Hey, everyone. Welcome to Tales from the Pros, and this is Michael Giorgio, your host and cofounder of Imaginovation. I have 2 very, very special guests with me here today. This brother and sister salsa duo, originally from San Francisco, California and now living in Los Angeles, have performed, taught, and competed all over the world. They are one of the hottest pro couples on the international circuit, bringing them to be one of the best in the world.
They are an 8 time national and international salsa dance champions and are the youngest solo internationally traveling couple with electrifying routines that blow the roof of congresses, festivals, and corporate shows around the world. And most credibly, they are very well known for making it to the quarter finals of season 3 on America's Got Talent. This is Tales From the Pros, where business leaders and influencers share their stories of inspiration, struggles, and successes. And I'm your host, Michael Georgiou. Please welcome Junior and Emily Alabi.
Guys Hey,
everyone. Hey. Hey, Michael. What's up?
Hey. And and I said your I said your last name right. Is that correct?
Yeah. Alibi. Alibi.
Alibi. Alibi. It's okay. It.
It's okay.
No. It's a yeah. It's the same. I mean Yeah.
Everybody said it every way. It's it's fine. We embrace it.
My last name's Georgio. I've heard Georgiano. I'm like, where's the n? Why is there George's I?
Where's the n and the a? That's hilarious. That
is funny.
Thank you so much for having us, Michael.
It's an honor for pleasure.
No. Thank you, guys. Really appreciate it. And and, you know, I've met you guys in person. You know, we we met at at at Palacura, you know, at the the, large nonprofit, you know, salsa salsa dance festival for the last 2 years, and you guys have performed amazingly and beautifully. And I found you know, I got to meet you in person. You guys are just so humble, and you're you're, you know, a beautiful duo. And I'm just very honored and humbled to have you on the show.
Aw. Thank you so much, Michael. No. Really. Thank you.
Been awesome to get to know you.
Yeah. Absolutely. And and there's more to come. Hopefully, hopefully, I'll see you next year too.
Yeah. Good. Yeah.
It'd be awesome.
So thanks again, guys. And and just kind of getting things kicked off here, on this episode. You know, just learning about you and and doing a little bit of research, I I know I know that you have an an amazing inspiring story to tell, and and I just want you to kind of talk to everyone on how essentially did your salsa journey begin. Tell me a little bit about that.
So our salsa journey, began, a while ago. I was about 10 years old. My sister was about 14.
No, no, the reverse.
I was 10. Oh, sorry. My sister was 10 and I was 14. I am the older one. And so we grew up with a single father, divorced when we were really young.
And, you know, I was kinda left alone I would say. My sister was super young and, so I would kinda be on the streets a lot getting into lots and lots of trouble. And so, my dad was actually dancing salsa at the time and he wanted to figure out a way to, to give me something more productive where I can actually do something with my sister and and and just be more productive instead of always being on the street, always causing trouble, always kind of being a headache. And so, so we started going to classes and, you know, of course we hated it, both of us. You know, my sister was, into, sports.
Yeah. I was I was the biggest tomboy ever.
Yeah. Right. And,
and Junior, again, he was getting into a lot of trouble. And I basically started to follow his footsteps, just because we didn't grow up in the biggest neighborhood. And that's all we knew, was to be on the streets. And so, you know, we didn't have dreams. We didn't have goals. We didn't we didn't wanna really become anything or do anything. And dance really opened the door for us and I say dance really gave us life. Yeah.
And it really saved my life. I mean, I was like, you know on the streets you know gangs the whole you know thing and really going into a really bad direction, you know? And so, when going into dance it was something that really gave us, like, purpose. And you know we started to it kind of opened our eyes to the rest of the world and having dreams you know us I remember we went to our first, dance convention and we got to see these salsa artists that they got paid to dance, they got to travel the world, you know, and it was like, you know, they got to when they performed and they lit the audience up, when they taught they lit the classroom up and it was just it was just incredible and we're like, You know what? We wanna do that.
So, you know, of course, it was a struggle. We were still young, we were still kinda, kinda tiptoeing in class, kinda not wanting to go to class and then a couple of years going, to class, we started to really, really enjoy it. Then when we went to that, that convention, it really was like, Okay, we're gonna do this. So what is it gonna take for us to do this? We set up a 5 year plan and we committed every single day working our butts off, training, saying these are the competitions we need to win, this is the timeline we need to do it, we need to have these routines ready by this time, this time, this time.
