Stephanie, you’ve been an active and influential figure in the Toronto dance scene for many years and you hold the longest running weekly salsa/bachata and kizomba social at Dovercourt House. Tell us about your career as a dancer.
I’m from a French family, I have always been involved in dancing. I started with ballet, jazz, break dance and hip hop at an early age. I travelled a lot to Guadeloupe and Haiti with my family, where I’ve been exposed to Caribbean Rhythms (i.e. zouk and kompa). When I was 18, I went to Berlin Salsa Nightclub with my mom to have dinner and then I stayed for the social. That night was karmic, I met a few key players in the scene and I was invited to join and perform in a lambada group.
At the same time I started learning salsa, and started performing and competing. I worked with influential salsa dancers and instructors – Alberto Gomez, Josie Neglia, Abby Mina, Pedro Salazar and Martin Samuels to name a few. Thanks to them I was inspired to learn and teach ballroom dance, and perform tango as well.
What I loved about the salsa scene was that a lot of us had agents, we did shows, weddings, movies, corporate events, competed against each other yet still were friendly and respectful with each other. I was largely in a Hispanic community, and since Spanish language was my major, I dove into the Venezuelan and Dominican culture. It was a very positive environment, I was never discriminated against, they appreciated that I loved their culture and their dance.
In 1996 I lived and worked in Venezuela as an ESL teacher, then I travelled to Japan to continue teaching, and I also performed salsa via an agent 6 nights a week. I left Japan in April and in May I attended the first New York Salsa Congress. It was an amazing experience! The place was packed, I slept 5 hours in 3 days, I met DJ Henry Knowles, and hung out with musicians I met in Japan. In July, I travelled to Puerto Rico and I attended another salsa congress where I met a lot of well-known salsa artists, Willy Rosario, Eddy Palmieri, Roberto Roena, to name just a few. Puerto Ricans were kind to me, I was treated with the best hospitality and I had the opportunity to learn salsa on 2, and a lot of new styling moves.
Original article written by and syndicated from: Kizomba Voices of Toronto
I returned to Toronto with a lot of new information, a different style with an Afro-Cuban flavour, and partnered up with United Salseros which lasted two years. In 2002 I formed Mambo Tribe with Mark Anthony Sheppard and we taught salsa on 1 and 2. We had a pro-team and we were travelling around the world doing shows. We attended Eddie Torres’ classes in New York and Jimmy Anton’s famous salsa social that has been running every Sunday for 21 years with a huge crowd of about 400 people.
This inspired me to start the Sunday Salsa Social in Toronto with Mambo Tribe in 2004 with salsa and some cha-cha music. We had 70 people right from the beginning even though the promotion was – and still is – mostly through word of mouth. Mark and I organized a Winter Salsa Carnival for three years, to offer something different than the Annual Salsa Congress organized by Jennifer Aucoin. In 2006 we split up our partnership because he wanted to travel and I wanted to focus on building my student base in Toronto and building a community here.
My mission has always been to Uplift, Energize and Feel Great, essentially providing a consistent weekly social where people can relax and be themselves, dancing their passion and giving them high energy for the week ahead. In 2010, I switched the name of my school to GoDanz.
There was a resurgence of bachata in Toronto so I organized the Toronto Bachata Festival. Leading up to the festival I taught Dominican bachata classes with Bowie Romero who was inspired by the famous Troy Anthony and Jorjet from Texas. We had two rooms at the festival, so my friend Darius suggested bringing a Brazilian zouk teacher and offering zouk workshops. I loved it instantly. Later I went to Rio to train more and then taught it for a couple of years.In 2012 Troy introduced me to kizomba. He told me about Albir and Sara, who had an 11 hour layover scheduled in Toronto on their way to Vancouver.
He suggested that I invite them to teach a workshop. Up until then kizomba wasn’t on the map for me. I had four days to organize it and I got a whopping 60 people sign up for the workshop. Because of a snowstorm they didn’t show up and instead we had Samba Jess teach kizomba basics to the group.
Albir and Sara came later to Toronto to teach at the 2013 Bachata Fest, followed by a week of intensive kizomba training. Albir suggested that I could start teaching the basics and travel to Europe to learn the rest. So Instead of Brazilian zouk, which was very slow to pick up, we started teaching kizomba on Sundays at Dovercourt house with a social after.
I stopped teaching salsa and bachata at that point, just to give myself a new energy, and train my body to move differently. I loved the challenge! What was your experience working with the urban kiz guest artists (Albir, Secret Team and Felicien) and DJs (Snake) you invited to Toronto in the past? Albir and Sara were teaching their own style – r&b style to ghetto zouk and r&b remixes, and they spread kizomba through making people understand the language of the music.
