be memorable. How would you wanna be remembered after the dance? Because people might not know your name. Many people don't know our names on the scene, but they remember for how we look, how we how we approach. Ah, that's the guy, uh, the onion guy, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:48:40

Yeah, yeah. Or me, that's the guy that murders everybody on Instagram with the with the metal tool. Yeah, sure, of course. And you know, a lot of times people uh from dancing to anything, man, they're always like, wow, Dave, I never realized you really analyze everything. And I'm like, yeah, man. And I think that's a sign, you know, you're saying yourself too. I mean, it's a sign of a high performer that we just we look at the details in everything. And you know, when I I never took the time to really learn German, I can speak it. My grammar's terrible. And you know, and in it's the one time where I really I learned Arabic when I was in Egypt. So I was like what you did with Japan, Japanese, I did with Arabic. And uh and then I forgot it so quickly, I just kind of lost the I I just didn't want to forget another language after working for it so hard. But when I speak, I have to think about what I want to say, and I sometimes feel a bit like an asshole because my grammar sucks. And I don't want that on the salsa dance floor. I want to go out like later today. I'll tell you what, we'll wrap this up in like 10 minutes because I actually got to go dance today. And I want to go out on the dance floor and it's gonna be a mix, it's a bachata salsa. My bachata's terrible. And so when the bachata comes on, I feel this level of nervousness. I'm so happy I don't have in salsa.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:52

Yeah, you gotta pay your dues there, man. I used to perform with bachata before. I kind of step away, I get so much busy with tsatsa. But um yeah, I mean you see what's going on with the bachata these days. It requires a very different type of technique to lead and to follow.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:08

And I think that's really cool because it's just it's learning how to use your body in a different way. And a lot of those things, you know, the bachata has like a lot of this kind of like you, you, like, you, you like in the Madrid step. When you step back, I used to actually like step. And a lot of times it's just this shift in body weight, right? Like it's almost like you don't even move it. Your whole body moves, but you don't go anywhere. And that on that first step of the Madrid. And I realized that's exactly how you prep those quick turns in a salsa basic. You know, like if you want to, if you're turning the girl and you want to spin yourself quickly, it's that say, you know, to get that motion, to the speed, the momentum to move. And I'm like, wow, that's crazy. So I just love how other disciplines, so to speak, you know, martial arts in your case, can can infiltrate something else and actually make you better.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:55

It will influence and enhance the the enhance the technique you have in another discipline, right? That's what I said always. You have to don't don't narrow your path. You gotta widen it up. Try to learn a little from everything, because eventually everything will teach you some cool technique in something that you thought you'd do right, but you will make it even better.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:16

Yeah, 100%. 100%. My my like quick spins, if you want to call them that, you know, like if you're dancing on two as a guy, so though, you know, when we step back on two and you can turn the girl and then you can do a quick spin yourself and then go back on six, seven. I learned a better prep to spin better and faster from that Madrid step, the Madrid step in bachata. I realized, oh, I was always stepping too much when I actually just needed to kind of Yeah, exactly. Just shwit just boom, shift my body weight, and that push off of my right leg is is what gives me my speed. And it was it was like a bachata level one opening class that made me realize that.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:58

Yeah, no, this is beautiful. And you know, it's like it's a dance, and in in in this what I said about Latin dance in general, it's like a different it's a different dialect on the same language, you know. They you they always kind of have something where they they got in common. And I said to people, don't narrow, learn from everything, right? Um it's it's it's more much more enriching. And let's face it, go to a party and they will play different type of music. You don't want to be the guy who goes sit down just because he cannot dance the song. Crazy, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:52:34

Yeah, yeah, sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:38

I mean, like it or not, that's something else. That's a personal thing, but give it a try. Before you just give it a try, you might end up really loving it. Right?

SPEAKER_00 1:52:48

And I think it's always good to learn how to eat shit again. I mean, right? Like, I mean, yeah, it's I'm on the salsa dance floor and I know I'm a you know in the small little area, I'm one of the better dancers. But then when the batchatta comes on, I'm like, oh God, here we go again. It's like back to square one. And I think it's it's it's a humbling experience, but it's an important one. It's very important.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:07

It's gonna always it's it's very important to keep to keep yourself always in check, right? And then it that's what I like. I mean, I see so many new trends happening. Of course, I wanna try them. I wanna try them all. As long as I have the opportunity and the health to do it, I wanna do it. So when then whenever somebody asks me an opinion, I will give a genuine opinion because I I have done that, been the donor. Not just simply, ah, because you know, I've been told, no, screw that. I know so because I tried it. Yeah, I tried it, yeah, yeah, 100%. If it's good for you, great. That flows through boat, more power to you. But for me, I mean, at least I know what this is my my game. I I I like it, I I master it because that's what I thrive, that's what makes me feel alive. I can do it, but maybe not. But I try it at least.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:56

Yeah, sure, sure, sure. No, completely. Let me let me see if Sean roaming, because I think Sean's gonna be my ride unless he changed his mind. Oh, let's see what he says. I'm freak. Okay, so I'm not in a hurry like I thought. Um, but dude, we should do this again because uh, or you want to take 15 minutes and tell me how the fuck you got where you are, or we do it again next time. We could do it again next time.