And so, we just really created a plan of action and, you know, of course, it wasn't, overnight, you know, it was, you know, we won our first competition and in 2003. So we started in 2000 so it was about 3 years kind of figuring out if we can actually do this as a living And when we won our 1st competition in 2003, we're like, Wow, you know, maybe we can do this. And from there, everything kinda just snowballed. You know, it was it wasn't like, you know, like my sister said, growing up, we had no dreams. We had no we we didn't know what we were gonna do.
I mean, we were just kinda going with the flow, you know, being surrounded with our environment and just kinda going with the flow. So, like, literally, for our dad to push us into dance, it really, really gave us, a light in our life. And from there, it just, you know, lit a a a fire and it just grew and grew and grew. And now we're able to do our, do our dreams, you know, being able to travel to different parts of the world, being able to perform and and and and impact people in a positive way with our self expression, our dance, our story. So it's just been an incredible, incredible journey and we're Yeah, super thankful.
We're super thankful, super grateful. And to everybody along the way that have helped us and supported us and believed in us and, and and and especially our father, you know, if it wasn't for him we wouldn't be where we're at. So a big thank you to to him and for believing in us and and yeah. Yeah.
We love our dad.
We love you, dad.
And family family is very important, and and you guys have a great story. And it's it's, yeah. I love that you were able to, you know, find your purpose and get out of, those tough situations of temptation. Right? Because we're all, when we're young, sometimes we're you know, the world, guys, I mean, you you know this. Right? It's a crazy place. It's tough. It's not life is not meant to be easy. The world isn't easy.
Right? And for for you guys to to, overcome those challenges and and those, temptations when you're when you're little, I mean, that's that's huge. You know? And to to get to where you are right now is is amazing. And, you know, and and it seems like it kind of came natural to you. Do you did you just feel, I mean, that this is what you wanna do? Did you feel, you know, this is what this is how we want to live our lives as dancing and inspiring people through dance?
Well, not not immediately. Like, we were soup initially. We were very resistant. You know, we were like, We're not going to dance. Because at the time, you know, at the time when we started, there was like no kids. We literally it was all adults and so we were like the only kids and we were like, This is not cool, you know? And, and our dad was the one that really forced us into classes and again, you know, we resisted him every time we had to go to class. We fought him on it.
We're like, We'll take out the garbage. We'll wash the dishes. We'll clean the table. We don't wanna go to class. We don't want
to go to dance class. You know, one
of those, you know, street kids just loving, you know, just, you know, in that hip hop and and and that world. And salsa was like the adult thing to do, right? We're like, we go to, like my sister said, we go to rehearsals or class and it's nothing but adults. Like nowadays they have full on events with just kids.
Yeah.
But back then, we were like the only kids dancing salsa. Exactly.
I and I think that once we did, you know, have both feet in the door, that's when we really flew with it, and we've been committed ever since.
Yep. Yep.
Amazing. And and, you know, guys, I've I've danced, salsa, for for a few years, like, a little over 3 years now. I absolutely love it. I I love salsa. I love bachata.
And and I know it takes you know, to take to get to a a really top level, there's so much training and dedication. I I think that's for any, you know, any anywhere you're trying to get make to the top level, there's so much, just so much, hard work that goes into it. So tell me a little tell us a little bit about your training and dedication in dance, and what does it really take to make it to the top level and to be internationally known? And what what does it take to get to that place?
Yeah. So like you said, just to piggyback off of what you said, it does take tremendous amount of hard work. I think that a lot of, doors have opened up for Junior and I specifically because we are very different and we weren't afraid to really push limits, to go into the studio, to train, to create, and to really find our true self expression and our passion. And we just weren't afraid to to be different. And I think that's what's really allowed us to kind of, you know, stand out.
And alongside, you know, with the training, it's also very important. I feel like it's just mindset. And really going back to why are we doing this? What is what's the impact that we wanna have? Like, it's not just about I mean, just because there's a lot of incredible and amazing dancers out there.
I mean, there's so many. But it's like Yeah. Not only, you know, figuring out ways of of of how to be different, how to be unique. But it's like, what what is the reason we're doing this? How can we really impact in a way that's just not about the dancing but also in a in a, how to explain it, like in a purposeful way.
Like Well,
for I mean, I think for us, it was just the way everything worked out from, like, us the struggles that we had to deal with, you know, when we first started and how it literally transformed our entire life. And so for us, it was like, wow, like, like, look what dance did for us. And and so for us, really, it was that that that that mindset of wow, how can we develop new ways to bring in the new generation of dance, to get it out on the mainstream level, to reach more people, not just the Latin world but to actually try to get it on TV, try to try to try to get it into, just basically more commercially so we can reach more people, and and share our story and then and one of the things that I think it's very, for us is is like my sister was saying, earlier that, you know, keeping true to that expression, that self expression. You know, because one of the things that we have seen throughout the years because we've been in this business since, what, 8 18 years now. So we we've kinda seen the whole scene develop up and down the trends and all this stuff.
