OK. So I found out the word; if you’re 15 minutes late, you pay the team's Pot $5, and a big $10 ("Kachink!") when you’re over 30 minutes late! This method of punishment really works. When you start going into people’s pocketbooks, believe me, it’s now a VALID CONCERN and PERSONAL GOAL to arrive to practice on time.

No excuses either. If you had a flat tire getting there, or had to pick up a fellow team member, or your car broke down and you called 2 HOURS in advance NOTIFYING them about your car, or your daughter was sick, you are still considered late and owe mucho dinero! Joby and Luis Vazquez, and Janette Valenzuela, choreographers and Founders of the Salsa Brava Dance Company don’t fool around. They have a job to do, and expect nothing but absolute professionalism from every team member - being on time is part of that.  Missing practices is also highly looked down upon. You’ve got to have a damn good excuse, and let them know at least a week ahead of time that you’ll be gone. Why? Because at every practice session we learn something new in the routine. The rehearsals are so intense, that if you miss one, you slow up the rest of the group trying to catch up learning what you’ve missed when you get back.

I see why, and respect that now, simply because I’m beginning to appreciate the enormous amount of work, time, and energy involved in choreographing a synchronized dance routine to not only an entire 4-5 minute song, but an entire show with many songs!

I used to compete quite a bit, and even then, I experienced first-hand the hours and hours, weeks and weeks, of blood, sweat, and tears practice it took to win. Back then, I just had to worry about only two people: myself, and my partner. What a challenge. Now multiply this worry by 16 people...   the coordination, the arguments, the attitudes, the excuses for "missing practices", the outfits, the shoes, the music, the timing, the hair, the locations, the steps, the arms, the times…. my God. My hat goes off to every dance choreographer whoever lived, including all the dead ones.

My hat goes off to Luis, Joby, and Janette… now considered absolute "Saints" in my book. I couldn’t do it. No way. That’s why THEY choreograph, and I write. I’d like to keep it that way.

We practice twice, and sometimes three times a week, on Sundays from 5 till 9pm, and on Wednesdays, from 8 till midnight.  Yes folks, there is quite a big time investment if you're gong to be part of something like this.  We also have dress rehearsals, videotapings, and pictures that we must be ready for throughout the week. 

Just "how" choreographers come up with all these moves and music synchronization with an entire group of people is beyond me. How they put the entire show together was extraordinary. We learned bits and pieces of the routine in separate sections of several different songs.  They taught us moves that would match the peaks and valleys of the music just beautifully.  I was completely confused the first month. I was partly confused the second month. It’s now the third month, and I’ve had to resort to writing about it, to figure it out. We learned a "part" here, a "section" there… to this piece of music, and then to that…and amazingly, the bits and pieces have now finally fit together like a wonderful puzzle!  

If I had to give my experience a single word to describe it, it would be "intimidating". The dancers they’ve chosen are all excellent. Most have had some form of jazz, hip-hop, ballet, and/or ballroom training and then there are those few who are just plain gifted.

I, of course, am not a jazz dancer. I’m a swimmer. What on God's earth does one have to do with the other? Absolutely, positively NOTHING. As I said before, I was extremely intimidated from the start. These guys are good. And I realized that being accepted to this dance team carried not only a tremendous responsibility to my fellow dancers, but also one of the most difficult physical challenges I would ever experience.

My biggest problem is getting "the steps" right the first time. This never happens with me. I’m the type of person that needs to go over, and over, and over the same step hundreds of times before I finally "get it". Because I’m not a "professionally trained" dancer, I’m finding it much more difficult. I often leave the class frustrated, and go home to just practice that much more.

It seemed as though it took me the longest to catch on. I would go home and practice, and re-practice the shine (solo) routines, over and over again. I would practice in the shower, moving my feet at my desk at work, moling over it in my head… I would practice head rolls while brushing my teeth (I stopped that when I almost choked on my toothbrush…)

I practiced head rolls in the car… ( I stopped that when I was sitting a stoplight in my car behind Janette, and closed my eyes during my fifth left head roll, and BANG!!!! … rear-ended her car when my foot slightly let off the break…)

I’ve basically stopped practicing head rolls
unless those around me are  wearing full gear and helmet.

I would force my partner to practice with me before practice, and go over and over and over parts of the routine (poor Joel). Yes folks, Joel de Guzman is now my partner. We both made it at the audition - which was also a very intimidating and humbling experience to say the least…..

