It’s been my privilege to take private lessons with Joel for the past two years. Joel is highly trained and very passionate about dancing and teaching. He has been an amazing teacher for me and I look forward to our lessons and my continued progress. Early on in our working together, I found myself frustrated and about to give up Salsa dancing. I was learning steps and sequences in group classes but I felt like an imposter because I couldn’t seem to get the look and feel of a ”real” salsa dancer. Joel explained that my difficulty in connecting to the dance was because I didn’t understand salsa music itself. He began breaking down the music, the instruments, and the timing for me. He taught me what to listen for and what I was trying to connect to as a dancer. This knowledge has turned my frustration into enjoyment as I continue to improve my salsa dancing ability. Another thing that helps me greatly is Joel’s strength at breaking complex steps down into more basic movements. He gives me drills to practice and he teaches me the body mechanics necessary to execute movements properly. Although he is patient with my slower learning pace, he does expect me to practice and to put in time and effort. He challenges me to improve by continuing to push me out of my comfort zone. I try to keep in mind his sayings of “Have fun”, “Trust the process”, and “Be ok with being uncomfortable in the learning process”. While being uncomfortable is not where I long to be, especially as an introvert, it has been the source of my biggest breakthroughs as a dancer. Dance improvement is the focus of my private lessons but my breakthroughs have not been limited to dance. The process of learning showcase dances with Joel brought to light all sorts of things for me - issues of shame and embarrassment, performance anxiety, fears related to expressing myself and being seen, feelings of not being good enough…you name it, I felt it. Joel helped me become aware of my own critical self-talk and self-judgment and through dance I was able to overcome many limiting beliefs. Joel has proven to be not only a fine dance instructor but an encouraging coach and mentor as well. For these reasons and many more, I highly recommend Joel as a private teacher. My praise would be incomplete if I didn’t also mention his MotionOn2 group classes. In the group Salsa and Bachata classes, Joel and Lucia share their passion for dance as they nurture the growth of their students. The classes are fun and informative, the music is great, and it’s a supportive community of people to dance and learn with. I encourage everyone to give it a try.