So for us, it was, we really want to to to be able to when we talk to our students or we talk to to people that are interested in doing this is to to just not worry so much about what everybody is saying that you should do, but do what you feel that you want to do for yourself. Like, I feel like, you know, like when we first danced, we started dancing, our style was so different than everybody else. It wasn't the traditional And there was a lot of people that told us, No, you got to do it this way. That's not the way you do it. You got to do it.
You are doing it wrong. This and that. So there was this dilemma that that that we were that we had to make a decision. Well, do we listen to these people or do we just do what we feel feels good to us and just and just follow the path that we wanna follow. Right? And for us, we we stuck to that path and because of that, that has made, that has that has made, our entire career because it's like we have grown to love, absolutely love what we do because we're just loving what we do.
Exactly. And
whatever comes out of it, comes out of it. And I think for us
We're authentic.
Yeah. We're authentic and we we just want to be able to be a stand for other dancers to to be authentic. You don't need to look, as a as a as a dance artist, you're gonna have people that love you and people that don't don't quite love what you do. That but that's the the life of of an artist or that's when you when you when you show your expression to other people, you know, it's just everybody has their perspective. So what we want, people to do or or dancers looking to do this as a career to to really follow your heart and your expression and what feels good to you and not be afraid to to share it with other people, you know?
Exactly. 100%. 100%. Because what ends up happening is you start listening to everybody else and then you're just unhappy. You're not able to express yourself the way you want to.
And the whole point of dance is it's it's an art form. It's a form of expression, you know. And especially like you said, it takes a lot of hard work. So if you're not happy doing it, guess what? It's it you're gonna end up giving up, you're gonna get overwhelmed, you're going to get stressed out, all of these things but if you're if you're expressing yourself the way you wanna do and you're you're able to release that and and it's it's it just becomes a love and and and because it's it's what is natural for you, right?
And people will totally feel that. Exactly. Like you said, like Authentic. Right? Exactly. People will feel that that, that energy, that love, that passion.
Exactly.
And they'll
feed off of that.
That joy is gonna get you past, I think. And I even Steve Jobs said that that the your passion and joy because we're all you know, all of us as as leaders in our areas, it takes a lot of perseverance, overcoming a lot struggle. Right? It's it's every time you overcome struggle, you're you're closer to achieving your goals is what I believe. So, you know, I I feel that you know, like, what Steve Jobs is saying is that a lot of us that are are trying to make it to the top level and trying to trying to do something great with our lives, we're all kind of a little bit crazy.
Right? Because it's not easy to get to that level. It's very difficult.
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.
But you gotta have passion and joy
and focus
behind what you're doing because that will that will take you past those tough times.
Yeah. Exactly. Couldn't have said it better. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely.
And and I know I mean, you guys, like I mean, I I completely understand being a dancer myself. I understand what you're saying about being authentic because a lot of us, when we get trained, especially beginners, right, that you're taught the basics and you're taught, essentially how to how to just kind of do, like, a, you know, just the the basic salsa turns and turn patterns and and, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Right? You know, like, the steps. But it the thing is is that I feel there needs to be more coaching and teaching in terms of presenting your own style too.
Definitely. And Definitely. You know,
like, when I dance, I love hip hop, but I love salsa. So I'll I'll add a little hip hop to it.
It. Yes. I love that. That is awesome.
No? Yeah. No. Right? That's
exactly what we're talking about.
That's exactly what we're talking about. I mean, we have our we have specific yeah. Sorry. Specific workshops where we we they're called dance differently and we'll teach a turn pattern and we'll try like we'll do the same turn pattern to salsa music, to hip hop music, to electronic music, just so people can really, like, discover new ways of, like, grooving and vibing and just, like, not feeling so, like, I gotta do this right and it has to look a certain way and I you know what I mean? Like robot.
Like
a robot. Yeah.
Exactly. And it's like it's like everything has been well, we're, like, basically what we try to do when we create new choreographies or when we try to do new things is we really try and when we do our workshops, we really try to present it in a way where everything was made up by somebody. Right? So everything was made up. This was salsa, this is salsa on 1, this is salsa on 2.
It's like but so this is the base frame. Right? But that doesn't mean that like you said you can incorporate hip hop, you can incorporate electro, you can incorporate ballet or jazz or whatever to fuse whatever feels good for you. If you like those things, create your own type of expression, your own type of of dance, your own type of of look because that's how our our our our dance community is going to grow by innovating, by fusing, by by figuring I mean, who knows what what another dance is gonna be called in 10 years? Yeah.
