Rose Knows: Let's start about 10 years ago… when you first got your start in Toronto and the changes since then...

Josie: About 12 years ago, there was only El Rancho/Borinquen -- it was only upstairs at the time, 98% latin people, no Canadians. A few clubs were around; I was a latin ballroom instructor and we were dancing mambo with our ballroom friends. The salseros were looking at us and snickering. In turn, I watched them and started to analyze the way they danced and noticed it was more a cumbia-style with a kick and/or a tap-step. I had a dance with a salsero doing some basics and enjoyed doing it their way; then Alberto Gomez asked me if I was interested in being his dance partner. Little Marina was his old partner back then. The style back then was "Tap Side Rock Step" and "Step Kick Rock Step". I met Alberto at his studio and started rehearsing and practicing with him. A Colombian guy named Fernando Lamos (a social dancer) taught salsa classes at the studio I worked at, and a few months later Berlin started giving 5 free passes for instructors to go. Back then, it was $5 to get in and a live band, with restaurant and bar.

Rose Knows: What was the salsa scene like back then?

Josie: El Rancho's was open every weekend and there was outdoor dancing under the stars at Ontario Place. There was only a handful of really good dancers, such as Alberto Gomez, Abby Mina and Martin Samuels. Marina and her brother, Vladimir had a ballroom school in Burlington. Even back then, clubs would open and close, people were trying to say they were instructors and it just wouldn't work. There was also a club called, Club Copa, a huge disco with pop music and Sundays, they would have salsa in a huge warehouse with two floors.

At Berlin, Alberto Gomez was the instructor there for a year or two. Then Abby and I started teaching there and started a competition. We had 16 weeks of competition with professional judges for amateurs and professionals with preliminaries, semi-finals and finals; and a judging sheet with categories. At that time, the dancers who competed were Stephanie Gurnon with Martin Samuels, Frank Bishun. Bobby Martin, Guillaermo Baez and Marlon Castillo (who has since moved to California).

When Albert Gomez left Berlin, he opened up La Classique on Tuesday nights; and Lucilla Bicongo had latin lust parties. There was a Monday night party at Misty's with 600 people with shows and competitions.

Four years later at Berlin, I had 60 students with 3 levels, 40 dedicated students per class in 8 week sessions, not drop-in. They would show up rain or shine, get babysitters, bring their dance clothes, have dinner, take a lesson and stay to dance. In California, it's totally different; they come in when they want and take classes from everybody. You can't get dancers to commit to more than 4 weeks of dance classes at a time due to the hustle and bustle of their lifestyles.

In my 3rd year into Salsa in Toronto, I also taught at El Rancho and Club 20-20; and ran competitions at other clubs. Peter Djakovic was a student back then and started teaching basic salsa classes with me.

When I left Toronto in 1993-4, I taught about 15 classes at York University and Randolph Dance Studio. I went back to Toronto a few times and noticed that students were getting more diverse in their style, more clubs were opening up and there were lots of changes.


Rose Knows: Why did you decide to move to California?

Josie: My first passion was ballroom dancing. International Latin wasn't great in Toronto; Montreal was the capital, but I didn't fit in, it was ethnocentric, and I hated the weather. At that time, Berlin immediately fired me thinking I was promoting another small club. Bassam Hanafi (a ballroom instructor) took over from me for awhile at Berlin. I decided to travel to Spain and Vancouver, then California with my mom. In San Diego, they had a ballroom dance camp with 6 hours of dancing with top coaches. There, I met Cheryl Bush from Lolita California who offered me $400 US per week to teach there. When I came back to Toronto, I got a letter from Berlin to talk to them and a huge apology for making such a big mistake as many students were not happy with his "ballroom-style salsa". By that time, it was too late as I had already decided to move to California.

After I started working in LA, I went out to check the salsa scene -- salsa was my moneymaker in Toronto, but my dream at the time was to be a ballroom latin competitor. Cheryl loved Salsa and we went to Rudolpho's. It was my first taste of the mambo style - the smoothness of long variations and rotations versus the Toronto-style and the songs were more slower. I got hooked -- for 2 months, I danced every night with all the top dancers, including Francisco Vasquez, Jose, Luis, Little Luis, Rogelio -- the five Amigos hanging out dressed to the T in their suits and gelled hair. I also danced with Alex Da Silva inSan Francisco and Edgar Trejo -- they all had unique styles and I picked up all their steps.

I then decided to start teaching salsa in LA -- in huge weekend clubs the size of a skating rink with two floors of 2000 people, such as the Mayan Club. I worked at Fred Astaire Dance Studio to compete and dance. Peta Siddall called me the Salsa Princess when he saw me dancing one night with Francisco, who was taking me into all kinds of crazy tricks. Peta was so surprised that I knew how to do all those moves. At the time, Peta was 7th in the world of latin ballroom and it was a dream-come-true to be able to dance with him.



Rose Knows: And how did you get your start in Videos?

Josie: I'm very lucky, when I made my videos, there were only 3 tapes out at the time -- Eddie Torres on 2, a Puerto Rican instructor and an Arthur Murray video. I originally started with making an instructional video for students on a low budget.


At the time, Salsaweb was just launched by Benjamin Rappaport -- it was an LA-based website with club and instructor info. I asked to put up a banner for my videos and to give a commission for each one sold; but Benjamin said it was too much paperwork, so we set a monthly fee and I became Salsaweb's first paying Vendor. Then Benjamin asked Edie to join forces with him at the time as she was popular in the Salsa Scene; and the rest is history as it became the largest salsa website in the World.

