Everybody salsa!
What Osaka salsa sensation has the esteem of not one, not two, but a combined
whopping 10 International and Japanese first place dance competition prizes?
If you guessed the dynamic pair Galina and Flavio then you get a prize!
For the past two years, Galina and
Flavio have been shaking up the
Kansai scene with their unique style
of salsa dancing. How can salsa be
unique, you ask? Both dancers are
trained in not only the seductive
dance of salsa but in everything from
tap and swing to traditional African
dance to rumba. They are constantly
on the lookout for new styles to learn;
then just watch how they apply that
knowledge! When you see Galina and
Flavio dance don’t expect to see anything
run-of-the-mill, but instead a
dazzling choreographed combination
of dance styles.
Although they come from opposite
ends of the globe, Galina and Flavio
have found common ground on the
dance floor. The melding of Galina’s
social dance training and Flavio’s
intense feeling for the music translates
into a beautiful work of art.
Galina hails from Russia where she
started her dance career at the tender
age of six. This dancing sensation,
whose professional career has taken
her around the world performing and
training, took up salsa when she was
10. After winning first prize six years
in a row in the Siberian regional social
dance competition, Galina majored
in social dance at university. She has
been teaching dance, modeling,
and competing in Japan since 2005.
Flavio has danced his way through
country after country, starting with
his native Brazil, across a TV screen
and even on the stage of Kansai’s
own USJ for four years. Dancing since
he was seven years old, Flavio started
dancing professionally with the Brazilian
group Cruzeiro do Sul where he won
the World Brazil Junior championship
in Salsa and Latin dance. He has gone
on to win competitions in Asia, both
in Korea and in our own Kansai. He’s
been modeling, competing and teaching
dance in Japan since 2000.
 Salsa’s benefits are far reaching.
According to Flavio, salsa is good for
the body, mind and everything. “If
you feel bad,” he says, “just dance
and you’ll feel good. Dancing is very
important.” This award-winning duo
recommend people take lessons but
also that people join one of the many
salsa parties that are always ongoing
at different clubs — look around for
flyers or search the web to find them.
They say it is at the parties that you
can learn other styles of dance and
get a chance to put all of those lessons
into practice by dancing with as many
partners as you can fit on your dance
card.
For these two, dance is not work,
it’s about having fun in the class and
wherever you find yourself dancing.
As they say, “What’s the point of
taking lessons if you don’t dance just
for the love of it?”
Text: Amanda Hare • Photos: Lisa School
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