You know that everybody's gonna be doing. But guess what? Somebody created that so we're trying to open the eyes to what can you create for yourself that can really, you know, be a full expression of yourself but also can can can can impact the entire dance community and grow the entire dance community. I mean, you just never never know. So we just want people to think outside the box.
So for us, it's really when we teach, it's really to to to just kinda open the eyes, open the box so they can look outside the box and see what they can see for themselves. The possibilities. Yeah. Exactly.
So true. I I mean, yeah, I I 100% agree. That's so true. It's in order to expand, just the the love of dance in general and and and salsa, I think salsa is really a hidden gem, and a lot of people just don't know how how fun it is. Right?
Yeah. So much. Right?
And the people and you guys are are expanding that the the awareness, and, and I I think what you're doing is just fantastic, and I think we need more of it. And this kinda goes into my next question. So what do you really think salsa and even dance needs or what it's lacking currently on on kind of on top of what you said that it needs more evolution and more, you know, authenticity, infusion. What what else do you think it's it's lacking? What do you think it, you know, dance and and sauce in general really need?
I think, personally, that it's lacking support. What I mean by that is I feel like there's like in the generation that we grew up, where we started, dancing, I feel like there was a lot more support of self expression, of each other's different artistry and of of of everybody. And I feel like it's kind of went into this this path where it's like there's a lot of judging, a lot of commenting, a lot of criticizing going on, because people specifically want everybody to dance their own style. I mean, it all goes to business. You know what I mean?
Business side of it. And I just feel like it's scaring people. It's it's bringing fear. People are are are so worried about doing things right or wrong or, you know, that's not on 1 or that's not on 2 or you know what I mean? It's just like it's kind of lost its its touch of of of of, like I said, the evolution, the expression, the freedom to just be, to just do.
And I think that if there was more support from everybody in the community, we can we could grow more. We can, expand more. I I think that's what's missing.
Yeah. Yeah. And I I remember going back to what what my sister was saying is that, man, when you used to go to to salsa festivals back in the day, I mean, you talk about 20 closing shows, all of them so different. Yeah. So creative. So it was like when you were watching, it was like it just it just blew you away.
And it was so inspiring. So inspiring. Everybody had their own tick. I mean, there were themes. They were like, it was like, the more different you are, the better.
Better. Right?
And and and and everybody was so so even the competitive world. Like, I remember being backstage. We're like, I love you. Good luck. Go kill it. Like, you know, and we're all competing against each other, but it was like it was this this sense of, like, family and support, and everybody wanted everybody to do good. Exactly. You know? That's what it felt like. And now I just feel like, you know, it's just it's just a little different now, the way things are working.
And and I feel like it's just broadened a lot of fear in our community. And and I and I yeah.
Fear of perfect yeah. I mean, and what I was saying, Emily, is it's pretty much it's like I feel it's a little bit of a fear of, like, perfection. People wanna be so perfect. We have all these high expectations, right, nowadays?
Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Yeah.
Absolutely. And I've noticed it too. Just I mean, I'm nowhere near professional at all, but me just going to congresses, and I try to dance with, I try to dance with people better than me, and I sometimes feel I have that fear. I'm just like, alright. I'm not good enough, or I've had crazy, awkward experiences where sometimes, I mean, I I may not be at that that that partner's level, and they they'll just, you know, they won't be engaged.
They'll you know, there won't be no eye contact. There'll be no cheering the dance. They'll be there. You know, and I'm just like, man, like, you know, it's just it's dancing. You're here to
have fun.
Exactly. Exactly.
See, that's the thing that I feel like is being forgotten is, like, the fun of it. Like, there's a lot of dancers that will will wanna dance with me and they'll and they'll say on the social dance floor and they'll be like, oh, I'm not very good or I just started. And I'm like, listen. We're just having fun. All I want you to do is have fun. Don't worry.
Exactly.
Because at the end of the day, that's why we're doing what we're doing. Right? Yeah. Is to have fun and to connect with people. And so it's like if everybody embraces that idea more, there wouldn't be so much of, like, of of that fear or or that desire to be so perfect because it's like we're just having fun and we're gonna get better through time and through hard work. But right now, let's just enjoy the moment. Let's have fun.
And, you know, there's a lot of studies that are, that are happening in regards to if you don't have that pressure and that fear, you're gonna perform so much
better. Oh, yeah. Of course. Sure. Yep. Yep.