At the beginning of each session, Joby gathers us all together to discuss plans on how the company will raise money to take the team to the World Salsa Congress in San Juan Puerto by holding scheduled shows, performances, workshops.   The Salsa Brava Dance Team  was invited to perform again this year at the World Salsa Congress, and they would like to come more prepared to perform with a full team this year. Last year, they made a presence, but this year, they are hoping to have a bigger team. 

Scheduled shows, performances, workshops, and classes are helping ease the financial burden of outfitting, flying, and accommodating 17 people's trips to Puerto Rico. Through working very hard over the next couple of months, Joby thinks the team can earn enough money to go. This is a very difficult task, but each session we’re there, her plans and goals are becoming more and more of a reality. Each one of us has an obligation to perform in shows and support workshops to "earn our trip".  The goal is The World Salsa Congress, and we’re well on our way.

After each discussion meeting, we gather together for a ten-minute warm-up and stretch exercise to soft rock, funk, and hip-hop music. The warm up routine is similar to jazz warm ups - a lot of stretching, and extending. Each session, a different person leads the warm-up. Janette leads a soothing, stretching and lengthening warm-up with graceful transitions between each move. It’s hilarious watching the guys try to be graceful. Their arms are all bent and just flop around, they look pretty stupid and purposely make everyone laugh when they "try" to look like ballerinas, especially if they don't put 100% into it.  Alma leads an intense aerobic workout-type of warm-up that involves a lot of stretching as well.  Jerry had us doing jumping jacks and push-ups, and Anya's leads have a jazzy flair.  When she's at the front leading the warm-up, I always get images of the movie, "Flashdance" in my head.   Anya is also the only one that has rubber bands in place of bones in her body.  She can split, stretch, and contort her body into such amazing positions that I've often caught some of the guys just sitting there staring at her, with their mouths wide open. 

"FIVE!!!!" Everyone scatters around to their positions, "FIVE!!!!" Last call by by Luis Vazquez, Joby's husband, and one of the brothers of the famous Vazquez brothers … "FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT!!!" into the routine we flow… This magic number "FIVE" gets all our attention like Pavlov’s Salivating Dog.  It’s absolutely amazing. I think we’ve been trained so well to this single word, that if there were a fire in the building, the word "FIVE" would get us out of the premises quicker…

"FIVE!!!!" Another time, one more time, going over a routine we’ve been practicing over and over and over again.

"ONE MORE TIME!!!" This vague, often untrue, and worn-out statement is "The Luis Vazquez" version of one more time, which actually means, about TEN more times, always with the anticipation that "this time" MAY BE the last time....

Rudy Gonzalez, the class clown, jokes, "Hey Luis, why don’t you just say ‘Ten more times man!!!’ Stop saying ‘One More Time’ if you don’t really mean it!!!"

The camaraderie of the team is great. We help each other out when we’re struggling on certain moves. I've always felt very comfortable asking a fellow team member questions about moves, and practicing with me.  We've all become good friends, and have grown very close as the weeks go by. 

Luis and Joby had already choreographed portions of a routine together by the time Joel and I showed up the first time to rehearsal. Trying to catch up and learn what they already knew was very difficult for me. I felt like I was at the audition again. I kept thinking to myself, "What if I don’t get this right away, what will they think? Maybe they made a mistake by choosing me?" Sometimes I would get the routine perfectly, but when Joby or Luis would watch me, I would completely foul it up (due to intimidation and ZERO self-confidence) and end up looking and feeling, like an absolute klutz, idiot (maybe I should take some of my own advice on this subject).

Once, I was trying to learn a relatively difficult kick and lunge move, and in the middle of it, Janette said something to me, and I lost ALL my concentration. I couldn’t turn my left brain on, because my right brain was so focused on my body movements to get the move right! I couldn’t even form the words to answer her! 

Thank God I’m not a "guy" on this team. The guy has to learn all the moves and routines, and 70% of the time, I basically follow along.  [big sigh] the advantages of being a Salsera - it’s times like these when not thinking and just following a good lead is not only necessary, but absolute bliss...

Overall, dancing with this team is a ton of laughs, fun, and at the same time, very hard work, and very humbling. I would not trade this experience of a lifetime, for anything in the world. 

"Never Practice Head Rolls in your car...."  Janette Valenzuela