Salseroblanko, Huntsville, AL

Today is a good day because I will be posting my first interview. I am so excited to have this opportunity to write about a fellow Salsero! His name is John Salseroblanko Morey of Huntsville, AL. When I was in Atlanta for the Hotlanta Salsa Congress I got to see this Salsero perform with his men's team. It was only three guys dressed as Cowboys, so it wasn't hard to remember their faces. After I was home from the Congress, I sat down to friend request everyone I could recognize from my weekend in Atlanta. Of the people I was able to find, Salseroblanko graciously accepted my request. Lucky for me, he quickly responded when I put the Facebook shout out looking for interested interviewees. So after doing some research on the guy, Salsera Elena (SE) asked the following questions and Salseroblanko (SB) provided the following answers.

SE: "Your bio says your first lesson was in 2000 in Dallas, TX. Was this your first ever encounter with dancing to Salsa? If not, when was?"

SB: "I was first exposed to Salsa dancing at a Latin club by a friend of mine when I was 30 but that didn’t get me excited to take lessons. I was enjoying the music and atmosphere but that was the extent of that. It was 10 years later in Dallas is when I saw two men passing a female back and forth taking turns dancing with her is what got me interested in taking lessons."

SE: "What was it about Salsa that inspired you to start taking lessons?"  

SB: "It was those two guys I saw dancing with one girl as I mentioned earlier. I found that really interesting. I wanted to learn the moves the men where doing."

SE: "How did you decide on DC as your first Congress location?"

SB: "The was the first congress I heard about and it was close to Greensboro, NC that I could just drive to."

SE: "How did you first hear about Congresses?"

SB: "It was from an instructor living in Greensboro, NC."

SE: "Which Congress has been your favorite so far?"  

SB: "Back in the day it was the Los Angeles Salsa Congress."

 

SE: "Which Congress has been the most memorable for you?" 

SB: "Right now it is still the LA congress. My team will be performing at the NY Congress in 2013 so I am hoping that will be very memorable."

SE: "Can you tell me about your experience with Super Mario? What was your dance relationship with him like? What about his style of dancing inspired you to learn from him?"  

SB: "I met Super Mario BEFORE he was even a big star. He stayed at my home every time he came to NC. We are close friends. We still email each other keep tabs not just on our salsa lives but our lives in general. He is a very smooth and fun dancer. I love that about him. He also exhibits great leading which has inspired me to be a specialist meaning I teach leading and following techniques. That is not the easiest to teach. Most don’t stress that. They just teach combos. I teach combos and stress leading and following techniques."

SE: "Was your move from Dallas, TX to Greenville, SC because of Salsa, or other life reasons? If because of Salsa, how did you decide on Greenville?"

SB: "It was because of work."

SE: "When did you decide you wanted to become a professional Salsero? What did that decision involve? Did you ever have to choose between Salsa and a different career?"

SB: "Being a pro came with the territory. I do not make a living on Salsa. It is my passion. I am fortunate I can enjoy this dance without having to worry about making a living out of it. I am an engineer by trade."

SE: "Tell me about your training? You’ve named your instructors, how did you go about learning from them? Did you take private lessons? Did you attend their classes regularly? What was your training schedule like? How much time did you commit to training?"   

SB: "I met most of my instructors at the congresses I attended early on. Edie the Salsa Freak and Super Mario have had the biggest influence. I took private lessons from them. When I was first learning I went dancing 6 nights out of the week, practiced every day at home and took 2-3 lessons a week and it was expensive then, $20 an hour!"

SE: "How did you get your first teaching gig in Illinois? How’d you end up there?"

SB: "I ended up there because of work. There was NOTHING there! Lol so I decided to each at the workplace which then expanded to a studio then ended up having a salsa night! That was fun!"

SE: "What was your experience in Greenville like? What methods did you use to bring the Salsa scene to Greenville?"   

SB: "When I arrived in Greenville, there was no salsa scene. They had Latin clubs. I looked for a studio and started teaching. I started with one class which grew to 4 classes in less than 1 year. We had socials at the studio but then the students wanted more. They wanted a place where they can buy drinks. I found a club called Dockers. I had to find a DJ which I did. I instructed the DJ as to what type to play and what format. That place was never in the red. We broke even the first night. We had salsa night every week average 80-120 people at this place that the max capacity is 160. It was so much fun!"