About what the partner thought of me, or I stopped worrying myself or what other people thought or what have you. My level, it just started to really get so much better. And I was able to perform better and able to just be happier because I didn't have that pressure. I didn't have the expectation from others and even from myself. I'm just like, you know what?
Screw it.
I'm just gonna have fun. I'm gonna do what I'm doing. Right.
Exactly. That's awesome. You know what's so crazy is exactly, like, I feel the difference in our shows, at least for me, when I'm like, Oh my god, this is such a big show and I gotta be perfect and I gotta hit everything.
It's like
way too much pressure and then it's like I don't enjoy the performance because I'm so concerned about like, my focus goes from, like, having fun and impacting and and just being in the moment to, like, oh my god. I need to be so perfect and this has you
And And I know you guys you also started a, a a salsa training company. Yeah. You wanna tell tell us a little bit about that? Because it it seems like you're doing a lot of great things with that.
Yeah. No. Definitely. It's called My Dance Mentor and it's basically a a mentorship program where we have different courses. Where we take literally 18 years of our knowledge of what we know that works and what we know that doesn't work and we really, it's a way to mentor dancers so they can use some of the same, you know, the tactics and strategies that we have used to accomplish our dance goals and dreams. You know, like Their
their dance goals.
Oh, their dance goals and dreams. So like literally taking them step by step. This is what you need to do in choreography, you know, when you go when you're competing, you know, your mindset has a lot to do with it in in everything you do. Your, your work ethic, your preparation, basically everything, you know, training methods, you know, so just basically giving them all our secrets so we've been able to to to travel and and and and and accomplish our dance, goals and dreams. So we wanna be able to to to take other dancers that are interested and and just give them everything that we got.
Yeah. We just want to help. We want to help the community in any way that we can. And I feel like, like I said, it goes back to like, it's more it's more than just a training. Right? There's a lot of amazing dance instruction videos available, all over all over the web. Right? But it's like it it's more than that. Right? Like, I can teach you a turn pattern and that's great and everything. But it's like, I wanna I wanna teach you more about about like the mindset. How to prepare, how to train,
Or how do you take that turn pattern and and and put it in a choreography and take the same turn pattern and and just elevate it with music. You know, it's like stuff that is not really talked
about. Yep.
Right? It's just like, you know, this is, you know, your basic. You do a turn pattern or some shines or stuff. But, like, how do you choreograph, like, a routine that can get you to travel around the world? Right? To get you noticed. How do you develop your craft?
Like Exactly. All the best. Dancers. That's it. Mentor them in any way that we can, by just sharing what's worked for us and and hopefully, you know, it'll it'll work for them to help them.
And do you talk about how to how to start a business, involving dance?
Actually, no. But we do talk about, how to, what it takes to actually be a pro artist. Like in terms of, you know, branding yourself, things like that. Places where you can, you know we also have like, you know, like this little section where, you know, we tell them where to how how they can build their website, business cards, you know. What are these, promoters and stuff looking for when you go to these different events.
You know, just basically, how do you how are you be able to, how are you able to become a successful salsa artist?
Exactly. And then also we talk about, like, you know, goals and how to kind of create a plan of action. Yeah. And, and and Yeah. Just Yeah.
That's right. So you've created processes and strategies of how to really make it to the pro level,
what it
takes, how
to be how to be mindful of everything. Exactly. That's good. I mean, that's so that's so great. I think I think it definitely needs that. I think so I think saws and dance is is lacking a little bit of of that digital platform, and and it's lacking some just I I think in in some of that that like, you guys are doing now, this kind of digital training as well and and, and showing people how to really make it. Yeah. So So Yeah. That's really,
really great.
Yeah. And and although you guys are you know, you're internationally recognized and very credible salsa duo, what inspired you to also become entrepreneurs? How did that come about?
Well, one of the things that we've been really diving into is is, is our is is acting. And so we wanted to still, you know, dance, but we also wanted to be able to figure out new ways where we can, you know, help dancers without having to, you know, travel so much if we wanted to kind of stay at home and pursue some of our other projects, and goals that we have. So for us, it was like, okay, how can we help people around the world do like, when we travel and we talk to different dancers, when we actually travel to these events and we talk to competitors and stuff, you know, we're kind of giving them that guide of what they need to do to become, salsa, you know, artists in this world. So for us, it was really finding a way where we can still reach those people, and develop like you said, you know, these strategies, plans of action, tactics, tactics they could use where we we don't have to travel so much so we can still impact and help in a positive way and also, and also do our other projects that we're we're focused on as well.
You know, so so
So good. And is it all the the your, is it My Dance Mentor? Yes.
Yes. My Dance Mentor. My Dance Mentor.
