Luis Salgado by Lindsay Dreyer
Luis Salgado: Reaching New Heights Through Dance
by Lindsay Dreyer — May 27, 2008
It’s easy to look at dancer Luis Salgado’s life story and attribute his success to luck or simply assume he was always at the right place at the right time. But as we chatted at the famous Brooklyn Diner in midtown Manhattan, I discovered that there is so much more to this Broadway and film star’s success than serendipity.
Throughout his life, Salgado, who you may recognize from the film “Step Up 2: The Streets” or the Broadway hit “In the Heights,” never believed for one second that he could not accomplish whatever he set out to do. He visualized his goals, told himself he would achieve them, and then went for them with all his heart, even when others were skeptical.
“There were people who said dance does nothing but give fun, but dance has given me everything, opportunities to see the world, go to Japan, Germany, Italy, Greece. Being in New York City on Broadway, paying my rent. I bought my mom’s first car,” he reveals. “And they never imagined it would be that way, but I pursued what I wanted to do and that is what opened the doors.”
Luis Salgado break dancing in PeruPhoto: Alexandra Molina
Even his mother encouraged him to pursue something more conventional, like law or medicine, but Salgado refused. The moment he set foot in a dance studio at the age of nine, he knew immediately that his life would be far from conventional.
“Right then in that moment, the second I set foot on that stage, I thought, ‘Wow, I can do this!’ I discovered this passion very, very early on. I didn’t see myself doing anything else at that moment. So, I watched all the music videos and tried to learn the routines by myself and reinvent them into my style.”
On his journey, Salgado encountered a few key teachers who helped him find his way, one of the reasons he loves giving back and teaching young kids today. When he met his first mentor, José Javier “Pepito” Rivera, he was nine years old and had just moved back to Puerto Rico after spending a difficult year living in Hawaii with his father.
Salgado explains, “Dance was my savior. It allowed me to relearn who I was at that age. Coming back from Hawaii, where I didn’t speak English, and having all these differences in my life, I discovered freedom and who I could be through the arts, thanks to this teacher.”
Rivera was running a small arts program at Salgado’s public school. While participating in the program, which included weekly acting and dancing performances, his schoolwork improved drastically as well as his disposition and outlook. Through dance, he was able to discover and come to terms with his identity at a crucial time in his life.
Salgado, who knows firsthand the importance and power of the arts, especially in the lives of young people, laments the loss of arts programs in public schools in his native Puerto Rico, in the United States and around the world.
“The bottom line is that there were more opportunities in dance in the public school system back then, but now I feel like there are less and less in Puerto Rico and here,” Salgado reveals. “Everywhere I go I think, ‘What is happening to the arts?’ People are just trying to make money fast and we respect and value less and less the arts. I think that disconnects people with themselves, but people need to discover who they are.”
After completing Rivera’s after-school program, Salgado continued to train with his mentor, but also took advantage of the opportunities at a nearby studio. Doors began opening, and at the age of 17, he landed his first gig as a backup dancer for singer Jailene Cintrón. And in the midst of this hectic schedule, between performing and training, Salgado realized he owed everything to Rivera, his first mentor, and wanted to give back in the very same way.
So when the opportunity to teach jazz at the local studio came his way, he jumped on it, even though there were only eight students enrolled at the time. After teaching a few lessons, Salgado grew frustrated with the direction of the failing school and gave the owner a business proposition. A natural leader, he said, “Give me the opportunity to run things for two months. If I develop this and get more students, then you give me the opportunity to pay the rent and make it my own dance school.”
The studio owner took a chance on Salgado, who surpassed every expectation. He took those eight students, rented out a theater, and put on a successful Christmas production. Word spread throughout the community, and after a few months, the young, optimistic teacher had acquired 200 new students.
Inspired by his positive attitude, kind spirit, and most importantly his passion, aspiring dancers from all over the community flocked to take class with Salgado.
