How long have you been working together as dance partners? Do you focus exclusively on kizomba?
Jason: We’ve been working together for 4,5 years. I also teach salsa/bachata, and with Regan we teach Kizomba, Semba and Tarraxinha at Steps Dance Studio.
Regan, when and how did you start learning and then teaching Kizomba?
I saw videos of Tony Pirata and Cherazad dancing and I really liked them. I told myself, “I’m West Indian, I can do this dance.” At that time, Java was offering kizomba classes so I decided that I was going to learn it. That’s when Java officially became my first instructor. After about a year, I attended my first overseas festival called Batuke in London England,; this experience ignited my desire to travel more and more importantly, to learn more. Afterwards, I spent a lot of time in the Angolan community where I learned a great deal about the dance and culture.
Original article was written by and syndicated from: Kizomba Voices of Toronto
Flavour Fridays is one of the few regular, ongoing, exclusively kizomba-semba social in Toronto, with no other rooms/dances. How did it all start?
When I was in London England, I went to the Chocolate Tuesdays social. I met the promoter there and told him that I really liked his party. I consulted with him about how he was running his social and how I could replicate it in Toronto. This was about 5 years ago, and at the time there was no kizomba-only socials in Toronto outside the Angolan community, so when I came back I decided to start one. I met Newton, DJ NS, through Java and I approached him about this idea. I also invited Java into this venture. The plan was to have a bi-partisan kizomba venue rotating local instructors, so dancers can test these instructors prior to taking classes. My vision was to let them to promote their classes and events thereby supporting the community’s growth. During the first six months, my partners felt we needed to add bachata and salsa but we were opposed to it. So at the moment there are only two kizomba-only socials on alternating Fridays – Flavour Fridays and RaizesRoots Fridays.
Jason, you are an accomplished dancer in multiple genres with lots of competitions and performing under your belt. When did you catch the kizomba fever?
Five years ago, I went to Gusto’s party at the Burrows. I was dancing salsa and bachata, and when I ventured to the kizomba room, I looked at the dancers wondered what what this dance? I initially thought it was just like any slow dance. When I decided to learn it, I realized that it was going to become popular. My first workshop was with Mark Brewer, a kizomba instructor from Detroit who gave two workshops in Toronto. When Regan brought DJ Sinker to Toronto for a workshop, I studied privately with him as well. I must say he was one of my favourite instructors. Some of the other instructors who have had the greatest influence on me were: Cesar, Ennuel and Hakima, Petchu and Vanessa (brought by Leila and Jeffrey), Filipa Castanhas and Joao and Geidre. I also studied with Babs, Sinker and Offia of Kizo-Love, when they came to Toronto regularly from Montreal. They brought in a lot of urban influence that at the time was popular to new dancers. Then, two years ago, I went on to study kizomba and semba in Portugal at an intensive training week with Petchu and Vanessa. I can honestly say that this changed my life. It was very different from what I thought was going to be and gave me a new perspective on the dance and the culture.
As dance teachers, what is your teaching philosophy?
Jason: I’m a very technical dancer, so I would say my focus is on technique.
Regan: Foundations and structure. When we get new students, we tell them that what we teach is the foundations of kizomba. We believe that once they have that, they can branch out wherever they want to go stylistically. First though, they need to know the foundations. We took Eddy Vents’ teacher training course this past winter, and now we are able to structure our classes in a more organized fashion. We use to teach everything we learned in the training before the teacher’s training, but now we have a very clear structure to build our curriculum. Additionally, in my experience, male instructors who teach alone focus predominantly on leads and on their steps, and that’s why a lot of follows drop out of classes or workshops. What is unique about our group classes is that we try to focus on the females just as much as the males; sometimes we even separate them. The more females know about the step, the more they tend to backlead or to anticipate, so we try not to focus on the follows’ steps too much. Instead we teach them Ginga, how to walk, and how to react quickly.
Jason: Taking this training together was a great opportunity, as we learned how to support each other as teachers.
Regan: When Eddie taught at the So Kizomba Festival, I took the workshops alongside my students and it brought me so much joy to see that our students already knew the steps that were being taught. This was great feedback for us, knowing that what we were teaching was correct and internationally accepted.
Do you think having a standardized kizomba curriculum that all teachers follow is important?
Jason: Yes, a standardized curriculum would be great. Foundation is very important. Learn foundations for three or four months, and then feel free to branch off.
Regan: In our experience, that is what we see our students do. They learn the foundations then branch off.
How do you see the Toronto dance community?
Regan: It is interesting because at the beginning everybody was excited to learn, take lessons, and go to festivals, but I notice today that people are learning a lot on the dance floor, and as a result, they lack the foundational steps. As I learn to lead, I find some followers are heavy, rely heavily on the lead for support, don’t respond to changes in direction, and have no Ginga. We find that our group lessons are male heavy because females prefer to learn on the dance floor. Because of this, good leads get frustrated with ladies who only want to learn on the dance floor because they feel they are being used for their leading skills. Also, people in Toronto don’t like hearing criticism. I’ve been called a bully before because I have told someone that if they don’t learn and respect the culture tied to this dance, you should pick a different dance.
Jason: I would like to give an example: a couple getting married wants to learn a four minute with five different dances, and a choreography. They have never danced before…and they want a discount. It boggles my mind, because it takes time to learn a dance, just like it would take time to learn a language. You’re clearly not going to learn Spanish in five lessons. Dancers don’t seem to understand the time and effort required to achieve a level of proficiency in any given dance.
Who in your opinion are the most trusted sources to learn kizomba locally and internationally?
Regan: Locally, we send our students to Albena because her style is closest to what we teach and she is also located in the city. We typically send our students to her if we are away or if they want more lessons outside of our Sundays. I would also endorse Roxy and David because they invested in Eddie’s course and have invested a lot in training and learning from quality instructors worldwide. We firmly believe that a teacher must invest in their teaching. I would also credit those teachers who attend festivals alongside their students.
