Being an ethnic minority in Slovakia, I was always told by my mum that if we wanted to achieve something in life, we have to work twice as hard as otherwise we will always be pushed aside. Growing up, I encountered discrimination on a daily basis, so I learned to work extremely hard to prove that I was as good as the rest, that just because I spoke a different language didn't mean I was worth less. In fact, I had more to give.... During the communist regime in Eastern Europe, life was different. Opportunities for traveling abroad were limited, so there was not much of a western influence. We were a bit isolated and had no idea what life was like on the other side of the fence.
We didn't know much about LATIN culture. But we had ballroom dancing! Through LATIN music we felt a piece of the culture -- that was the closest you could get to Latin culture. And the only way we could get an opportunity to go abroad was through sports and competitions. This explains why most of the best dancers are from Eastern Europe. It is still a built-in mentality, this competitive spirit, the subconscious need to excel. Because through discipline and hard work you could achieve excellence, which was the only way out of the country. When I was about 9 or 10, I started taking ballroom Latin classes. The music of samba, chacha and rumba was the main attraction for me. I got into dancing more seriously around age 16 when I started achieving results in many competitions. My brother was my dance partner. I was more of a showgirl and he was the strictly technical dancer. I hated technique but we had to drill it every day for hours! (Now I understand why.).
Our parents were never interested in our hobby, so we never got any financial support from them. All they were interested in was our schooling. If we wanted to carry on dancing and achieve something, we had to take a job to make money to pay for our hobby. I was working from the time I was 16. After school, during holidays, in a chocolate factory, potato fields, cherry farms, teaching kids to dance, teaching German, working in a pizzeria -- all this before I was 18. We even learned how to make our costumes, using extremely cheap materials, and so we started making them for others, too, for money.... Anything that could support our dancing, we didn't shy away from. And we managed to win several championships. We were the first couple in Slovakia to perform Lambada when it first came out!
I danced because I loved LATIN music. It gave me adrenaline, helped me through tough times in life, took my focus away from family problems. It was always a way to escape! Being a ballroom LATIN dancer gave me the best foundation in Latin dance. I know the technique of the moves. I know how to create an ultimate elegance of the fingers, how to lift a leg to make it appear visually faster without any effort, and so much more....This is what 15 solid years of daily training will teach you when you are a competition dancer. I didn't miss boyfriends, clubbing, house parties. I had no idea what all these things were. I was a proper student, did well in school, finished college, got a Master's degree in finance even though I hated every minute of it! I was an artist at heart.
In a post-communist country, being Hungarian, coming from a very simple family, we had limited opportunities. Art was something you did not consider to be a profession. So I set my goal for working in a bank to have a chance for a great future. An opportunity came up to grow in my career but it required solid English. I had a year to master English to a professional level in business. I came to London. I stopped dancing. That was 15 years ago. HA!!! When I arrived in London, my first night out was to a bar called SALSA. I was in heaven! Dancing Latin socially, freely, with Latinos in my first week in London! I got approached by VICTOR HUGO; he loved my style and he was the first to tell me that he wanted my class and technique in his dance group. It didn't go very well. There was not much of a connection between all the LATINOS and the Slovakian ballroom dancer. None at all! But I was excited to do my first paid dancing job! What a disappointment it was to realise what level the dancers were at and even more so that they were getting paid for a show like that! I must stress: 15 years ago, the level of the salsa scene was very different from what it is now.
There were only LATINOS on the scene and most of them were not trained at all, they had no idea how to lead or follow, or even dance. They got away with very basic moves and shakes, doing shows and getting paid the same amount of money you would earn in two 8-hour workdays with a job in an office or restaurant. I could not believe it. I came from a very different world. I received a very high level of "LATIN" dance training, and when we performed at high profile events, we never got paid and never even questioned it. (All the funds were going back to the club or school we represented.) The system was different. It was more like a sports club with a membership system. We had to pay membership fees for everything, including costumes, extra classes, private classes, studio fee, etc. But it was in the school's interest to make sure we were trained to the highest standards.
I must admit, I must have come across as arrogant to the LATINOS at that time. But I wasn't. I was humble deep down, and just different, trying to understand their approach. Latin ballroom dancers were highly respected and considered to be the top classical dancers. The UK market was different. It was simply about the sexy Latino girls shaking their behinds and grabbing audience members to dance with. And that was being a PROFESSIONAL LATIN/SAMBA dancer.... Simply put, I didn't fit into this scene then and I didn't want to carry on doing shows. But I still enjoyed going out to Bar SALSA, dancing and exploring salsa, Brazilian samba and lambada, meeting all the sexy Latinos.... And the best thing was, I was told by the Brazilians I had a beautiful bum! I always had a big "Brazilian" type bum, which is unusual for an Eastern European, and it was never considered to be nice in Slovakia. :-) Just another reasons why to fell in love with BRAZIL! I still kept getting offers to do shows, and I did couple here and there, but I didn't like them at all so I stopped. That was not for me. However, I missed the stage a lot! I decided to teach a chacha line dance and taught my first class at Dance Attiq. From there on, I was flying all over the place dancing! All sorts of teaching jobs first, then I started teaching SALSA at Dance Attiq, too.