“I was in college and I was working, so people started to know my name, but I think people came to my class because I loved it and I wanted to be there,” he professes. “I loved being in a room where I could create stuff with students, to have bodies to play with. I was somebody they could play and create with.”
Through teaching, Salgado began learning more about himself and the kind of dancer he wanted to become. “Who was I to be teaching jazz then?” Salgado asks with a laugh, looking back on the experience. “I started dance in public school and I never had a strong, technical foundation, but it’s what you do with it. I had the opportunity to learn and discover with my students.”
Salgado’s no-holds-barred attitude carried him through the rest of his career, ultimately taking him to New York City at the age of 22 to pursue his dream of dancing on Broadway. A risk for sure, but one that Salgado knew was necessary to achieve his goal.
“Leaving my mom behind was hard, but not the hardest thing to do,” he reveals. “It was hardest to leave my school behind. I was attached to 300 students who were with me, trusting what I was doing with them, seeing them grow and develop their own path. It was a journey I wanted to be with for them, but I also had to follow my own heart and grow for myself. If I didn’t take that risk I wouldn’t be doing what I came here to do, which is Broadway.”
After only three weeks of work/study at Broadway Dance Center, Salgado landed his first gig dancing at Madison Square Garden with pop stars Thalía and Paulina Rubio. Shortly after, he received his first musical theatre job in the Rockland County production of “Evita.” And according to Salgado, that is when everything really started to fall into place.
Not long after, he was selected to appear in the Broadway show “The Mambo Kings.” The show was ultimately cancelled, but the experience led Salgado to the most important connection in his adult life, Sergio Trujillo, the original choreographer of “In the Heights” who brought him on board with the production.
For Salgado, those connections and mentors have been the most important part of his journey through dance. He explains that some people in the business network incorrectly, throwing their resumes and headshots at every teacher and choreographer they happen to meet. But Salgado did things differently; he made his most significant connections in a pure and honest way.
“You just have to do your thing,” explains Salgado. “If you’re doing your own thing with all your heart, your light is shining and people will see it. Now I’m friends with so many beautiful people from all over the world.”
Many of those connections he made along the way have opened doors beyond the Broadway stage. Salgado has appeared in a few feature films including “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,” “Enchanted,” “Across the Universe,” and “Step Up 2: The Streets.” Working on films has helped him discover another world of possibilities with dance, one that he would like to continue developing and exploring.
“When you add the camera to your work, it adds so many more possibilities as a choreographer,” Salgado confesses. “The camera can do so many things. When I was assistant choreographer in ‘Enchanted,’ I saw the whole process and everything that’s behind it. I thought it was brilliant. So, it’s a new passion of mine.”
However, nothing compares to dancing on the Broadway stage for a packed house, Salgado revealed to me. When he gets that immediate response from the audience as he dances underneath the Puerto Rican flag in “In the Heights,” he feels more alive than ever.
But Salgado’s passion for life goes beyond the stage and the camera lens. A dedicated humanitarian, he believes in giving back to the Latin American community. Recently, he spearheaded a program called Revolución Latina, which he describes as “an open invitation to experience the greatness of an active Latin community” as well as “an artistic movement with the means of strengthening, educating and collaborating with each other through their art.” More information about Revolución Latina can be found on their Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/revolucionlatina.
Luis Salgado exudes passion, not only for teaching and performing, but for every aspect of life. A risktaker, a dreamer, and a true artist in ever sense of the word, he is constantly aiming higher and reaching new heights. And the only way to reach those heights is to risk the fall.
“You have to be willing to risk it all, to give that extra mile, to go beyond because that’s what it takes. If you want to commit to something you have to commit to something,” Salgado states emphatically. “I’m not saying I’m the best. There are so many talented people out there with all the technique in the world, but dance was my passion. And the drive to do what I want to do is what has allowed me to accomplish all of this.”
And with his sights currently set on acting, there are certainly more accomplishments on the horizon for Luis Salgado.
http://www.danceruniverse.com/stories/issues/200806/Luis-Salgado-J2/
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