When people don’t know the dance they need something to relate to. The English words made it happen, remixes of Mika Mendes, Nelson Freitas (rebound Chick), C4 Pedro were very popular, they all had an urban feel to it and people picked up on it fast. At first, I played mostly remixes and ghetto zouk with English words at my socials.
Now I play some Portuguese ghetto zouk and some tarraxinha and tarraxa as well. When I first hired Patrick- DJ Snakes, some loved him, and some thought he was too progressive and curled their lips! Now he is one of the most hired urban kiz DJs in Europe.You are seen as a predominantly urban kiz dancer/instructor. Is urban kiz your preferred dance?I don’t have a preferred dance. I love them all: salsa, bachata, chacha, zouk, tango, lambada, kizomba, semba, urban kiz, tarraxa, tarraxo.
If the music is juicy and my partner dances with great connection and musicality, I’ll enjoy them all.There is a lot of tension/division in the community between urban kiz and kizomba/semba dancers.
Original article written by and syndicated from: Kizomba Voices of Toronto
What is your view and explanation for that?
When it comes to a cultural dance there is a strong sense of political, cultural even religious identity attached to it. People are proud of it and they don’t want it to change. It’s full of definitions, associations, memories and nostalgia. When you mix the past and the future together, some react fiercely and others love the newness.
As a community builder I believe in good rapport with everyone who comes into the scene. I encourage everyone to be kind and respectful of those who prefer one style over another, just like the Cuban/Puerto Rican paradigm. I am a combination of French, Bermudian, Canadian – I like all cultures, all dances and styles – I am exploratory and love evolving myself, I like to travel and I look at the progressive side of things.
Based on your experience, what makes a social successful?
Some of the important must-have’s are location, a great dance floor, good rapport with dancers, good and dedicated DJs. Guest DJs might hinder a social, people are creatures of habit, they get comfortable with one.
I’ve been working with Bowie as a DJ for 10 years now, his music is great, he knows energy, people like him and his playing style. Another factor to a successful social is luck. Sometimes there is nothing you can do about it, it really depends on the people who show up to the social.
There must be a good balance between dance levels, cultures, extroverted-introverted people and people who like to socialize together. I feel lucky because Andy and Diana who run the bar at Dovercourt House build great rapport with the people who like drinking, and they help a lot to maintain the vibe; so, I would say a consistent combination of these factors will make a social successful.
What can you tell us about the festivals you organized in the past and why did you stop?
We had five bi-annual festivals in Toronto – KizombaFest – where we invited Afrolatin Connection, Isabelle and Felicien and Secret Team. The reason I stopped doing the bigger events is because of lack of unity and support from other teachers and rest of community.
I thought if they organize their own they will see for themselves the challenges behind it. It’s a huge investment on many levels. I decided to travel and learn myself, instead of placing value only on international instructors.It is known that you frequently travel to Paris. What is your experience with the Paris dance scene?I’m in my 7th year of traveling to Paris, and I go three to four times per year. The Paris scene is in its 10th year, and I feel lucky to have witnessed seven years of its evolution.
I know the key players. It’s a huge scene, and there are a lot of new people coming in all the time. There are three to four events every night, two to three congresses every weekend somewhere in Europe and flights are super cheap. The KizTrotters – the first travelling taxi team in Paris – had enormous influence in spreading the Paris/French touch/urban style.
Now there are many Paris teams who are spreading that plus Tarraxo and Douceur at the festivals. The reason Paris has such a huge influence on evolving kizomba/semba/tarraxa, is because hundreds of people learn semba and then dance urban kiz.
Advanced dancers take classes and train like in NY with salsa. You are cool because you are improving and ‘with the times’. You are cool because you’re creating new variations, because you know your isolations, because you are extremely musical. How does the Toronto scene compare to Paris? Paris vs. Toronto scene – they are different. In Paris people are more musical, there are a lot of people from African, Antillean heritage, and that might have something to do with it.
There are two types of people in clubs in general; ones that just come to dance and unwind, and then you have the ones who come from classes. They are the engineers of the dance and they look for technique. We lack this last category in Toronto. In the salsa scene it took people many years to become advanced yet some still don’t feel the clave.
Sometimes I get frustrated because people lack the passion to evolve as dancers, there is little hunger for technique. The social element in dancing is definitely more important in Toronto. Here we don’t have role models flooding the socials or even bar scenes. We have a select few isolated teachers in their studios, sometimes going out to dance socially.