SE: "When did you start performing? How did you get recognized as a performer?" 

SB: "It was in Greenville SC. I did a Steve Urkel routine. It was funny! Here is the video"  

SE: "How did you end up in Huntsville, AL? What were some of your methods to bring Salsa to this town?"

SB: "Work brought me to Huntsville. As always I search out salsa nights or dance lessons. I found one person who was teaching rueda at University of Alabama Huntsville. The class was very small. I found a studio and started teaching. I decided to host a FREE SALSA SOCIAL on the 5^th Tuesday of the month to give the students a way to practice and it is my way to say thank you for taking lessons and telling others about Salsa. I still do it today (going on 5 years). Then I stepped it up and looked for a club. Found one (it is not easy to find a nice place for salsa in Huntsville). It was a newly opened club called CLUB RUSH. We started salsa nights there Aug 2009. We were there for 2.5 years. Change of ownership, we were gone. So we are in the process today of looking for a good home for our salsa nights. We are currently hosting our salsa night at a nice fitness center."

SE: "Which Congress has been your favorite to perform at?"

SB: "Right now the Hotlanta Salsa Congress."

SE: "Tell me about the flash mob. How often do you conduct a flash mob? What does it involve? Per the flash mob video on the homepage of the Salseroblanko website, did you know the people that were joining in or they were just joining in?"  

SB: "We did our first flash mob in Jan of 2011. That was fun. We have only done it another time. We do not do this very often but we plan to.  Doing a flash mob is not that difficult unless you want to turn it into a production. I pick a song, create a simple routine of about 13-15 eight counts, teach it to those interested and set up where to perform. I generally try to teach it in 3 hours and perform it that same day. So far it has worked. I set it up as if we do not know each other. As you saw in the video."

SE: "Tell me about the events you have going on in Huntsville?"

SB: "I have two “big” events, Salsalabama Jam (OCT) and the Spring Salsa Fiesta (APRIL). These are well attended. Not huge like the bigger cities. The Jam is about 250 and the Fiesta (two years old) is about 180. We are in Huntsville, it takes a long time to generate dancers and interest in the events."

SE: "Do you teach by yourself?"  

SB: "Yes."

SE: "Do you have a dance partner?"

SB: "No."

SE: "How many days and hours a week do you teach?"

SB: "I teach every Tuesday, beg I and beg II, one hour each class. I also teach a 4 hour boot camp once a month."

SE: "Do you have another job?"  

SB: "I am an Electrical Engineer."

SE: "How often do you get to travel around with Salsa?"

SB: "Not enough! Lol!!  I am allowed by my wife to attend two congresses a year. I travel once in a while to teach or dance in Nashville (visiting our salsa friends there)."

SE: "What is your favorite place you have traveled to? What other places have you traveled?" 

SB: "I have no specific place that is my favorite. As long as the music is good, I love it!"

SE: "How’d you get the name Salseroblanko? Did you name yourself or someone else named you?"

SB: "Well at first I was called salsero loco. I did some crazy wild moves early on then I decided that Salseroblanko was good for me. So I stuck with that."

SE: "What are your current and future goals as a Salsero?"  

SB: "Right now I just want to keep building the scene in Huntsville. We have a long ways to go. I compare the scene like a baby learning how to walk. The scene is born, now the baby just needs to learn how to walk and eventually be a marathon runner."

SE: "What advice do you have for training and aspiring Salseros?"

SB: "If money and time is not an issue, take as many lessons as one can afford, give yourself time to practice, practice often and concentrate on techniques and not the moves, and travel to experience other dancers."

SE: "Who are some of your favorite Salseros to dance with?"  

SB: "Joby Brava, Magna copal, Randi Pearson. I call these ladies Ferrari’s lol. Easy to drive."

So if you live in Huntsville, AL or happen to be passing through, I would highly recommend getting in touch with Salseroblanko. Clearly he can dance and he is your walking source of all things Salsa in Huntsville, AL. To Salseroblanko, thank you so much for allowing me to interview you. I could go on all day asking questions about your experience in the Salsa world, but I figure the interview has to end at some point. I do plan to get to Alabama sometime soon to check out for myself the Salsa scene. Until then let's keep on dancing! 

If you would like to get in touch with Salseroblanko, check him out at Salseroblanko.net or at www.alabamasalsa.com. Also check him out on Facebook or send him an email at salseroblanko@yahoo.com.