As someone who’s traveled and lived in Hawaii, Denmark,
Denver, Toronto, and California, she has decided to settle down for a little
while in the Queen City she calls home.
Originally from Williamsville, 32 year-old Sarah Hooper is now teaching
salsa classes all over our region after trekking
across the globe pursuing various dance opportunities.
“I decided this is my time,” said Hooper. “This is the time
to start my business and follow my ambition of creating Salsa for the Soul.”
Salsa
for the Soul was created by Hooper in 2008, after successfully recruiting several people from the area to take Latin
dancing of all kinds, such as Salsa, Merengue, Bachata and Cha Cha Cha. Hooper
offers individual and group lessons. She also accommodates school
groups (K-12 and the University level), private parties,
corporate and special events, wedding parties, couples classes and
workshops.
“There’s already a great scene here,” said Hooper. “I always
just thought about [Salsa for the Soul] as adding to the scene. Anything I could do to just add
good technique, sense of timing with the music and positive spirit and attitude
between dancers.”
At the age of 16, Sarah was sucked into the world of dance
after she was exposed to the rave dance scene.
“It was really like a saving grace and it was a super
healthy outlet,” said Hooper. “I just took to it instantly. I
had never seen dancing like that before, so creative, expressive, and really
fun and exciting. It made me so naturally high that I didn’t need drugs or
alcohol.”
In college she received her B.F.A. in painting and didn’t
have as much time to devote to dance, so she danced socially, experimenting and
evolving her style. After college she noticed a lot of her friends were break
dancing, and thought she would try it.
After a few years of break dancing, she unfortunately pulled
some muscles in her neck in 2000.
Taking a break to recover, she decided to
take a Salsa lesson with her friend; and from this day on she was hooked.
“I [was] literally laughing hysterically with this man who brought
me out on the dance floor and was doing all this crazy stuff with me,” said
Hooper. “I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was so high from it, it made me
so happy I was like ‘I’m gonna learn this dance!'”
Despite her moving away from break dancing and getting more
into Salsa, she still teaches beginner level hip-hop and break dance
classes occasionally with Shane Fry, owner of Verve Dance Studio, through Young Audiences.
(group class led by Sarah Hooper-right)
Within two months she was teaching ladies styling classes in Denver
with her friend, Sarah Desplaines. She also spent
time in Toronto with United Salseros,
where she learned from her instructor, Teddy Olaso, how to properly follow her
partner.
“You need to learn how to follow as well as leaders learning
how to lead,” said Hooper. “They’re both equally as important as one another.”
She also experience the Bay Area salsa scene in Oakland,
California for a year and a half, where she learned popular styles of Salsa,
such as L.A. on 1, New York Mambo on 2, Casino, and Casino Rueda.
Being in Salsa for quite some time, Hooper has had many
partners with whom she’s developed close relationships. Her Salsa instructor Zephyr,
who she met in Maui while carousing the Salsa scene in 2003, became her dancing
partner and mentor. She has also formed a great relationship with current
partner, Sean Ortiz, as well.
“I dance all different kinds of cultural dances,” said
Hooper. “Latin dances, West African, Middle Eastern and I’m half Lebanese, so
that comes pretty natural and I also do my own form of improv.”
The origins of Salsa came together in the Caribbean, when
Puerto Ricans and Cubans immigrated to the same areas and later mixed with the
jazz musicians from New York. “Basically, Salsa is like the sauce,” said Hooper. “It’s a
conglomeration of different cultures, rhythms, melodies and instruments.” This results in controversy when trying to pinpoint the exact
birthplace of Salsa. However, there seems to be numerous styles of music and
dance from different regions, meaning no one culture can really take all the
credit.
“I’ve been told by the Puerto Ricans here in Buffalo that
the Cubans invented it and the Puerto Ricans made it famous, but take it with a
grain of salt, everyone has their own opinion on that.”
For most people, the toughest part about learning Salsa is
being able to dance to the rhythms of the son
clave and rumba clave that come
from Cuba, which can seem bizarre to westerners at first. Hooper describes the clave as the prominent rhythm within
most varieties of Latin music. “I like the school of thought that the clave is like the center of life,” said Hooper. “It’s the
heartbeat. It’s the core within our own bodies that everything just moves
around. When the musicians move around the clave
everything just flows, it feels right.”
Each gender takes on a different role when dancing Salsa.
For the males, they are considered the leaders, and for the women, they are
the followers. For several first-time Salsa dancers it’s also difficult to
grasp this concept. “In life in general, I think women are used to being the
leaders even though sometimes they can allow men to feel like they’re in
control,” said Hooper with a laugh. “When the woman has to learn to follow it
can be challenging. Still sometimes I have to remind myself, ‘just let go, just
be present, and don’t try to control this.'”
Remembering back to when she was first learning Salsa and
how she wanted to learn the dance so badly, even though she was unfamiliar with
the steps and rhythms, she made it her goal to soak up as much knowledge about
the genre as she could. This goes to show how with an open mind, determination,
and the right attitude, anyone with drive could very well become an expert salsero or salsera, just like Sarah.
Michael Tellier, a 21-year-old Buffalo State College student,
took his first Salsa class with Hooper. “It was a very new experience,” said Tellier. “It’s out of
my element, but she made it enjoyable because she was very energetic and made
it fun.”
Sarah Hooper offers beginner through intermediate level
classes from 7 to 8 PM and Body Movement and Shines Classes from 8 to 8:30 PM
at Configuration Dance Theatre.
At Future
Dance Center she teaches beginner level classes on Thursdays at 9 PM.
Fridays at Miss Barbara’s
School of Dance she also holds beginner level classes from 6 to 7 PM.