All, through is it, like, a through a digital platform? Or how is it how is it, how is it being, portrayed? How do people view it and and go through it? Or is it just kind of documents or is it all videos or is it
Yeah. So it's a digital, platform. So it's a it's online. So basically, they will have, you know a bunch of different courses, video courses, that will take them step by step. So like like we give you an example right now we have our power spins library which takes 7 of our power spins that we have used to travel all over the world from our tornadoes, switches to our knee spins to you know just 8, 7 of our power spins that you know we we've been able to accomplish our goals.
So we're like okay let's put that in a program let's break down the fundamentals and how do we get these dancers to be able to do these these power spins. So we literally have this power spins library where you would have you have an account, you sign up and you can see 24 hour, 24 hours, a day 7 days a week you can log on anytime and you have these series of step by step videos that will take you through the entire library. You know, from fundamentals to warm ups to, you know, secret ways to to to to to to spin faster, stronger, you know, like, these different training methods that we don't even teach when we go to these different events. So, so, yeah. It's just putting together a program where we can literally take somebody that doesn't know about how to power spin and then take them to teaching them some of our most, powerful power spins that we have used throughout the world.
I love it. I love it. Yeah. It's so cool. So good to hear that
stuff. Cool, man.
Let me let me jump a little bit here. I wanna talk a little bit about AGT. So how did you guys get on America's Got Talent? Obviously, we know you're amazing. You're talented. But I know it's probably so difficult. It's not easy to get on it. So how did you get on America's Got Talent, and what were essentially the most special moments you guys had there?
Oh, wow. Okay. So America's Got Talent. That was an incredible experience for us. So basically, just really quickly, we had auditioned for the show back in 2008.
Yep.
And we basically you know, we were kids. We didn't know what we were doing. We were still very, we hadn't discovered, like, the electoral salsa style yet. And so we basically auditioned for the show. We made it, to the 2nd round and then we got cut.
And then every year after that, AGT had basically the producers had contacted us to come back to the show to come back to the show and we were like, no. No. Right now, that's just like that's something that we're really inspired to do. And then, last year, they basically had reached out and they were super persistent about it, about taking on a meeting. And we're like, you know what?
Alright. Let's have this meeting. Let's figure it out. We figured out that the dates had cleared, all that stuff. And we went back on the show, and we auditioned and, you know, we were just super thankful for the opportunity. We made it to the 2nd round. And then from there, we made it to the quarterfinals. And it was just like a super, like
It was so it was very, You know, it was it was, for when you know, so we're when we went to that first audition, we're like, okay, we'll just go in, you know, we'll just do our thing. And just, how we were received was just I mean, that was one of our most incredible moments on the show, the way we were received. And it was like, Wow, okay, we made it to the next round. Okay, so now it's time to get to work. I mean, it wasn't it was just so unexpected.
Like, it's almost like our when we started dancing, it was like very unexpected. We just did what we did and then all of a sudden, you know, we ended up winning a competition. We're like, Oh, wow, we won a competition. Okay, maybe let's train for the next one. Oh, wow, we won another one.
Okay, oh, we're starting So it was like the same kind of thing that happened with America's Got Talent. And honestly, the producers, the judge everybody on that show was so phenomenal. So phenomenal, so great with us. And so we're just super thankful, grateful and blessed that they gave us the opportunity.
Exactly. An opportunity to really share what we've worked in our entire life for and share it on a wider, share it to the masses, you know? And also, not only the dancing side of it but to be able to share literally our story and the messages that we have received from people just, just like thanking us for how it's impacted their lives. I mean, honestly, like, it's just it's it's such a beautiful blessing, I feel like. And you know, there comes a point in life where you're like, Why am I going through this?
Like, you're like, Why? You start questioning and and I know that in the beginning of our career, it was it was such a struggle.
Yeah.
And at the time, you're like, man, why is this so hard? Like, why are we going through this? And then it's like fast forward to 2017 where we're on the show and we're actually able to talk about our journey and should I with people and in turn impact other people's lives. It's just it's a beautiful full circle.
And and we honestly we did not know I mean, you can you talk about your story and, you know, and it's like, you have no idea how many people around the world are going through the same thing.
Yeah. Or
something similar. Something similar. And you're like, wow. Like, we just had no idea. And honestly, America's Got Talent, it's almost like it it it it opened it it added to our our purpose right?
And now it's not even just about us wanting to impact the dance world with our dance, but it's now we wanna bring in our story and how can we, you know, share our story with other pea other people that are going through the same thing and maybe it can help impact them in that way. So for us, now in our projects, we're developing projects where, now it's not just the dance but how we can we bring in our story to be able to to empower and and impact, the dance community or the world in a positive way, you know? So so yeah, Emrica's Got Talent was a blessing, you know?
