A couple of months after starting the classes. I went to a theorical class, where Kim Jordan explained in-depth the origins and history of Twerk & BootyDance. She showed us videos where the African influence was seen throughout the diaspora. In one of those videos, we watch people dancing Mapalé in San Basilio de Palenque - Colombia. I recognized immediately.
When she showed us one of the first Bounce songs. I connected with a memory that I had buried deep in my memory. When I was 13 years old, Shaba Ranks' Bedroom Bully and Shaggy's Boombastic sounded everywhere in Cali. I used to love those songs, so I danced at my house in front of the television.
One of my cousins celebrated his 15th birthday making a party at his house. There was a ball of lights in the middle of his living room (it was the fashion at that time). Suddenly Bedroom Bully sounds, and I went crazy. So I jumped under the ball of lights and danced with my whole body. Then one of my cousin's friends came out to dance with me, we gave it our best dancing. I had a great time moving my hips and my body to the rhythm of the Bedroom Bully. When the song was over, I felt amazing, with a smile from ear to ear. At that moment, my cousin approached me and said: "That's how whores dance!" with a look of contempt.
I felt awful. Judged, humiliated, and mistreated, I was just dancing… I remember that, from that moment on, I didn't dance that way again. While in that workshop with Kim, I asked myself, if my cousin hadn't made that comment to me, would I have dedicated myself to dancing?
I do not regret having studied Chemical Engineering. I love all the tools and knowledge that I acquired, but I wondered what would have happened if I had followed my passion for dance and music.
After having recovered that memory, it's as if something in my pelvis had been unlocked. I began to advance by leaps and bounds. After a few months, Kim proposed that I become certified as a Twerk & BootyDance Teacher. I decided to do it. To be able to share my experience with other people and to be able to accompany this beautiful process that this style of dance generates.
Your body is yours, so move it however you want!