by Chantal Montaldo
Do you dream of dancing with the freedom of musicals? Would you like to find and develop your own style in dancing? If sport isn’t your thing, but you’d spend hours enjoying the movement, this is the place to be. Do you get frustrated with memorizing choreographies that don’t resonate with you?… I understand you, my journey in dance officially began at 32, even though I had always dreamed of dancing.
I grew up watching musicals, moving in front of the mirror secretly, because I was ashamed to admit my desire to be a dancer, actress or singer.
At home, spending time dancing was seen as a luxury; The priority was to work or study, a common reality in many families like ours. Art was not considered a way of livelihood.
I remember hearing phrases over and over again: “Artists always go hungry…”, “To really stand out, you have to be born with exceptional talent…”, “Only those who have art in their blood are successful…”. And these ideas, for a while, convinced me…
Until, living and experimenting, I began to prioritize my interests. I signed up for a dance class and began to ask myself fundamental questions: What does dance really mean in my life? What are my goals in learning to dance? What do I feel when I move?
The answer came in the most unexpected way… One evening, dancing salsa with a partner, we were rehearsing some steps from an animation class and we couldn’t stop laughing at our clumsiness.
When I finished, a woman approached me and asked, “Where do you teach dancing?” I was astonished, how could he ask me for lessons? If I was just starting out, I was a beginner!
His comment was revealing: “I saw you so happy! I want to learn how to do it too!”
That night my perspective changed completely. I began to understand the deep human connection that dance offers, how it allows us to communicate without words. Dance is an “ancestral gift”, an intrinsic part of our social life that we cannot ignore.
In the following years, many pieces fell into place and I found answers to those youthful feelings that still persist: Dancing is my form of meditation, a state of total immersion where the outside world disappears. After discovering my potential, I cultivated it and shared it. The same flows in my veins as it does in yours: “red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets”. I feel genuine success every time I dance, because my real goal is… BE HAPPY.
And happiness is an immense and, above all, contagious value! That’s what that woman sensed in me that day.
For this reason, I teach from my experience, I do not transmit memorized or prefabricated sequences. I don’t plan every moment; I live and improvise, enjoying the emotions that flow. I experience dancing in the same way: with intuitive learning, feeling every step.
Learning to speak starts with the repetition of simple words; Day after day, we add and combine vocabulary to form sentences and express what we feel. Only with a good command of the language can we memorize poems or speeches, but for a long time we improvise, saying what comes to mind and what we hear in each conversation. This is how I teach dancing.
What do you say? Would you like to be happy dancing with me? Will you allow me the honor of dancing?