Jason: Internationally ,the most trusted sources are Eddie and Lucia, Petchu and Vanessa, Adda and Rico, Paulo and Lana, Miguel and Susana, Fabricio and Josy, Bonifacio, Kwenda Lima, Mandela, Tecas and Miss Jo.
Who were/are your mentors and main influences?
Jason: Petchu and Vanessa, Joao and Giedre, Eddy and Lucia, Tecas and Jo.
Regan: They didn’t just teach us style; they also taught us how to teach properly.
What do you think about the state of the kizomba dance scene in Toronto? Are there any issues?
Jason: The dance scene in Toronto is very unstable. People who dance kizomba don’t go social dancing enough. If all the good dancers could just go out to socialize and have a good time instead of focusing on their ego, instead of wondering if they are being judged, the community would be more stable. This is what community is about: laughing, drinking and socializing together.
Regan: Toronto is its’ worst enemy. The community talks about promoters not collaborating but I think the reason why there are so many parties and so much division is that the promoters try to satisfy the varying array of tastes of this community. If dancer “A” doesn’t like the music at one social, they will be very vocal about it. The promoter will hear this and create another party just for that type of “A” dancer. As a result, we have too many parties and a divided community. Another issue I see is that people want to see others succeed. People are under the misconception that there is big money to be made in kizomba. My goal for my events is to have a great party and to not lose money. I try not to compromise the integrity of the dance and my events for money. This is my hobby and I’m passionate about the dance, so I manage my expectations.
Original article was written by and syndicated from: Kizomba Voices of Toronto
What do you think the local kizomba dance community needs most? What needs to change, improve?
Jason: This maybe wishful thinking but I personally think that all the instructors should take each other’s classes. We can go to Albena’s class, Roxy’s class, Kwesi’s class, whoever, to gain knowledge and support one another. No matter how long you’ve been dancing, there is always something new to learn or a different way to explain a concept. Maybe another teacher can explain something in an easier way so we can learn from each other. That is how we create a community, how we help and support each other!
Regan: Instructors should support events that have supported them, and give back to events that have promoted them in the past. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to give back, and I don’t think there is enough of that happening. We become our worst enemy when we allow mediocrity and drama to ruin the community. The sad reality is that we should be more united, and at a higher level and caliber of dance then we currently are.
Regan, you had a vision for Mulheres, a festival by women for women that took place a few weeks ago. Can you talk about this vision a bit? This festival has been on my mind for years. Our community is full of lady leads, either forced to, because of shortage of male leads, or by choice in order to teach and operate their schools. A lot of these leads are learning on the dance floor. Giving a platform to ladies interested in learning how to lead was one of my main prerogatives. Also, a lot of students wanted to learn Ginga. In addition, I wanted to see a healthy balance of kizomba and urban to satisfy every dancers’ desire, and to showcase a variety of local, national and international artists. Mulheres was created to be a zone where we could feel proud of our femininity, while challenging ourselves to accomplish something very difficult: the skill involved in leading. I thought it would help ladies to better empathize if they understood the challenge our male leads face and their perspective with regards to the dance. I was hoping that more male instructors would show up, because if they are teaching women, then it stands to reason that they should know how to follow. Sadly, only two showed up. Ultimately, for Mulheres, I wanted dancers to experience a different kind of festival, and as always, have a great party and not lose money.
Do you feel you accomplished what you envisioned? Not as I would have liked to. I always strive for excellence, so next year a lot of things will be tweaked. There was a misconception that this festival was only for women, so we will find ways to get the guys involved. I have to say Eugene aka Tin Man should get the award of merit for the support he showed the festival, Mulheres. He was amazing! He attended most if not all of the workshops, and the way he was supporting his partner, Jhanelle….he was a great example!
Rate the Toronto dance community compared to the international one, from 1-10.
Jason: I would give a 10 for the ladies, and a 5 for the guys. I still believe Toronto has some of the best female followers in all of Canada.
Regan: I would give the ladies 7 or 8; I feel many need to attend classes to step up their level. I would give the guys a 5-6 because they also need to step up their level. Finally, I would rate the Angolan and PALOP communities an 8 because they need to be more present and set an example to the dance community. After all, this is their culture. I do have to say that they know how to throw amazing parties!
Any shoutouts to the dance community, to fellow teachers, dance studios, djs, organizers?
Jason: Yes, shoutout to Regan as one of the pioneers of the dance community, as well as to Java, Albena and Manuel Dos Santos for being the first instructor to spread Kizomba to Toronto dance scene.
Regan: I’d like to send a shout out to the entire community: I love you all!!! Especially to the hardworking people of the community who create quality events that unify and preserve the authenticity of kizomba by respecting the culture and integrity of the dance. To the up and coming urban organizers who make clear distinctions that they are offering urban kiz events and who are also running quality events. Finally, I have to mention the Angolan community because without them we’d have nothing…
Jason Ng has trained, performed and competed in partner dances such as Salsa, Bachata, West Coast Swing and Kizomba. He was introduced to Kizomba in 2013 and trained intensively to advance his skills and level. Along side his partner Regan they create dJ&R Kizomba and currently teach together.
Regan Baird, started jazz and ballet at the tender age of 8. In her early twenties she took Salsa lessons in both Toronto and the USA before she discovered her passion for Kizomba. Under the instruction of Java Panzo, Mr. Kizomba, and other instructors she learned the foundations of the dance. Regan works actively in the Kizomba community promoting Flavour Fridays and educating dancers through workshops she hosts with International Instructors.
Original article was written by and syndicated from: Kizomba Voices of Toronto