Student Spotlight:

Jin Gwoun

Salsa and Bachata Student

Jin’s passion for dance led him to pursue both styles with equal enthusiasm, starting with both salsa and bachata. Salsa holds a special place in his heart as his first Latin dance, but he enjoys the challenge of improving in both.

His top advice? Practice consistently and keep track of the moves to build a strong foundation.

Jin shares his salsa and bachata dance journey through the following interview questions.

1. Did you choose to take salsa classes or bachata classes first, or both at the same time? How come?

I took both salsa and bachata because why not? They are both played at socials, and there was a discount for signing up for both classes at the same time.

2. At this point in your dancing journey, do you think you’ll go farther with salsa or with bachata, or equally far in both? How come?

I'm going to try improving in both, as they are both fun dances and I love doing both.

3. When you've felt like you couldn't keep up with the pace of a class, what steps did you take to catch up and feel more comfortable?

I had missed 3 consecutive weeks due to health reasons and felt massively behind. The things that helped most were reviewing the class videos and practicing them on my own, and then going to the weekly mixed practice to apply the lessons with classmates.

4. If you had to choose between salsa and bachata to dance forever, which would you pick and why? What draws you to that style?

This is a tough question, but I would choose salsa because it was the first Latin dance I did, and I was hooked from the first step.

5. Based on your salsa and bachata learning experience at Movers and Shakers, what advice would you give to someone considering learning salsa or bachata?

Practice! One thing I like to do is write down all the moves we learned week by week and try to go through all of them in a song during mixed practices.

It's a good way to remember all the basics and drill them down as new moves are added to our repertoire.