SPEAKER_01 1:54:24

I need to actually it's nine o'clock here. Shit, it's nine years. Wild, uh yeah, it was two hours, man. Yeah, I I have um some workshops to teach tomorrow. It's like a two hours and a half, a master program. So teachers will come to to to train with me. Where are you again? Where you're in Norway. In I'm in Norway, correct. Okay. So tomorrow at 11 I have this uh two hours and a half workshop with these guys, and I need to prepare some material because they're teachers, so they're coming to to learn some teaching techniques as well. Cool. And I need to pick up uh subject because it's so much to to pick from. So yeah, I need to kind of um let my partner know what we are going to do because if it's going to be me, always important. Yeah, but if it's gonna be with somebody else, they need to know what I'm more or less planning to do. That's what I mean. That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:18

Yeah, always a good thing. Yeah. Well, cool. Well then I'll tell you what, man, let's uh let's put this up. I'll I'll make some clips out of it. I I have the paid version of Riverside, so they have something called uh what is it called? Magic, a magic editor. And supposedly their AI can find like small little clips of like what will be good. Yeah, wild, right? And so I'll test it and see what it does. But that if and I'm also gonna write uh Fernando, because he has his behind the shines, I think is what it's called podcast. Yeah, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:49

And he went in in Bergen last weekend and he did something, and that was part of his panel as well last weekend.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:56

Oh, really? He did a panel. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 1:55:58

Yeah, he did that panel talk, and that was part of the panel. Uh yeah, it was on last Sunday, yeah. Ah, cool. Okay. What was the panel about? I was about um how to keep the scene relevant. He he did two talks. One was that, and the other was um about uh the female approach in the scene, how they could be a little more included or something like that. But I was not part of that one. Thank God.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:26

But interesting, cool that he's got these like ideas of panels, and I mean I knew about the podcast, but yeah, cool. But when I spoke with him one time, I asked him how it was going. And this was even before I ever had this idea. And he was like, Yeah, man, and I remember he mentioned, he said, you know, there's a few AI tools that really help me get like clips and things like that. And so I was gonna write him, bro, it's not Riverside. Like, I was gonna be like, what is the AI tool? Yeah, because Riverside, if I get it for free, then it doesn't come with those tools, but it's like 30 euros a month and or 30 dollars a month. And I'm like, okay, I mean, if this is a marketing expense, like that's fine. And so I'll be very curious to see how these um uh how these like clip finding AI, because I mean this thing's two hours long, right? And so to watch it again and then cut the clips out, oh god man.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:13

It's uh quite time consuming. Yeah, I never thought about this uh Riverside ever. I mean, I know Zoom and and uh revive and uh some other tools that I use during the pandemic. We were talking about what six years ago.

SPEAKER_00 1:57:26

Yeah, so Riverside, I guess it it's made for podcasting. So like what it will do is it will save this like locally, and all of any any freezing moment doesn't happen. So it just it really has I mean, I'm not a tech guy at the end of the day, but uh I was watching, listening to the the guy talk about it and why it's like why it's$30 a month. And um they just have built a lot of stuff in there, what Zoom won't do, because Zoom is made not for podcasts, it's not made to have what's up it's more like for conferences. Yeah, exactly. It's it doesn't need to be flawless because it's not it's it's it's it's a conference where technically podcasts, if you're like Jay Shetty or whatever and you have a million downloads, it needs to be flawless. And therefore, you need to have software that has special tools and things like that where you know they edit it better, it sounds better, the lighting is better, you can control more things, and yeah. So I'll be very curious. I'm curious because your box, I can see your picture, but in mine I can't. So I hope when I'm done. It's not like just half the screen is black, but yeah, we'll see. Really? Because I see both. Yeah, I okay, good. I don't. What? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:58:38

Cam. Maybe let me see one thing. Yeah, now you're back now. Yeah, I just click on Cam. Maybe you have like uh the red dash.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:50

Yeah, I don't know. It says record, I can see the thing moving up and down, so I think we're good. I mean, I I mean if anything, it was a nice two and a half hours of just uh two hours, two hours of just you know, it's good practice. I mean, but hopefully it doesn't all go in vain and just disappear. I mean, give it give it a shot.

SPEAKER_01 1:59:06

I mean, I'm I'm I I love this, man. I love this. And just let me know, and I will be more than happy, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:12

Anytime. Yeah, let's do one uh down the road, and we can get uh how you got where you are and uh how I got where I am, and we can just yeah, we want to hear that part, you know? Definitely, definitely. Yeah, yeah. No, I think it's cool. I think something like this is fun because it's so simple. Yeah, I mean it's a Saturday evening, I'm just chilling at home and uh not going dancing anymore, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 1:59:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:31

It's good, it's good, it's good. Uh I'm down for it, man. It's good. Good. Then uh then I'll let you go. I'll let you get your stuff done. And uh yeah, we stay in touch, we vibe, and uh like I said, you're this is I had one with um Dimitri where I did it live. We were just like bullshitting, and then I'm gonna do also a lot of my own where I talk about movement, mobility, injury, uh performance because as a like the physio side of me, and just kind of all dance related. So those would be like 20, 30 minute, like little like bites of information. And then yeah, and then I'll I've got um Javier Escobar next Friday, as long as everything works out. I mean schedules change. And uh yeah, and I've spoken with Anietzie a little bit about working with you and chatting with him, and I'll just get people on the on the on the on the phone as soon as we got on the computer.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:17

Fantastic. That sounds good, man.

SPEAKER_01 2:00:20

Cool, cool, cool. Well, power to you with the project, and as as you know already, uh just let me know anytime and we can continue with the chat, man.

SPEAKER_00 2:00:29

Yeah, cool. Sounds good, Doc. Sounds good. And then good luck tomorrow. And um, yeah, let me see. Let me see if I can hit stop on this thing, and then so you can stay there. Let's see if I stop the podcast here. Well