SALSA no ka oi
Feet around the world are moving to the steps of salsa dances - from New York to Los Angeles and right here in Hawaii.
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Feet around the world are moving to the steps of salsa dances - from New York to Los Angeles and right here in Hawaii. This “fusion of informal dance styles having roots in the Caribbean” is making dancers out of those of us with two left feet and brings people together in a fun social atmosphere.
On Sunday nights at the Aloha Activity Center in Honolulu, instructors with Salsa No Ka Oi gather to teach this spicy dance to anyone from beginners to advanced. Instructor Amy Tomita says it’s the L.A./Cuban style of salsa her group teaches, rather than the Puerto Rican/New York style.
“Our style is influenced by Cuban, we do a lot of rotational moves. (There are) two real categories - ‘On One Salsa,‘a more West Coast L.A. style (dancers) move on 1 (beat); ‘On Two Salsa,’ a more N.Y./East Coast (dancers) move on 2 (beat),” explains Tomita.
How does the dance come together? MidWeek stopped by Sunday, Aug. 12 to find out. Salsa No Ka Oi holds sessions in four-week intervals, preceded by a free introductory course (which was held Aug. 12 and is held every three months or so) to get newcomers interested and learning the basic steps, plus a taste of a few other moves. At the regular courses, dancers spend each class working one particular step, devoting the hour each week to really learning the key moves.
“Our sessions run in four weeks of level one, if you’re comfortable enough you go up to level two - you start doing different hand positions, different steps. A lot of people will repeat level one several times or repeat level two several times before moving on. We spend time to reinforce, make sure fundamentals are in place.
“For beginners, learning fundamentals, basic steps is so key (cross body inside turn) that you get that step down perfectly before you move up,” says Tomita.
In the introductory class we learn that women always start off on moving their feet right, left, right, while men are left, right, left, as far as basic steps go. After getting these motions down, we learn right turns, left turns, Susie Q’s (a cute little move you do with your feet) and body turns. After a short time, they turned on the music so we could get a feel for doing the steps along with the actual beat of a song. We also get to practice some partner dancing, with men and women lining up across from each other, doing some short steps together and rotating down the line, switching partners. Four Salsa No Ka Oi instructors, including Charlie Castro (head instructor and U.S. Postal Service employee), Dwayne Moniz (also works in property management), Malia Boersma (has a teaching degree), Tomita (works full time in public relations) and part-time instructor John Rei (works full time in the solar power field) are on hand make sure everybody is understanding the steps, and to offer a little extra help for those who aren’t natural movers (like a certain MidWeek reporter whose name I won’t mention ... OK, it was me).
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“The great thing about salsa dancing is that you don’t have to come from a dance background in order to become a great dancer. You just have to have the desire,” says Rei. “I was most definitely not a dancer and was not comfortable with it at first. Yet within a few short years I not only gained skill and confidence on the dance floor, but started teaching others as well.”
Once you pass the beginner stage, dancers move on to the advanced/combination class, which Tomita says, is where dancers “start putting everything together. That’s ongoing. Every week a new move, new routine. The goal is to get up to that level.”
In addition to their basic salsa classes, Salsa No Ka Oi also has sessions to learn other dances like bachata or merengue which Tomita says are seen most commonly in the clubs.
“Our students want to be able to go to clubs and dance all the dances,” she says.
The group also hosts a social night every so often where the instructors and students go out to a salsa night at a local club and get a chance to show off what they’ve learned in class, as well as interact with new people.
“We’re one of the only schools that the students and instructors go out and do things. Every Sunday a bunch of us go out to eat (after the level 3 class). We’ll pick a night to go dancing together. For a lot of students to go out and dance, it’s intimidating. We try to schedule nights where a bunch of us are going. We can introduce students to people we know,” says Tomita.
Salsa No Ka Oi was formed about three years ago when local salsa school instructor Rob Capilli moved to California and handed the reins over to Castro. The current instructors soon came on board, including Tomita, who was recruited last year. Since then, she’s been having a blast and is quick to recommended salsa to everyone.
“I happened upon a free class, started taking lessons. I thought ‘what the heck.’ I hate working out, I hate going to the gym,” she admits. “(With salsa dancing) you get a really great cardio workout.”
Some other cool things about salsa are that once you learn how to dance to the beat, you can add salsa steps to any music, even hiphop or R&B songs, Tomita says. Also, she adds, “the music is just so uplifting, it makes you want to move and dance. It’s great. It’s my one form of exercise.
“You just meet people from all walks of life - doctors, nurses, web developers. All ages, all ethnicities. It’s a huge melting pot of people, we all get along, we have similar interests, we dance,” she continues.
The group has also had some nice success stories, such as one fellow who had a hard time learning, but kept it up and is now a seasoned salsa dancer.
“The thing is to keep at it. We’re really patient. We always tell our students don’t feel bad. We feel like we can teach anybody to salsa dance,” says Tomita.
Salsa No Ka Oi holds classes at the Aloha Activity Center (725 Kapiolani Blvd.) Sundays from 5 to 6 p.m. and 6 to 7 p.m. A class card is $40 and covers your first four lessons. Ten-week cards are available for couples or friends to share and enjoy the class together. For more information on the group, check out their myspace page at www.myspace.com/salsanokaoi or call 779-7970.
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