Ever since I started dancing I've wanted to meet the people who dedicate themselves body and soul to dancing and teaching and who make it their way of life.
Today I had the opportunity to meet Sonia Cano and these are the 8 questions we asked her to get to know her better.
Tell us briefly who you are, and how, when and why did you start dancing?
I'm Sònia Cano, director of the Ritmos Barcelona school. She currently teaches Salsa Cubana, Timba Cubana, Clases de Estilo Chica, choreographer, director of two companies of girls and co-director of a mixed company of different styles of Cuban dance.
I began to dance Hip Hop as a teenager, becoming a member of several professional companies. She also taught as a teacher in several schools. My training was basically in Los Angeles, Paris and Barcelona.
With the last company I danced with we travelled all over Spain and part of Europe, hired by big commercial brands, in concerts and many other events. When we dissolved the Hip Hop group, I decided to learn to dance Salsa Cubana, because I saw it closely related to Hip Hop, I saw it as urban, like what I did, with a lot of body movement and tastiness, and at the same time precise and technical as well.
I trained with one of the best teachers and I have not stopped working, whether teaching, dancing in shows or working in congresses.
I started dancing basically because I liked it, and that taste becomes a necessity, a practically vital necessity. It's part of your everyday life.
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What's your best memory since you've been dancing?
I can't mention just one. Since there are many who excite me just by remembering them. Many are related to the personal help that teaching gives to students with different problems, for whom Salsa Cubana has been a cure.
For me, being able to help these people with my classes is priceless. Many other great memories are related to the gratefulness of heart, even tears, after some class by some dancer at some congress. And the memories that are never forgotten and that I will always carry with me are all the ones I have spent on stage. Each one of them I have enjoyed it as if it were my last and I have learned from it too.
What do you like most about dancing?
What it feels like when you do it from the heart. Dancing is a feeling of pure happiness. Maximum fun and joy. It also serves as therapy and self-esteem for people and creates camaraderie, unions of people who might never have shared if it weren't for dancing on the street.
Because you became a dance teacher? What does that give you?
I think it was my calling. I didn't hesitate for a moment to give up other very good jobs for teaching or dancing. It's all a little bit related to what I said earlier about memories. Dance is not only physical exercise, a moment of fun, but also a help for many people with different personal needs, and as long as I can bring something to make them feel good and happy, that makes me feel happy too.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
Why did you decide to open the salsa school Ritmos Barcelona?
Because I thought it was time to open up something on my own by bringing my approach to dance and together with my partner we decided to work on this project.
What is your project with the Dance School in Barcelona?
Our project with Ritmos Barcelona has been, is and will continue to be a school focused on dance, on the pure, from the feeling. To be able to transmit what I felt when I was a student. That our students feel that affection for dance in any of its styles, from Cuban salsa, Cuban timba, Afro, Cuban rumba, dancehall, hip hop, bachata, kizomba, among others.....
What do you think of dance in general and Latin rhythms in Barcelona?
Dance has existed since the beginning of humanity, through the interpretation of music. Every dance is the representation of a culture, a land, a country, an ethnic group, an era, a way of life. The world would not be without music, as a mother, or without dance as a son.
It is part of human history. In Barcelona, Latin rhythms of any kind are currently booming. There are lots of dance schools and nightclubs. It is in fashion and more and more followers are following it.
In your opinion, why should people dance?
Because it's happiness in motion. It is a time of disconnection from problems and the world. It's your time. The dancer knows what I'm talking about. Only the dancer understands that feeling, that passion.
You have to live it. Dancing can only bring positive things to the person.
From go&dance where we want to take the dance to the whole world we thank you for the interview and we take this opportunity to put two videos of your work in the dance school.
