Magna Gopal On Teaching and Travel By Tasleem Rajwani

It was a pleasure to interview Magna just a few days before she set off to Singapore. When I entered the apartment where she was staying in New Jersey, she greeted me with a hug and smile, and apologized for her casual attire. But even in her sweats, her hair hanging loose in a half pony tail and no make up to dress up her face, she still looked beautiful. Propped up on a tall bar stool, she spoke with confidence and eloquence, excited to share her thoughts and expertise.

Tasleem - Where are you originally from?

Magna - I was born in New Delhi and I lived there for the first six years of my life. And then I moved to Toronto, Canada, with my family. And I lived there for about nineteen years. Now I’m based out of New Jersey.

People often find it unusual that I would choose to salsa dance if I’m Indian. I have been asked many times why I chose salsa and not Bharat Natyam or Bollywood dancing (laugh). Have you ever gotten those kinds of comments?

A lot of people have mistaken me for being from some Latin country. So when they find out I’m Indian, some people do ask why I never did any sort of Indian dancing. But I never actually studied any type of dancing at all. My interest in salsa came about when I watched the movie Dance With Me. That’s what drew me to salsa. Maybe if I had watched more Bollywood films, perhaps I might have gotten more into Indian dancing instead. But now that I’m at where I am with my dancing, I have a greater appreciation for other dances and would definitely like to study other forms of dance, but I just happened to fall into salsa first.

I am intrigued by the Facebook messages I often get from “Salsa India”. What is the salsa scene like in India?

I don’t know what year they’re in right now. But the first year I went, it was 2005 or 2006, and they were already in their 2nd or 3rd year there of the Salsa Indian Festival. They have two events over there. One of my friends Kaytee is the one who does the Salsa India Festival in Mumbai. And there are actually A LOT of dancers there. In every year that I’ve been there and seen them, they’ve progressed SO much. It was incredible and I was surprised. I mean, I was already surprised to go back to Delhi, where they first did the event. And it was just really surreal for me to go back to where I was born, to teach salsa, of all dances. And then in the few years I’ve been back, it’s been amazing. It’s just a really good scene, and the dancers are all very dedicated.

Does anything stand out to you about your travels to various salsa communities around the world?

I find that in a lot of countries where Latin dancing is not part of the culture, where people have not grown up with the music, those countries and those cultures tend to put a lot more effort into learning and mastering the dance. They don’t believe that they were born with it, so they take many classes, practise a lot, and put time into joining dance groups or teams. In particular, in many of the Asian countries I’ve been to, the dancers have been phenomenal, beyond my belief.

Do you think dancing can be learned at a high level even if a person doesn’t have a background in it or an environment in which they grew up in it? You learned it really quickly, without taking many lessons at all. Do you think it’s something that you either have or you don’t, or is it something that can be learned?

I would say that it’s a combination of both. I know people who are more dedicated than anyone I’ve ever met, but their level of progress is somewhat stinted. There’s just something that’s still missing, you know?
At the same time, growing up with the dancing or music doesn’t make you a fantastic dancer either.
The good thing about salsa dancing is that it’s not as rigid as other forms of dancing. It’s very social, it’s a dance that’s open to all ages, all body types, and for that reason, it’s very liberal in what it permits. And because it’s liberal in that sense, it doesn’t require the same kind of technique you’d need in ballet, for instance. As long as you have your basics, and you can follow decently, you could still have fun, and people would have fun with you, and you could progress on that level.

What do you think has helped you progress so quickly?

A lot of people tell me, “You just have it”. I think that comes from a very strong awareness of my body. And when you’re aware of your body, to the smallest fibers in it, you can manipulate it and create whatever you want. For the people who I know who still keep taking lessons all the time, and they’re still not there yet, at the level they want to be, it’s because they still don’t look comfortable in their body. If you’re not comfortable in your body, it’s probably because you don’t understand what it’s doing, or when it’s doing something. It still feels very awkward to you. When everything that you’re doing - all of your movements, how you got there, how you maintained it, how you got out of it - is something that you can comprehend, and you can also be in that moment instead of looking at your body from the outside in, then I think you progress much faster. That’s when the sky’s the limit.

What do you do to achieve this awareness?

I think one of my reasons for my personal progress has been because EVERYTIME I dance, it’s an active moment. EVERYTIME I dance, I’m thinking about what I’m doing, how my body is feeling. I ask myself, “Why did I lose my balance?” Or I experiment and say, “Let me try something different the next time I do that move and see how that works.” I am actively involved in every aspect of my dance. The more active you are, the more you can get out of it. It’s really a matter of being active. If you want something, go for it in every breath that you breathe.

Magna Gopal, solo performance, Signapore 2008

If you’re getting into the dancing passively, then you might not progress in every aspect of the dancing. Socially, I think you see that a lot. There are some dance teams that are FANTASTIC performers but not as good at social dancing. And there are some people who are awesome instructors but they can’t dance as well socially.

What do you think makes a good instructor?

There are a few things I would say that work for me personally, based on my own experience and the feedback that I’ve received from my teaching:

1. What’s important for me is a sense of humility. It’s important you don’t approach your students as if you’re better than them. You approach your students as if you’re on a level ground and you just found out some information that you want to share with your classmates. It’s better received because your students are then looking at you as something that they can attain and not as some god or something. So it is important to break down that barrier first.

2. A lot of instructors tend to regurgitate what they’ve been taught, so the information is not necessarily coming from a point of understanding, but it’s coming from a point of memory. It’s like they have just read a book, and then they simply read that book back to you. For me, I learned by doing, which really helped my understanding and so I can help my students understand, rather than just repeat information to them.

