Q: How did you begin to dance?

I tend to tell people I started later in life just because of what I do now. I took all the dance classes in college. In high school, I used to do Mexican folklorico and flamenco. My older sister danced and being a Latino dance was not always a first choice for guys to do. My dad wanted me to do soccer. I always knew I wanted to be a dancer and learn all the choreography of music videos in my room when no one was watching. I was approached in high school to take dance classes at University of Arizona. I took a jazz dance class in high school and after that I was offered a 4 year scholarship to college. I was lucky to have really great teachers. After school, I moved to Chicago to do my first professional job.

Q: What has dance taught you that you have applied to your everyday life and how you engage in the world?

I have been very fortunate to see a lot of the world performing. Seeing different cultures and the way people interact. It has taught me we are more the same than we are different and gave me a new perspective to see how a lot of the things we do are wrong in the US and to just be kinder to people. When I speak to younger dancers, I always say “yes talent is great, but your work ethic and how you treat people with kindness is the most important.” In the dance world it's all about connections. I got most of my work from people I knew or who remembered me.

Q: Has dance helped you overcome any hardships in your life?

Yes. As dancers we are very expressive through our bodies. I am an extrovert introvert with verbal talking. When it comes to dancing, expressing myself without any words has helped me. I am not the most open when it comes to letting people in. I am like a pot that boils and that's when you see all my emotions. Somehow I can be vulnerable when I am dancing and can shed all the layers that I have in my normal life when I'm not performing.

Q: What other interests and passions do you have outside or inside of dance that influence and inspire your artistry?

I love to teach and choreograph. I thought I would dance until I was 65 and then a few years ago, I always taught, but a few years ago that light started to dim a bit and ask myself where else do I find passion. When I teach kids and choreograph, I feel like that is where my heart is. I love mentoring and taking the 20 some years of dance experience, I have been fortunate to work with amazing companies and commercial choreographers and I try to invade all of that knowledge and share with others especially when you make dancers think in another way and they do it infront of you. That is very rewarding. I like to find the diamond in the ruff. Someone gave me a shit when I was younger and had 2 left feet but believed in my potential. I love doing that when I teach . If I can help people and give people resources, I love doing that. It is a way for me to give back to the dance community.

Q: What is something that you have learned as a professional dancer?

I remember working in a black box with no mirrors and the choreographer said to me “when you have mirrors you look at the choreo and you do it, but don't feel it and when you have nowhere to look you have to embody the movement.” I feel like a lot of the time people do steps to do steps but people need meaning and intention and when you do it from that place that is when you create real art not just steps.

Q: What is one  experience that really stuck with you in your work in commercial dance?

I went on tour with Celine Dion and I was dance captain of that show and our first performance we did we flew to south africa and got to perform in the stadium where they had the world cup the last time and so I got on the stage and there were 600,000 people watching us and that rush of energy I have never felt anything like that. To feel that love and energy, it is like no other I have ever felt. Every time I got on a stage it was the same excitement and we knew we would talk like “take this in pause and take it in because before you know it, it will be over,” and looking back it is hard to remember, but that is one thing that really stood out to me.

Q: What have been some challenges in your pre professional and professional career?

I guess one of those things that is a challenge that I persevered is not having a lot of money. I didn't get to go to the private summer intensives and the training people get that come with it. It was my choice to be a dancer. My mom didn't take me into a studio when I was 3. Dance was very expensive so I had to find my way. I love it so much because I made it work. Along the way people have helped me out. It is not a singular effort. I have a group of people. I have had a village of people help me through my career. I always felt a bit behind starting dance later. When I got to college I was like people are twirling and dancing around me. It gave me the incentive to push myself when other people took 3 classes, I took 6 and I made it an obsession. I was the tortoise and the hair. I was just moving along and eventually I started catching up and passing my friends. Everything to me was so fresh and new and many people got burnt out. I took those challenges and made them push and challenge me.

Q: Can you talk about what it is like being a Latino male in commercial dance?