I’ve never been to a club in Paris where people just go to social dance. In Paris a lot of urban dancers know how to dance semba and afrohouse as well, and they can easily switch back and forth, which is really fun. They can tap into both spirits and feelings.
What do you think the Toronto kizomba dance scene needs most? What needs to change, improve?
I think it would be great if Toronto dancers were more proud to develop their skills and practice more. They also need to be accountable for bringing good energy to a social, or dance party. Give, don’t just take – the same way you come to a party and bring a gift – don’t just take and complain. Don’t be a victim; be responsible for your own mood. If you don’t like the song then go and take a break, talk to someone, take time to socialize.
I have met some of my best friends in dancing. There is more to life than arguing over dance styles! Celebrate your life!!! It’s an accomplishment just arriving to the party!Another issue I see in the scene is that intermediate dancers stop taking lessons and stop evolving. They know just enough to social dance and they are comfortable there.
We have a lack of role models and influencers in the scene, for people to look up at. Similar to the Kiz Trotters. They are not teachers or promoters but advanced dancers, taxi dancers, who dress nice, know the latest moves, constantly travel and evolve. They are the ones who inspire healthy competition and instill growth as a result in the dance scene.
In Toronto, we also need to improve dialogue between key players in the scene. Right now there is hardly any dialogue. Some players teach as a living, some as a hobby, so there is a conflict of interest somewhere all the time. I personally try to stay out of it. My business is fine. My students bring me a lot of joy and I bring joy to them as well. This helps me too to stay positive and I am very grateful for that.
What are your plans and goals for the future regarding dancing?
I would like to focus on our new MyKiz Practice with taxi dancers to get dancers in training mode. I’m also planning to do week-long advanced intensives with guest artists to keep growing the community, starting this August, focusing on both kizomba and urban kiz. To dance semba and afrohouse as well, and they can easily switch back and forth, which is really fun. They can tap into both spirits and feelings.
What do you think the Toronto kizomba dance scene needs most? What needs to change, improve?
I think it would be great if Toronto dancers were more proud to develop their skills and practice more. They also need to be accountable for bringing good energy to a social, or dance party. Give, don’t just take – the same way you come to a party and bring a gift – don’t just take and complain. Don’t be a victim; be responsible for your own mood. If you don’t like the song then go and take a break, talk to someone, take time to socialize. I have met some of my best friends in dancing. There is more to life than arguing over dance styles! Celebrate your life!!! It’s an accomplishment just arriving to the party!
Another issue I see in the scene is that intermediate dancers stop taking lessons and stop evolving. They know just enough to social dance and they are comfortable there. We have a lack of role models and influencers in the scene, for people to look up at. Similar to the Kiz Trotters. They are not teachers or promoters but advanced dancers, taxi dancers, who dress nice, know the latest moves, constantly travel and evolve. They are the ones who inspire healthy competition and instill growth as a result in the dance scene.
In Toronto we also need to improve dialogue between key players in the scene. Right now there is hardly any dialogue. Some players teach as a living, some as a hobby, so there is a conflict of interest somewhere all the time. I personally try to stay out of it. My business is fine. My students bring me a lot of joy and I bring joy to them as well. This helps me too to stay positive and I am very grateful for that.
What are your plans and goals for the future regarding dancing?
I would like to focus on our new MyKiz Practice with taxi dancers to get dancers in training mode. I’m also planning to do week-long advanced intensives with guest artists to keep growing the community, starting this August, focusing on both kizomba and urban kiz.
Any shout outs to the community – promoters, teachers, dancers? Yes, a shoutout to DJ Bowie Romero and the Godanz team—Darren, Veronika and Anastasia— for their continuous support! For any new dancers coming to our community… keep in mind to nurture your dance relations as you may end up knowing them for half a lifetime. And lastly, if you date anyone don’t give up dancing for them because after you break up you will be back with regrets of the lost time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Social Dance Movement Specialist and Founder of GOdanz Stephanie Gurnon is considered one of the most influential instructors promoting the hottest new social dance trends on the Toronto Salsa scene. She is the organizer of the longest running salsa/bachata/kizomba social in Toronto at Dovercourt House. Steph is focused on building community. Her mission is to create an atmosphere which uplifts, energizes and makes a person feel great!
EDITORIAL NOTES:
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This newsletter is intended for kizomba and semba dancers who would like to learn about the dance.
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Original Article Written and Syndicated from Kizomba Voice of Toronto: https://www.facebook.com/notes/kizomba-voices-of-toronto/issue-7/2174624649226772/
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