How, why and when did you get into salsa?
Dance has always been my passion, I have been dancing different things since I was 6 years old.
I got into salsa in 1993. My then partner was a musician and he got a job in a Latin band, so I started going to the gigs to see him play and started dancing with cubans, colombians and other latin guys who used to go to the gigs.
I loved it so much that soon I got hooked and started going out to all the clubs, 3-4 times per week.
Who first taught you to dance salsa?
No one taught me to dance salsa, I learned in the clubs and I learned while being a teacher for Elder Sanchez’ Salsoteca Dance School. My first proper teacher I can say was Nelson Flores from Descarga Latina, New York. I started learning Mambo with him in 1998 .
Did you have any dance training prior to salsa?
Yes, I trained professionally in ballet, jazz and contemporary at The National School of Dance in Argentina, and also trained here at The Place, Pineapple and Danceworks for many years.
I am also a Pilates teacher and Ashtanga Yoga teacher.
Tell me a little about Mambo Lifestyle. When, why and how was it set up?
Mambolifestyle started in the year 2001 in Crete. I had always fused my professional dance training, my Pilates and yoga with salsa, but had never given it a name or organised it properly.
In August 2001, while me and my dance partner Edgard Del Rosario were teaching at a Yoga retreat in Crete, a BBC producer and presenter called Peter Nunn, who was there on holiday and did my classes, told me that what I was doing was very very different and special, and that I needed to do it properly and give it a name.
He called it SALSALIFESTYLE, and since we were teaching only on 2 back then, we created Mambolifestyle and kept Salsalifestyle which I am actually launching this JULY. Peter told us it would take us at least 5 years to devise it, prepare and launch it properly, and he was sooo right!!
Edgard and I spent the next 5 years developing, testing and teaching Mambolifestyle in London, New York, Miami and Argentina, and I came to launch it officially in London in 2006.
Mambolifestyle and all my other Lifestyle Systems which we will be launching soon, are the result of 20 years experience in the dance, fitness and holistic world, and in the world of teaching, it is my life dream, to be able to create value through dance and help people feel better about themselves and lead happier lives. I could not ask for a more fulfilling and beautiful job.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
From everything…..life….music….other artists…….specially from how I feel at the moment I am creating and how the people I am working with respond. I enjoy very much waking up creativity in others.
Who do you admire?
SO MANY PEOPLE!!!!! As dancers…Eddie Torres, Edgard Del Rosario, Frankie Martinez, Jessica Ortiz, mainly New York Style dancers because that is the style I like the most….
From UK, I admire Iris De Brito, Susana Montero and everyone who is doing what they like!!!!
And Elder Sanchez, Paul Young, Robert and Jean White, Emma Moore and many others for their vision in taking Salsa to hundreds of people and creating work for so many of us!!!!
What’s your favourite track at the moment?
No favourite at present…I am listening to a wonderful Fania All Stars CD live at Yankee Stadium.
What are your all time favourite tracks?
Perdoname from Gilberto Santa Rosa, Nina y Senora from Jose Alberto El Canario (he is my favourite artist of all time!!)
What are your favourite albums?
Don’t have favourite albums….just lots of music that I looove.
What was the last CD you bought?
15 anos de Baglietto ( it is not salsa!!!!)
What music is in your car/cd player/tape player at the moment?
Seru Giran.
Who are your favourite artists?
Jose Alberto El Canario, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Machito, Fania All Stars, Harlow Orchestra, Oscar De Leon, Willie Colon, too many to name!!!!
If you were not a successful Promoter/Teacher/DJ, what would you be doing instead? Or if you also have a full-time job, what do you do?
I would be dancing and acting , singing some other kind of music..definitelly in the arts!!!!! And probably teaching…I have done both ever since I can rememeber.
Tell me something most people wouldn’t know about you?
Most people would not know that I am a composer/song writer and I am working on my first album as well as putting a band together!!!!! So please keep an eye out for it!!!!
What’s your all time favourite salsa club/event that you have played/taught/danced?
I have been to sooo many and enjoyed them all!!!
I can say Puerto Rico 2001 because it was the first huge international congress where I was invited to teach and perform and I not only taught Pilates, mambo and styling but I also performed with my partner Edgard and with Seon Stylist!!!!
He invited me to perform with him because his partner Amanda Estuilo could not make it, so I got to close Friday night at the congress as Seon Stylist’s dance partner with only 2 days rehearsal!!!! That definitely changed my dancing life for ever.
What has been your most memorable moment?
Having my child Liam in August 2006, and launching Mambolifestyle in the same period.
Have you had any embarrassing/nightmare-ish moments in salsa?
Yes…one day I was dancing with Henry Knowles and one of my boobs came out…I did not realise and carried on dancing until someone was kind enough to tell me!!! ( and it was not Henry!!!)
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I want to thank you very much for the interview and thank all the people that read it, it is an honour to have people interested in what one has to say..I deeply appreciate everyone’s time.
Irene Miguel
www.irenemiguel.com
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