3. You have to be honest with yourself, and not just get into teaching for money. You have to do it because you not only know what you’re doing but it’s also what you WANT to do - to endow someone else with that knowledge.

4. As an instructor, you should understand why you’re there. Salsa dancing is one of those things that is not mandatory like classes in school. People get into salsa dancing because they want to and because it’s a passion.

Because of this, an instructor should think about sharing their own passion. So don’t approach a class and try to hide everything that makes you great or that makes everyone inspired by you. It’s what the students want to learn how to do. And your openness to this also opens people up to receiving you more. In a lot of my classes I’ll teach some really cool move, and a lot of people will say that it’s really nice that I don’t hog all my signature moves, for myself. Of course, the same move will look different on different people anyway. What I might do, you might not. But I never think that if I give away all my moves I won’t have any, because I should also aim to evolve as a person myself. This year I might be doing one thing, but next year, I might be doing something else. And if I share this, what’s the big deal?

5. Instructors must show respect for their students and their efforts. You might be fantastic as a dancer, and people love learning from you, and they’re there in your class early. But you also need to show the same respect. Sometimes, I find that there are teachers who routinely arrive late, are unapologetic, or are not well rested. They don’t care enough. And their students get up and out for class, they’re diligent and they’re there, and they want to learn. They want at least the same level of interest. You, as the instructor, should be giving more, so that you can build them up higher. Their interest in learning shouldn’t be at a higher level than your interest to teach them. It should be at least equal.

6. When you teach, understand the purpose of teaching. For example, when someone says, “I want to dance like you,” I don’t think that they want to look like me. I think they want to have the same degree of creativity, the same fun that I have when I dance, and that comes out of awareness. So I’m not going to just show them my moves, because even though they might THINK that’s what they want, what they really want is to know how they can become comfortable with those moves. So I try and take a move and break it down so that it makes sense to THEIR bodies, not so that they can look like me.

Where do you look for inspiration or guidance for yourself?

Historically, even before dance, I’ve been much of a self motivator in that sense. They say Aquarians are visionaries.

So you’re an Aquarian too?

You are too? (laughs) When’s your birthday?

February 3rd.

Mine’s February 7th! (laughs). So then YOU know that they say Aquarians are visionaries. We get ideas or inspiration just out of nowhere sometimes. And for me, I usually get a lot of my inspiration from just dancing with people, or being in a different place. Sometimes, I get inspiration from seeing someone walk down the street and click their heels. I think, “Oh, that’s cool. I want to do that.” Or I’ll be doing something totally silly, and I like it, and then when I dance I’ll put that in my dancing.

If I had more time, I would like to train in other dances for the technique of those dances, but also to open my mind to a different way of expressing my body. I’m not one to really watch people dance, because in all my time in salsa, I’m always on the dance floor. It’s hard to take me off the dance floor. I don’t have time to watch anybody except my partner. And a lot of my inspiration comes out of my connection with my partner- how much they’re enjoying it, or maybe they do something cool and then we just kind of play off of each other. That’s usually where I get my inspiration.

When I dance and I teach, I can be exhausted if I’ve gone out the night before, but I come into the class, and I see a full room, and I know that the people who are there are there because they WANT to be there. That’s passion, and I feed off of that passion.

You had mentioned your family a little before the interview- Are they a traditional Indian family? How supportive are they of the dancing?

They have been pretty supportive. My mom hated it when I first started, because I was in my first year of university and I was going out a lot. That year, I bombed a lot of my classes. I was out all the time. But I picked myself up again in my studies. And with what I’m doing with my dancing now, I think my mom is really proud of what I’ve accomplished. In fact, she’s more in tune with what’s on the internet about me than I am. And she’s aware of the impact I’ve been able to have on people’s lives.

My dad is a bit more traditional. He’s the one that pushed the academics more. And when I was traveling a lot, my mom and sister would sometimes worry and say that I should be doing something more stable. But I’m also very stubborn, so when I’m set in my ways, I’m set in my ways.

I think the passion and the stubbornness are Aquarian traits. (laughs)

Yes, you’re right (laughs). Just trust the Aquarians. They always know what to do (laughs).

But I feel so lucky to be doing what I’m doing. I’m 27 right now, I’m seeing the world, doing something that I absolutely love, and I get to share it. I get to share my passion. I get to share my knowledge. When you touch people in this way, it almost gives you a sense of immortality. Because should I die tomorrow, I know that with what I’ve accomplished, I will always keep my name. People will always remember it.

The richness of this life is incomparable. The relationships that I’ve formed through what I do are so rewarding. I would get emotional just talking about it.

It’s something I wouldn’t trade for the world - to know that I have friends in every part of the world.

Speaking of other parts of the world, what other part of the world are you off to next?

The rest of this year will be straight travel. I’ll be going to Singapore, from there to Japan, three weekends in Spain, and then Greece, Holland and then Mexico. That will bring me to the end of the year. And then the next year I’ll have a lot of travels in Europe. Oh, (big smile and eyes brightening), and next year I’m going to finally be able to hit the African continent! I’ll be going to Tunisia for the one week festival there. So life is good. Right now, I’m just enjoying my travels. It’s more than I could have ever asked for.

Find out more about Magna at magnagopal.com

Magna can be contacted at:
Phone: +1-914-434-7727 (USA)
Email: magna.gopal[at]gmail.com