Magna Gopal – the crazy little Indian girl

Probably one of the greatest international salsa instructors, Magna Gopal, will be visiting Slovenia in the month of October for the 6th Salsa Power Festival. Her graceful dancing and great methodology skills have so far enlightened so many people. It’s only fair to say I was one of those people, who felt a big break-through, while first seeing Magna dance, perform or even better – teach. She found a couple of free minutes to present herself to Slovenian audience, so enjoy these interview and get inspired by this magnificent Indian angel.

 

1. Magna, I know this is the most common question you get, but many people here might not know much about your background. Your origin seems to be Indian, yet you lived in Canada and now in the US of A? Is New York your final location or do you see yourself moving somewhere else – maybe back home?

Hi Irena. Yes it’s a common question. I was born in New Delhi, India and moved to Toronto, Canada with my family when I was 6 years old and finally moved to the USA 3 years ago. I actually live in NJ but close enough to NY to say NY…hehehe. NY is my current location but definitely not my final. I’m still exploring the world and you never know what part will steal my heart. As for moving back home to India (not likely) and back to Canada (it’s possible but really not in my plans).

 

2. You know, on previous festivals we already saw some instructors with Indian roots (like Neeraj, Mario etc.). I always thought Cubans are the ones who are born with the right feel for salsa, but you guys seem to master that even better. How come?

I don’t think it always boils down to your ethnicity when it comes to “having the right feel for salsa.” There are many Latin Americans that have a feel for the music and moving but not necessarily for the dance itself. I think it’s part passion and understanding your body. I love the music and the dance and I was really determined to get it and luckily I have a good sense of rhythm so it all pieced together nicely.

 

SYTYCD Canada is ON!!!

Seeing the American version (or let’s rather say original) for five seasons in a row it makes you a bit spoiled. All you see from the American dancers is pure perfection, so one becomes very critical. So was I, seeing the 2nd season of Canadian version of So you think you can dance reality show. If I look back it might resemble the 1st or 2nd season of american original as well. There were some good numbers and quality dancers, but overall we saw quite a few mistakes on the stage; we saw fear and insecurity; and we saw some pretty crapy criticisms. Let’s be fair. The americans say it like it is, the Canadians say it to motivate and inspire. I’m not saying everything was soooo bad, I’m just saying it was not as good as we got used to. I saw some shaky legs, missed lifts, missing technique…. and a lot of ballroom!! The US show has a lot of contemporary (I guess Mia might have sth to do with that), thus Canadian show has a lot of ballroom (I guess Jean Marc might have sth to do with that) . And ballroom is not easy for a ballet dancer per example. Anyways, I really enjoyed the African jazz routine and Stacey’s contemporary peace. It was interesting to see capoiera show, but other than that I was not jumping up and down. Which won’t make me stop watching of course. I think all this dancers will grow during the show and by the time we reach finale, I think there will be some awesome dancers on that stage. Can’t wait to see that.
I tried to find an up-to-date link on youtube, but was not able unfortunatelly, so for now I’m only adding a part of Top 20 results night with some nice solos.