Rose Knows: And how about the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress -- you've been to every Congress since it all started about five years ago.

Josie: Five years ago, because of videos and internet, Eli Izarry asked me to be an instructor. He was going to have 400-600 dancers from about 15 different countries, dance performances and a history of salsa by musicians. Venezuela has been around since the beginning -- they are trained dancers that have their routines, not social dancers -- 10 dancers, 8 minutes long at top speed; very high energy and very professional with clean routines and have grown dramatically in size.
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In the 1st year, the styles were very separated, everyone was the best; but we started to learn from each other, New York would teach a shine, LA would show a trick or a partner move, Puerto Rico would show some of their Cuban body moves. The next salsa congress everyone started to incorporate and blend.

Last year and this year, there are lots of technically trained dancers. Before it was street dancers who did not point toes, no spotting in spins, more unbalanced… guys did not have great posture lines. Everyone's trying to do something special, do something more or outdo it or to revolutionize salsa. George Valentin never wanted a statue named of himself -- I never want to be looked at as staying still. Dancing is always moving. He put hip-action in ballet, unheard of… that's what keeps everything alive - that's what life is -- it can't stay the same. So by incorporating other dancers for variety, you still have your basic salsa…

Rose Knows: And what is changing in LA?

Josie: The size -- lots of new faces, many dancers are still buying my videos -- lots of instructors. In NYC there's only a handful of full-time dance instructors, but in LA, you have 25 full-time salsa instructors in one dance school (Dance Factory). The dedication of students in LA, they want to do it to the max, and do it well - young business entrepreneurs - they pursue it in a very well, rounded way - they learn about the history, the culture - they don't want to learn one style, they want to learn everything, on 1 and 2. 1 is still more popular with young salseros.

Rose Knows: What style do you prefer -- 1 or 2?

Josie: Depends on the music and the dancer. They feel different -- on 1 it's more punchy, more slamming, fast, hitting every accent... then fast into a break, into a start and stop -- more drama. On 2, it is more elegant, sinewy and slimy... in and out with your partner, more intricate details, footwork and body action -- you can be more musical. The movement isn't slamming into a dip and flip - there's more musicality with your feet.

Rose Knows: Like having a conversation with your partner?

Josie: No, it's more like LA-style is in the heat of passion and making love, and NY- style is foreplay -- something more gentle on 2, except for some dancers on 2 with whom I have a major rollercoaster ride.

Rose Knows: Who do you have great connection with?

Josie: In Toronto, I had incredible connection with Abby Mina; Guillaermo Baez was a great dancer; and Martin Samuels was an amazing musical dancer, equivalent to Francisco in LA -- they are the two most musical people I know. Edgar Trejo in LA, he interprets the music different from Francisco (who is so fast and dynamic). Edgar was always telling a story -- would do a lift, then a dip, would hold me there and then back up slowly… then would rush into the music… a total street dancer… creating dynamics in the music. During the long melodic moments in a song, such as the India and Marc Anthony ballad, he would do a lift…

I also had great dances with Albert Torres who was a fun dancer. William Ochoa, and Alvaro at the Congress last year. I fell in love with him as a person first; he's a great natural dancer.

Rose Knows: And what about your Salsa career in LA?

Josie: LA is 100 times larger than Toronto for salsa and I haven't been able to convince anyone from Toronto to come to LA to teach. I went through a lot of hard times in LA, was glad to have my mom for support when I needed it, but I never thought about going back to Toronto.

Right now, I'm going through a transition -- this is my fifth time at a crossroad. I've been traveling throughout the world in the last 6 months, but always at a crossroad… I feel like I'm giving more than getting and I need to do something for myself in terms of inspiring myself with my dancing, taking more and getting more dance training in other styles.

Regarding having a dance team -- it takes alot of work, dedication and pressure to try and get paid work every week. That's why I won't have a team now, I already had an amateur dance company with Guillaermo amd Abby, and a second group of professional ballroom jazz dancers in Toronto.

Rose Knows: And what's next?

Josie: I now have a video career -- 3 new videos and a new website project. I'm at the age where I'm starting to think about a family and having a baby in the next year. This is a crossroad for me…. There was a children's book when I studied dance -- one of courses was teaching young children. A specialist read a book called "The Dancing Man". It's about a man's journey through his life as a boy having dance as his soul and an older man giving him his first dancing shoes. How he traveled the world dancing, and he came to a point in his life when he said "It's hard and I'm tired". Look at this farmer who has his secure life and his day-to-day ritual and he has it so nice, and why can't I have that. And he found in him again the reason he's doing what he's doing and the gift that God gave him and what his journey through life was; and then he passed on his dance shoes to another young boy when he saw the spark in his eye.

So I'm at the point where I'm meeting the farmer. I want that life too -- I've had such a beautiful and incredible life; and I never thought for a moment then that I wanted to settle down until now. And I feel there's a fulfillment that could be met by having a family, a child and a career. The reality is, there are older women in the same dance scene, who are still single, getting older, getting slower and I never want to be like that. I don't want to be a has-been. Every dancer comes to the point of a transition. You can't be an 18-year-old performer on stage all your life. There has to be something else, I have to decide what is the best decision for me right now and some people just can't let go. It's sad to see -- they want to keep living the fantasy. I love what I do and I love the world of dance. I need to decide on the things that will change my life - I'm in touch with people - so I know what is a good path for me as I get great feedback from everyone through dance, the internet, emails, etc. I know what will work for me while I'm doing the family thing. I have met a wonderful man and I'm very much in love.