I had always 90% girls in my classes so I tried to adapt and do more solo work than partner work -- that is how my LATIN JAZZ was born. I was approached by one of my students who happened to be the area manager in ESPORTA gyms that time; she offered me a job doing similar solo Latin classes called LATIN DANCE WORKOUT. It was a unique workout class at that time. I was on Discovery Channel with my program. From that point, my career took off: I was teaching at gyms, studios, on TV, to celebrities.... One day I landed in a Brazilian dance group at Down Mexico Way just off Regent street. At that time it was the only Latin place with a daily dinner dance cabaret show. That place had the only classically trained Brazilian dancer whom I really liked and admired and learned SAMBA from, Alex Vierling (Davey), who is now at PARAISO School of SAMBA. We were dance partners, sharing skills, and for the first time started fusing my ballroom style and technique with an original style. We worked and performed together for 3 years every day, up until the venue closed down and I moved on into my solo dance career by setting up my own dance company.
My love for Latin/Brazilian music and dance comes purely from the rhythm. I love the drums, the beats, the energy. I feel very close to those rhythms. SAMBA touched me spiritually. I loved the footwork and I loved playing and creating new footwork all the time. I was analysing the dance, learned about it a lot, but I was keeping myself distanced from it purely because I didn't like the nature of the performances. Despite my love and passion for SAMBA, I could not get over the bare bum bikinis. Where is the artistic value in that? The class and glamour? The dance, the music was amazing -- the drums, the bossa nova, the Afro beats, moving, energetic, spiritual; but the bare bums? It was not for me. After Down Mexico Way closed down, I went solo. I wanted to do things my way and build the way I wanted my LATIN and SAMBA to go. I know there are many amazing Brazilian samba dancers out there who also stopped performing because they don't want to show their bums anymore. But instead of moving away from it, as many girls did, I decided to carry on dancing samba, working with samba, even taking it to a different level but moving the focus away from the bare bums!
I am an artist, and I want my dancers to be respected for their dancing, not admired for their bums.... A couple of years ago, when my school, DANCEMYWAY, won the award for the best Brazilian School, a very good friend of mine, who is also a samba dancer, said to me: "Mony, but you are taking away what samba is about! The bum is what samba is about! " Well, I know many of you guys think that way. But I simply don't agree with that! Samba is elegance, samba is grace! To be a good samba dancer is to use your hips and footwork in a way that no one will even think about wanting to see your bare bum! It is a skill! And samba is evolving just as salsa did, and there is so much room for creativity. I am looking forward to seeing SAMBA in 5 years' time because I will keep challenging it, and our competition will have no choice but to keep up! I am looking forward to this dance developing into a skillful, artistic and respected dance form, like all the other LATIN dances today. And pretty soon we will have more and more non-Brazilians teaching and performing, becoming top-class samba dancers, spreading this beautiful dance and perfecting it day by day to a higher level.
The Brazilian Samba scene is now where the salsa scene was 15 years ago: still very much in the hands of the close Brazilian community, very much controlled and protected. Very basic. It is generally very difficult to become part of the performers' community, especially for non-Brazilians/Latinos. You can get into the carnival easily but you cannot get into the performing scene easily. Look at Salsa today. 80% of the top salsa dancers are not Latinos. They are highly trained classical dancers, ballroom dancers, jazz dancers. Look at the level of salsa today! That is how I would like to see SAMBA grow, and I believe we are helping by teaching it right and opening up to the fusion and bringing in the technique so it can be achieved by others, too. There is one more story I must share..albeit anonymously: I was once told by one of the Brazilian samba dancers, a close friend at the time: "SAMBA should be performed by Brazilians only! It is a Brazilian thing!" "But how do you want to spread the culture?" - I asked. She replied: "By teaching the dances." "But then if they learn, surely they will want to take it further, and maybe one day perform, and then what?" "No. You make sure they don't learn it. You make it fun and you entertain them, but we stay on the top, otherwise it will disappear from us." For me, this was the biggest inspiration to start teaching samba.
I am a teacher at heart. I wanted to make sure I teach well and my students learn the dance to the highest standard in the shortest time! I teach all the technique, endless footwork variations, turns, basics steps broken down -- DECODED! I fuse samba with different elements, too, and take my students on stage in full costumes -- but NO BUMS showing! And we still have fun and SAMBA.... My teachers are trained by me; we all have the same spirit and attitude. We share a love for samba and we all want others to learn it well! When it comes to SAMBA shows, "dancers" do not realise that the UK market is generally very conservative. They are not particularly after the bare bums but after the glamourous feathers and energy. We are successful in what we do because we stick to our goals. I am a firm believer in the law of attraction. 99% of the time we get offered jobs by clients who require the absolute highest standard, and we are set up to deliver. I have strict principles and rules in my company. I am happy and get satisfaction seeing my dancers deliver on stage.
Seeing my classes and courses full of returning students and hearing comments like, "Finally I found someone who can explain the basic step of SAMBA." is what makes me happy
If I had a chance to start all over again, I would listen to my heart more than my head. Future plans: I love being a mum. Making a great living from what I love and being able to be a full- time mum is a blessing. I just started teaching children, too. So the new generation of Latin and Samba dancers are on the way! As long as I am fit and healthy I will always be creating and dancing. I am grateful for what I have.
