¿Que Pasa? Magazine catches up with Anita Lombardi dynamic Italian dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, promoter AND
creator OF the Dance Group "SalsaKonFusion"

¿Que Pasa?: When did you start to learn about Salsa and where? Hahahahh…..let’s start well! Is it a nice way to ask a woman’s age?? I’m joking!! It was fifteen years ago…..and it’s been a long path that has given me a lot of satisfactions.

¿Que Pasa?: When you first started dancing did you think you might do it
professionally or did you think it would be a hobby?

At the time I was working in fashion….but I was studying dance and day by day I was realizing that my interest towards that discipline was getting stronger than the one towards my job……in fact dance was helping me growing as a person and it represented me. Meeting my teacher changed my life radically.

¿Que Pasa?: Did either of you have ballet, ballroom or Latin dance training before you began dancing salsa?

Personally I’ve had a jazz, classical, afro, afro-jazz, modern and contemporary training.

¿Que Pasa?: Describe the subsequent route to your brilliant achievements together.

This path led me to found my dance group ‘SALSAKONFUSION dance company’, which is now composed by three elements - Anita Lombardi (Italy), Manuel Kotaidis (Italy/Greece) and José Rodriguez (Dominican Republic) - and to have an important dance school called LO STUDIO DANCE SCHOOL.
In addition to this, I’ve been organizing since ever three renowned salsa party nights in Milan.

¿Que Pasa?: How did you meet your dancers?

I personally trained all my dancers as long as salsa brought near also dancers who studied only dance or ballet. This allows me to work with dancers whom I have to teach the latin style, but very skilled technically.

¿Que Pasa?: Who were your teachers and how much influence did they have on your dance career?

The street, most of all, the direct contact with various cultures and ethnicities.
The most important teacher for me has been J. C. Hertin. (questa forma grammaticale, di nuovo, significa che ancora adesso lui rappresenta per te la figura dell’insegnante più importante)
The word ‘teacher’ has a meaning which goes beyond the mere technique teaching, in my opinion; in fact J. C. Hertin taught me to love dance, and he gave me strength and character.
I had other teachers for different disciplines, but the basic and real training was then already done.

¿Que Pasa?: How would you describe your dance style today and what is it that made you choose to concentrate on this particular type of dance?

The name I gave to my dance company, ‘SALSAKONFUSION’, perfectly describes the style contamination each of my choreography needs.

¿Que Pasa?: Are your dances choreographed by you or someone else?

I personally take care of the choreographies and music……although I like to listen to the proposals of my dancers; often it’s actually through these proposals that I can recognize their artistic growth.

¿Que Pasa?: Do you have any particular favourite moves or complex moves that you always include in your performances?

Not really….I try to live my choreographies through the story they are telling.

¿Que Pasa?: For competitions, is it important to you to include different creative and complicated moves each time and do you have moves in your repertoire that are unique to you? Yes, for the dancers who take part in competitions it’s important to create movements that can amaze, so they can earn points to distinguish themselves by the other competitors. I personally work more on creativity. ¿Que Pasa?: How long does it take to learn a whole routine? It depends on how hard the choreography is, on the dancers’ skills and one the available time we

have to present the new show!!. It happened to us to assemble a choreography during the morning and present it the same day at night.

¿Que Pasa?: Do you include parts of your routines when you teach salsa at your classes?

No, never. We have choreographic laboratory classes where we develop special choreographies for the class; through these courses our students learn the musicality, the technique and they get ready to be dancers.

¿Que Pasa?: You produce the event "Milano Pa' Los Salseros in Italy . Describe the differences between this two experiences, as a dancer and as a promoter and tell us how difficult (or easy) is to keep a high standard.

The project ‘Milano Pa' Los Salseros’ was born three years ago…..the major difficulty, for me, is bringing together the ‘artist’ and the ‘manager’….often their choices don’t coincide, but the artistic one wins almost every time on the commercial option….Ronnie you know very well how hard it is, don’t you?
Seriously, I always try to invite artists who work with passion!

¿Que Pasa?: Have you performed outside the Italy? Yes, of course, all over Europe….last time I was in England was for the last UK Salsa Congress. At the moment we have too many interests here in Milan to be guests in various congresses abroad as in the past, but there are some selected events like 2nd UK Salsa World Championship 2011 which we attend with all our enthusiasm! ¿Que Pasa?: Who chooses your dance music and do you have favourites?

As I said before, I personally choose the music for my shows and the research for theappropriate tracks is wide open.
If we talk about salsa, I love the ‘70s one, the Son singers and the latin jazz. About this, I also organize the ‘Deejay Salsa Night’, which is a night that involves 10 deejays, with as many different styles, who play their music for a pure social night!!

¿Que Pasa? If you had to choose one salsa dancer whose style you admire who would it be?

There are many great dancers in the world; I certainly prefer some to others, but if we talk about style, I think that each of us has his/her own peculiarity and each single style could have an interesting development.

¿Que Pasa?: Do you have any interesting stories that you can reveal to our salsa readers about experiences on the dance circuit that have influenced you?

All the encounters of my life taught me something…

¿Que Pasa?: Have you any dancing tips you could pass on to QPM readers?

Definitely a good education and respect for all levels, keep dancing mainly for fun. And a semi serious tip.. …… altruism towards beginners ... no one can ever know in life ...could be the new talent of the future!!!

¿Que Pasa?: What are your next immediate goals and why?

I’m planning a new event….but for good luck I prefer to present it to you when all the work will be completed!!

¿Que Pasa?: What are your ambitions for the future?

YES! TO GO ON WITH THE SAME LOVE AND ENTHUSIASM FOR MY JOB!!

Greetings to all readers!!!
From Anita and all SalsaKonFusion dance company

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.Ronnie Raul
© January 11, 2011