In the Spotlight
with Sidney Joseph

by David Abril

 

 

At 6'4”, sporting checkerboard hair and a gallery of tattoos (26, by his count),  Sidney Joseph is hard to miss. But then, Sidney has never been one to try to fit in with the crowd.  In fact, what drives this New Orleans native is a desire to express his creativity and individuality in everything he does.  It's for this reason that Go Dance is glad that he recently joined our team as one of our Salsa and Social Latin instructors.  His unique, creative turn patterns and out-of-the-box approach to salsa dancing has others in the salsa scene calling him “the other million-moves-man”—a comparison to top dancers and innovators such as “Super Mario” and Ismael Otero.  To welcome Sidney to the team and introduce him, he is the subject of this month's In the Spotlight.

 

Tell us a little about your background.  Where did you grow up? How did you get your start dancing?

I was born and raised in New Orleans. I started Hip Hop and Breakdance when I was around 12 or 13. For a while, dancing took a back seat to sports I played—basketball, football and track.  When I was around 15, I discovered I could also sing. Someone heard me humming, asked me if I could sing, and I said I never tried. I started singing and she got all big eyed. Not long after that, I started an R&B group; writing their music and doing their choreography.  The first time I danced Salsa was in a friend's living room—his mom made me dance with her. I didn't really start learning how though until I was 21. I was working in a fitness center where they were giving a Salsa Aerobics class. A friend there encouraged me to do it and when I did, I got kind of hooked. Later I joined a team and started learning their routine, which is how I met Troy Anthony. [Editor's note: Troy is a well-known dancer and instructor based in New Orleans]. I took a total of six classes from him, learned quickly, and eventually became an assistant in his class and began to travel with him to Salsa Congresses around the country. I was fortunate to be hooked up with Troy because he introduced me to a lot of the top dancers and big names in Salsa.  

 

You're dancing style is very creative and innovative. How did you develop that?

Troy would only show me so much, so I realized after a while that I had to start teaching myself. I also realized that in order to be recognized, you had to do something different, so that's what I've always tried to do when I'm coming up with moves or patterns.  When I was a kid, I was afraid to stand out and fought hard to be accepted, but eventually I realized the beauty in being different. So I have always tried to put my individuality into what I did. For instance, when I learned a new move or pattern, I looked for any way to change it. Now I'm not afraid to do something different.

 

So we know you can dance, but you sing and perform as well?

Yeah. I've been writing and performing music since I was 13. I recently performed at a restaurant during South by Southwest. Currently I am working on my demo and started up a band here three weeks ago.

 

What advice would you give to others who want to improve their dancing?

Don't be afraid to think outside the box.  Learn the music and how to manipulate the timing. My philosophy is that music is a conversation and the only way to join the conversation is to dance.