It is hard to look on television and have people that don't represent you. That has driven me to be successful in this field. In our culture it is not considered masculine or whatever for men to dance. Things are changing. It is different even than when I started dancing. I felt like I had to be very macho for my dad. My dad was a semi professional soccer player. I was always nervous to dance and to see and hear what he thought or how he would react. Until I did my first big show and he came and had tears in his eyes and he was so proud of me. That was the culture we grew up in with my uncles and male cousins and I think it is important… You do have the ballet dancers in Cuba, but they're dancing to get away from being poor. They make something of their lives so that’s how they are being pushed. For us, I think it has to change. I think more representation matters. The more you see the younger kids will want to do it. You see more dance on television and you see there are other men dancing and this has spawned a whole new generation of boys who dance. I get excited to see the young boys dancing. In the city there are a few latin boys that dance and I try to give advice to the families. Again, I want them to be successful as they can be in this career.

Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as an educator and performing artist? (community, financially, initial reactions, company shift, online class, emotions, initial cancellation reaction)

First of all, loss of work. A lot of jobs I was about to do have all been cancelled. I had audienced for a Virginia rep local theater company. I don't sing but I had to sing for the audience and I prepared for Chicago the musical and they ended up cutting the show, other teaching jobs cancelled or postponed. The dance studio I teach at closed the doors for a while. They did everything right for the stimulus package and they didn't get the money for the first round. I care about the students so I volunteer my time. Losing a few months can affect the kids training and scholarships so many of us volunteer our time. On a business point, I was going to start my dance company and just filed my 501C3 and I had my dancers and a logo and it was a big step. It took me a long time to even do something like this and it put everything on hold. Part of me wants to give up, but the other part is I can't. In Virginia, they may close everything on June 11th and we get more cases everyday so that could be longer.  I feel like even if we do come back, it's not going to be the same. No one will rush back to being in spaces with a lot of people, especially for a dance company, so arts always cut first and that is so hard to come up with at the dance company at this time. On a personal level, it is trying to find motivation to keep creating and dancing. I like structure. When I don't have it I'm all over the place. I get up, do yoga, do a run, a workout, improv. I have been keeping different types of music just finding different motivations to keep creating. If i'm not dancing or creating, then there will be an issue for me. I tell myself to keep my mind stimulated with all of that stuff. I am trying to read more. With all the stuff going on I need to set aside hours and a real schedule. That is helping me with my sanity a little bit.

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Q: What is a message you would like to say to health workers and other essential workers on the front lines on the front lines if you could?

I just want to say thank you. You are putting your life and your family's lives into dance. You are the super heros. Not all superheros wear capes. I have family members on the front lines and I get nervous for them and their families. I hope they say that for most of us we are taking this seriously. We have many people not paying attention to the rules and being selfish and the only way to get through this is together. Also grocery workers and bus drivers, now, we see how many people are really important. It's the ground level that keeps us going. After this, I hope people realize how important they are and how under allocated they are with benefits and everything. I hope we all wake up a bit. I feel like we go through lives with tunnel vision and we realize we really all need one another.

Q: Using the idea of “worldmaking” how do you imagine the performing arts world after the pandemic? (Worldmaking: How you can re-imagine the world in your own terms, the way you want it to be. Using this tool one can construct new worlds and write themselves into narratives that have excluded them and systems that have disabled them.)

First of all I want to see more art and dance in schools at a young age. That would be a dream. I think when kids have more ways of expressing themselves we all become better people. We need that more especially after this. I think a lot of people mentally will be off with how this has affected us. And with the arts you can let those feelings out. In Europe and other places art is a fundamental part of education instead of arts being the first thing to go. I have always wanted dancers to be paid just as much as sports players. The salary for dancers is not always the best. We chose to do this because we love it but it would be nice financially to get to be paid what we're worth. It is rare for a dancer to make a lot of money. For most of us, it's about passion. Now think about what everyone is doing: making TikToks and turning on the tv and creating. I hope people realize art is so essential to life and this is what got us through. I hope people see shows and support the arts. I think we need the arts to be a part of everyone's life to be better humans and treat others better. It all comes from the arts.