zo 6 november 2016 - vandaag is het 20-04-2024

Hello Jorjet, my name is Richard, I am here on behalf of Latin-Magazine. We do interviews with famous latin performing artists, so of course we wanted to do an interview with a famous Bachata dancer like you. Thank you Jorjet for having this interview with us.

I did a little research on the internet, it says you are born in New Orleans, is that right?
I was born in Honduras but raised in New Orleans. When I was 10 years old I moved to the USA. That is where I developed my dancing.
I used to dance in Honduras just for fun. I did little contests on little events on the streets. And then I moved to New Orleans. Starting to going out, not too much because I had 2 jobs and I was going to college. So I would go out like every now and then but I always loved to dance. So New Orleans is a mixture. There are a lot of Central Americans and a lot of Dominicans. So when I would go out I danced with a lot of Dominicans because that is what I loved to do.

Which dance or music was your first love?
My first love was Merengue, yes. I grew up… in Honduras, when you turn on the radio all you hear is Bachata and Merengue. That is how I remember it. I would listen to that all the time. My thing was Merengue and Bachata also, and then Salsa.

You dance a lot of dances, Bachata, Salsa, Kizomba, West Coast Swing. And West Coast Swing, is it popular in the US?
West Coast Swing is huge.
And compared to Salsa?
In the States it is the same size. Out of the USA West Coast Swing is also getting bigger.
Getting bigger in the last year, the last 5 years?
I would say since the last 5 years outside the US.

 

All right, I also read that you were born on June 12th.
That is pretty good. I was born in 1979, I am 37 years old now.
You are married?
That’s right, I am married with Troy for the last 15 years.
Do you have children?
We have one child which is 8 years old.
Is it a boy?
Yes, it’s a boy.

You are a pioneer. I think 5 years ago you started to published your Bachata dancing with Troy on YouTube and became very popular.
Many years ago. Those videos were posted on, I believe, I don’t know if I am mistaken but. When you search ‘Barber shop bachata’, we are the ones that come up, I think it might be like 2008, something like that. They have been on YouTube, but someone actually from Sweden, Peter and Christine, they used to run that Bachata event, back in those years and they discovered us on YouTube. But in those days we would do the Salsa; Salsa congresses, and perform Salsa shows. We danced Bachata but those days there were no Bachata events at all. So Peter and Christine wrote to us, asking us if we could come to their event and to teach Bachata and we were about like, Bachata, that is too easy to teach that kind of thing, but you think they are ready you know.

You said you went to college? Was it college or university?
It was university, I studied computer science and I finished. Back to that, I had 2 jobs and I was going to university for this career and at the same time that is when I started, that is when I met Troy, and I was: oh my god, this is what I love! But I could not stop my school. I was still going to school and my next thing was dancing, which was my hobby. So I was focusing on my school and finished it and you don’t know what you what you are ending up in your future. I never thought I would be become a dancer. And this is awesome.

Nowadays, do you do something with your ict background or are you focusing on dancing?
On dancing for the last 15 years. If anything happens I have the background, I can always go back to school, I am not that old. Just to refresh my mind.

And do you have your own Bachata school back in New Orleans?
Currently we are living in Houston. Because of Catrina in New Orleans we had to forcedly leave the state, it was in 2005. So we went to Houston, because Houston has a huge dance scene for the Salseros with really good dancing and the weather is similar as in New Orleans and we already knew people in Houston.

How do you work nowadays?
We work individual. Once our child started going to school. We had to travel separate, Troy and I to make it a little bit easier, us travelling so much with babysitting. So a lot of people think we broke up, this is not, no. We are just travelling separate so it is easier for us. One stays, one leaves or the opposite. 
Yes, Troy was here a couple of months ago when Brian announced you coming to Holland.

How about the future of Bachata?
Well I think that what we have so far, it’s awesome. You know as long as we keep it live. That’s all we want, you know, to keep it live, sensual, urban, Dominican or authentic, whatever you call it. Just keep Bachata alive, it doesn’t matter which style you do.

Besides dancing, do you have other projects?
No… no, not yet, right now like here, this is what I am doing right now. So far, knock on wood. This (holding her knee) won’t not get ruined. Because I was a soccer player before, I’ve been feeling a little bit of pain in my knees but thank god it is OK. If anything happens, like I said, I have the background, my degree.

You love Bachata, you love Merengue, you live now in the USA. Did you ever had the idea of going to live in the Dominican Republic?
No, as much as I love the people, the country, I wouldn’t move. I just go to enjoy it. To be around the people. They are fun. Dominicans are fun people and they are very humble. You go to their country, they welcome you like you are family - in a second. But I would stay in the US right now.

What do you want to say to the dancers?
Just have fun. Dancing will help you with any issues any problems that you have at work or at home. Dancing will always make you feel better. You know forget about the stress, you know all the stuff that you are going through. It helps them a lot, mentally. It is a fun, fun sport.

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We would like to thank Bripa (Brian) of Fiesta Deluxe for making this interview happen!

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