(salsa music)
(record scratches)
- From Texan and Puerto Rico!
Shila and Ivan!
(crowd, Emmanuel cheers, claps)
- This week, we're gonna delve in to our Latin roots,
and salsa dance.
So I grew up in Puerto Rico,
and, I am, ashamed, (laughs)
that I don't know how to salsa.
- I am half-Peruvian, and I'm half-Persian,
and I really try to delve into my Latin side,
by salsa dancing,
but I just have two left feet.
So I heard that we're working with a three-time,
world-winning, salsa champion.
- Hi! My name is Emmanuel Lopez Alonso,
and I just finished dancing at Broadway's On Your Feet.
- I'm worried that he's gonna think that I'm a failure,
in that, there's no, really, hope for me.
- It takes two to salsa,
so I hope that Ivan and are I in sync.
- I'm ready to give these two feet a chance,
and salsa dance!
- Hey, hey, hey!
- How are you? - Hey!
- I'm good and you? - Hi!
- How are you? - Hi!
- Mu-ah!
- On day one, I was super-intimidated,
because our instructor was just so seasoned.
- So, I'm here to teach you some salsa.
- [Ivan] Okay. - [Shila] Okay.
- Cause you have a presentation on Friday.
- Wait, what?
- What do you mean, presentation on Friday?
- Yup! You have a presentation on Friday,
in front of,
some people. - Of real people?
- Of course!
- I feel like with salsa,
there's something a lot more different,
because it's not just learning a step,
it's like, doing it in a way
that people would actually enjoy watching you.
- I feel overwhelmed.
- C'mon chica! - One,
two, three. - Look at this.
- [Emmanuel] Four, five, six. - [Shila] Oh I see,
he's, like,
switching his foot. - Seven.
I think the most challenging part about learning salsa,
is, trying to dance according to the rhythm.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's start again.
- Okay.
- I missed it. - Okay.
On day two, we managed to get into
at least 30 seconds of the choreography.
What are we learning today?
- We're going from intermediate to basic.
- What? What? - What?
- That's how bad we were yesterday?
- We were so bad yesterday,
he had to change the choreography!
- Oh my gosh. - I had to change the choreo.
- I'm Latina, but, I mean, I can't,
like, always shake my hips, or you know,
like, memorize choreography.
Like, not every Latina, like,
knows how to dance.
- So, we're gonna do the basic steps.
We're gonna go, one,
two, three. - Two, three.
- [Emmanuel] Five, six, seven.
- There's just so much to learn,
and, even the basics are hard for us.
- Hey man, you're gonna do this.
- I'm gonna,
what? - You're gonna do this. Yes.
- I thought you said this was basic.
- When I found out that I was gonna flip her,
I was worried that she was gonna call HR,
because we've work together,
but not that close.
I was grabbing all of her body.
So it was a little bit awkward.
- I'm a bit worried about the whole,
lifting me up in the air situation.
I feel like, we get it every once in a while.
But most of the time, we don't,
and I already have bruises from today's rehearsal.
- So in day three,
we started finishing the whole dance routine.
- I was getting a little bit anxious,
just because, it was like,
I don't know the whole choreography,
and we're performing this is two days.
- Today was really tough,
because we were trying to, like,
perfect all the moves, and stuff.
- I knew it was gonna be hard,
but I didn't know it was gonna be,
this hard.
- My arms are so sore.
My shoulders, by back.
- I just wanna be able to do a good job,
and I feel like I have so much pressure currently,
because I have this expectation for my self.
Day four, that's when I was really, really nervous.
- Me and Shila were always in this mindset about,
it has to be perfect.
Having that perfectionist mindset
wasn't really gonna take us further.
If anything, it as gonna hold us back.
- Kind of, like, threw away this idea of perfection,
and kinda went in with, like,
"You know what? I'm just gonna have fun with it."
And that's when the real fun began.
- In only four days,
we've learned already a full dance routine.
The nerves are kicking in,
because the performance is the next day.
- They are gonna kill it!
We're gonna do some magic over here.
- I'm really gonna try to hone in
into the salsa emoji,
and really get it.
- Hey guys!
I'm Emmanuel Lopez Alonso.
I've been, all week,
rehearsing Shila and Ivan with a salsa choreography.
They've been working very, very hard.
So here, they are!
From Texas and Puerto Rico!
Shila and Ivan!
(crowd, Emmanuel cheers, claps)
- [Shila] You know, friends came out of work,
just to see us dance on the roof.
And that was just the coolest thing.
(salsa music)
- So the moment we started dancing,
people started screaming, and yelling,
and chanting our name, and going like,
"Woo hoo," and, "Juepa!"
(salsa music)
- You can see it in their faces.
They were just smiling, and having a good time.
- [Shila] To hear people like, chanting your name,
and saying, "Girl, go get it!"
or, like, "Ivan, you're killing it!"
Like, that was just so refreshing.
- I didn't expect the inversion at all.
(salsa music)
- Shila looked like a human version of the emoji,
of the salsa emoji.
(salsa music)
- Shila and Ivan did amazing!
We started from zero, and we went little by little,
cleaning.
They went from nothing to like,
excellent performers.
- I now wanna take salsa classes,
for the fun of it,
and really just hone into my Latin roots,
and my Latin side.
- So if you're out there,
just thinking about starting something,
just do it, just start.
If you don't start, then you'll never learn it,
and then like, who knows?
Maybe, you'll be great by Friday. (laughs)
(salsa music)