I couldn't believe. When I was seeing you guys on TV, I was like, wow. This is insane. I it's still really cool. Like, just thinking about it, I'm like, I told, all my employees here. I'm like, I'm interviewing this couple here. They're like, yeah.
I remember them. I saw them. That's awesome. That's awesome, bro. You're awesome, man. Man.
And these guys are like, heck, guys, man. They don't even know the they they barely know what salsa is, but they're like, yeah. Yeah. I remember that that, like, they're, like, doing salsa to, like,
electronic salsa.
That's why I thought creating another difference.
That's That's so cool.
I know. That is awesome, man.
So cool, man. And and, you know, Junior, where you were saying, you know, just about your story, I mean, you know, we all go through really tough challenges and struggles, and and we, you know, we, talked about this earlier in regards to, you know, just just life is not easy. And there's a lot of, just crazy things, crazy times in our lives. But what were your some of your guys' toughest struggles during this journey? And how did you essentially overcome it?
Journey of, like, like our dance career journey? Yes. Okay. Well, okay. So so, like, in the beginning, like, we were talking about earlier how, you know, we were, you know, these kids on the street, especially me, I was always on the street.
I was involved in in in the wrong crowd. So when salsa came into my life or our life, it was definitely a light for both of us. And it definitely for me, it just opened up this whole new world. So when we started to work together, there was still this pool back and forth where, you know, I would still be on the street but then I would still have to go to rehearsals and it was just like this pool back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
Yeah. He like wouldn't show up to rehearsal sometimes or he'd showed up with like a broken wrist or like it really had affected, the dance world.
The dance world. And so, you know, it wasn't until, I got arrested and, I mean, I'm sitting in the jail cell. I don't even know if we told this story in, on, America's Got Talent. But basically, basically, you know, I got arrested and it was one of our first international, trips actually, which was crazy. We're like, man, we worked our butts off.
You know, it was one of our our our first international trips and, I got locked up. And so I just remember me being in the jail cell and, my family, my sister and my dad, really not knowing what to do because I had to travel the next day. So I remember being in the jail cell and I remember them, basically, they had had my luggage ready at the jail in at the jail parking lot in the jail waiting for me to be released. So I barely was I got bailed out and I was barely, released and be able and able to make my international flight. But when I was sitting in that jail cell, I I I just had this, it's like, Junior, what are you doing?
Like, look look, you finally are able to do what you worked so hard for, so don't screw it up. You know, like, what what are you doing? I had to make this decision where it's like, so am I gonna keep doing this and, like, look where you're at? Look where you're where you're at. I mean, just look at where you're at.
Is this what you wanna do with your life? And so I had to make that decision there and and be like, no. I'm I'm not gonna do this. And and from there, things started to go up because I made that choice of, no. This is not what I want for my life.
And if I don't change, if I can't change a little bit, I gotta make the choice and commit to it or not or or not commit to it. I can't be tiptoeing anymore because it's not working. So I made that decision and then from there, you know, we started to, you know, just everything started to go up. I mean, after I I made that choice and and we started to grow together in a positive way and from there our career just skyrocketed where I was all the way full in, Both of us were all the way full in. There was no more worry.
There was no more, you know, is Junior gonna make a note. It was just like all in. This is what we need to do. I'm all in. Let's do this. And and and we did it, you know? So, but it was it was not an easy an easy road, you know? And even when I did make that choice, it was still not an an easy road. Right? You still have those stats.
You still, you know, it's just not easy. It's not like, you know, it's basically staying true to that choice and really finding again what do you wanna do with your life. You only live one life, you know. So what do you really wanna do with your life? And here I have this incredible opportunity, this this this incredible, light right here in front of my face, you know.
So just just go for it. Do, you know, go for it. They are like you have nothing to lose and thank thank God I had the support of my wonderful sister and family that was, like, you know, they forgave me and and it was, like, all up from there, you know. So so I'm just super thankful.
Isn't it crazy that a lot of our destiny or where we're headed in life is based on a lot of our decisions?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Isn't that crazy to really think about it? Because, you know, we always want things to come to us. Right? Sometimes we get lazy. I mean, I do it too. Sometimes I feel you wake up in the morning. Right? You're, you're like, alright. How am I gonna work today?
Because you all have we
all have things going on in our lives. Right? And sometimes it's hard to separate personal from business and from work. Right? So you're thinking, you're like, how am I gonna get up right now and and do this and and go to work? And and you have those tough days, but then you think, you know what? I need to make the decision to, you know, thank God I'm alive. I'm healthy. I have this opportunity. I need to be grateful Yep. You know, for what I have.
