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- Salsa in the City
- An interview with Jessica Moya
An interview with Jessica Moya
- By Stephen aka Original Lime Flavour
- Published 24-Jun-05
- Salsa in the City
- Unrated
By Stephen
Choo Quan
Jessica Moya is a member of one of Philly's finest dance groups, Art In Motion Latin Dancers. In the year they've been together, they've managed to perform and teach at congresses throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. While at home, though, you can find her teaching all week long at La Luna Dance Studio, doing group and private lessons. Just recently, Jessica branched off and started an all-female group consisting of 3 up-and-coming salseras in the Philadelphia area. Their debut performance will be at this year's Chicago Salsa Congress in February 2005.
Aside from adult classes, Jessica also likes to work with our younger generation of salsa dancers, having taught children classes at the studio and choreographing children performances. Teaching the new generation to dance salsa has a very special place in her heart.
Stephen: When did you first fall in
love with Salsa?
Jess:
Well, I was already dancing for a few months when I first saw “The
Pink Lady” at the 8th Floor. I watched her all night long and
I wanted to dance just like her. I was mesmerized. She was so elegant
and stylish and so much fun to watch. Eventually "The Pink
Lady" turned out to be
Sonya Saamova. Funny how things end up. Now I teach for her at La
Luna. Never saw that coming!
Stephen:
Describe some "firsts" for you in the Salsa world?
Jess:
I remember the first time I met Darlin and Mirka. I can see them
like it was yesterday. They were so young and eager to learn everything
they possibly could, but very shy and quiet. They used to only dance
with each other. Who would have known we would all end up in the
same group
together? I also remember my first dance with an "advanced"
dancer. It was the worst experience of my dance life. I couldn't
follow him and he insisted on forcing me through moves that I just
wasn't ready for. It was extremely discouraging. I walked off the
floor feeling like a complete idiot. I also recall the first time
I saw the StarDust. The dance floor was bigger than anything I'd
seen before. All these amazing dancers were all over the place.
I was so intimidated, at the time, that I sat down the whole night
and just watched. A waste of a cute outfit.
Stephen:
Who were some of the dancers you admired over the years?
Jess:
The first 2 people I fell in love with were Jayson Molina and his
partner at the time Gaby. I remember seeing them at the 2002 PR
Salsa Congress. I was completely in love with the way they danced
together. They had this look in their eyes when they danced that
made me feel like I
couldn't' take my eyes off of them. I spent the whole week in PR
"stalking" them. I followed them everywhere they danced
just to stand there and watch, not wanting to dance with them, but
just watch them and hope that I could one day dance with them.
Stephen: What inflection point in dance
broke you from the fear of being star struck?
Jess:
Probably the first time I finally danced with Jayson Molina. You
can't imagine how it felt to be asked to dance by someone who I
had only watched from a distance for over 2 years. He had actually
made friends with my brother first at the Boston Congress in 2004.
All of a sudden my
brother tells him to ask me to dance! I was mortified. So much so,
that I tried to turn him down - but he wasn't having it. He pulled
me out onto the dance floor and after a few nervous turns, I finally
got comfortable enough to actually enjoy dancing with him. I might
have even gotten enough confidence to actually smile at the same
time.
Stephen:
What was your most embarrassing
Salsa moment?
Jess:
That would have to be when my nose was broken at the Atrium during
one of their Saturday night parties. It was Memorial Day weekend
of 2001. I was trying to lead my partner into a turn and just as
he turned, he lifted up his elbow (in an attempt to style) and cracked
me on the nose,
breaking it. But that wasn't the embarrassing part though. The embarrassment
came a week later when I had to walk around with a hard white cast
across the bridge of my nose for a week.
Stephen:
What was your most exciting Salsa moment?
Jess:
I think my most exciting moment was the first time I performed at
a Congress. It was the Puerto Rico Congress in 2002. We were on
for a Thursday afternoon show. I was nervous, anxious and excited
all at the same time. I felt like those were going to be the longest
5 minutes of my
life and yet when it was over, I felt like it went by too fast.
Looking out into a crowd of nameless faces, staring directly at
me was intimidating, and yet exhilarating all at once. It's a feeling
I still
get every time I perform.
Stephen:
What is the difference between Salsa today and when you first started
to dance?
Jess:
When I first started to dance, everything was very "old school".
Not too many of the dancers you see now were around back then. It
was an older crowd, then, doing more traditional things. Nothing
was flashy or fast. It wasn't as complex as it is now. There were
no performance
groups or contests around here. There certainly wasn't any competition
amongst studios or dance groups like there seems to be today.
Now,
the quality of dancing has been raised. Dancers and studios started
forming performance groups, and going to congresses. We've progressed
so much so, that we were able to hold our own congress in Philly
for the first time last summer. Back then, we didn't even know what
a Salsa
Congress was.
Stephen: Any hope for the future of Salsa in Philadelphia?
Jess:
I have hope that it will continue to grow in the years to come.
As long as the current dancers on the scene remain humble and remember
where they started, they'll be able to help those starting out now.
We've already started to mold the future of salsa by putting together
some
amazing kids groups in the area. People are taking the time out
to show others what they know. If we continue with that, and continue
to show people not just what we know, but encourage them to bypass
us and learn even more, then that's the best gift we can give the
salsa community.
I try to encourage people not to shy away from the dance. Beginners are always intimidated by the club scene. We need to make it something that inspires them, not discourages them.
One of the people I admire most for his ability to make new salsa dancers feel comfortable is Mike Andino. He promotes everyone and every event that goes on and encourages all his students, and the students of others, to come out. And once he gets them out, he dances with EVERYONE. He's a humble person that spends his time reminding himself what it felt like to be a beginner, and making sure that beginners have memorable dance experiences like he had. I hope that we can have more "Mike's" in the community as we grow.