That's right. And I
need to go out and do it. And just making that little decision could change everything.
Can. One choice. Yep. One decision.
That's so important.
I know it's very cliche, but it's so it's so
true. I mean,
it really is. But, no, guys. I really appreciate it. Everything you said has been has been so inspiring. And and so kind of to close things out, I always ask every, interviewee the, they're called the three how's. So how do you guys define failure? How do you define entrepreneurship? And how do you define success?
Okay. She
let it go for you.
So I I don't believe in failure. I believe that all that's happening is we discover ways in which something doesn't work. And so we got to stay consistent so that we can discover new ways of of something coming into, fruition. So that's my take on failure.
So, yeah. I say same thing
for us.
Success?
Oh, success. For us
And entrepreneurship.
So for for us success is really, going for we going totally in what we wanna go for and and just being fearless about it. Like for us, success is not, you know, just doing something and be successful at doing something. Success is for us to try to do what we want to do and accomplish and like my sister said, in terms of of of failing, for us, we don't see it like that. It's like, okay, this didn't work. Okay, so let's try it a little differently.
Okay, that didn't work. Let's try it a different differently until we have that success. But for us, success is really going for what we love, what our passion, what we wanna go for. The projects we're really inspired, to go for, you know. Courageously. Courageously. Fearless. Yep.
Because it's always gonna be there. Right? That fear, that doubt. But to push through those moments and to really and and to always be in the state of like just always, how to explain. Like success is not final. Like you're constantly finding new ways, discovering new ways to grow, to become better, to do better. And I think that living living like
that And for us, we we understand that we only live one life. Like, we only live one life. So for us, we really are committed to, like, being totally used up. So so whatever we feel like we wanna accomplish in this lifetime, that we're going for it. We're going for it and that's it. You know?
And I think that falls into the entrepreneurship as well
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. The question.
And then the most important thing for me or for us, I think that is really to just be good human beings. Like, it doesn't matter, you know, you know, traveling all over the world or being on TV or having a house and car or not have whatever whatever whatever materialistic thing or having all this money in the bank. It doesn't matter like for us it's about really just being a good human being and sharing our love with other people and, you know, just sharing our joy and hopefully, you know, putting a smile on somebody's face, and just sharing that because I think at the end of the day, humanity is all about love and joy and and just being connected and, if we can all just be good human beings then this world would just be an incredible place and and full of love. And I think that's ultimately what we're all seeking for.
Yeah. I think that was great. Yeah.
Amen. Well guys. And and how did did you, wanna talk about entrepreneurship? What are your thoughts on entrepreneurship?
Our thoughts on entrepreneurship? I don't know. We just we we are all all we want to do is is is create, and develop things that are going to to to to impact the dance community in a positive way or just just being involved in projects that really inspire and empower us and so we can do the same for other people. And that's basically
Exactly. And it's not gonna be easy like, you know, you know, it's it's very it's a lot of struggle that goes along with it. But I think just staying consistent, and remembering, you know, your why, your purpose, along that journey and I think that
is Persistent.
Necessary, to keep going. And like Junior said, not necessarily to say I'm an entrepreneur, but to just do it for the pure love of it, the pure the pure passion of it.
Yeah.
And to just give back and ultimately just share with the world.
Beautifully said, guys. Perfect. That that that was that was beautiful. So where can everyone find you guys? Your social media, website?
Yeah. So we are you can find us on our website juniorandemily.com, that's all spelled out. We are on Instagram, juniorandemily. We're on Twitter, we're on Facebook, Junior and Emily. So we're you can access us, you know, if anybody has any questions about anything, if they just wanna say hi. But yeah. And then we also, if you're interested in any of our programs, mydancementor.com. Yep.
Perfect. Cool. Guys, I I can't, you know, say it enough. Thank you so much for being a part of of this podcast and sharing your story. I'm very, very
thankful to all of you. It's been an honor.
It's been an absolute honor for us. And we think, you know, what you're doing is is is absolutely inspiring. So thank you again and
keep going, man. Keep going. What you're doing is really is really a light and is really impacting the world in a positive way. So keep going, man. Yes.
And we hope to see you next year.
We will see you next year.
I need I need to dance with Emily. I was gonna dance, but I I you disappeared.
Oh, you didn't get a dance. That's a
I owe you 5.
Mister. Cool guy, Michael.
Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. No. I really appreciate you guys. Thanks again, and and thanks again everyone for listening. And this is your host, Michael Georgiou on Tales from the Pros, and until next time.