Frankie Martinez explains NY, LA and Cuban Styles of Salsa – SALSA LIVES

Salsa Lives interviewed Frankie Martinez at his Abakua dancing Studios. Frankie Martinez is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most revolutionary salsa performer/choreographers of our time. Many struggle to find comparisons, invoking such names as Ailey and Tharp when describing the impact of his vision.

Born and raised in the projects of NY, Frankie dedicated himself to the study of Shotokan Karate, becoming a 4th degree black belt and winning many competition awards before joining the U.S. Navy in 1996. While on military leave, Frankie visited a Florida salsa club, and the modern age of Latin dance was born. Returning to New York, Frankie joined « The Dance Club » at Metropolitan Avenue, a ballroom dance school, where he was quickly hired as a dance instructor and soon after managed the Salsa/Mambo Department.

With less than one year of dance experience, Frankie was invited to join the Eddie Torres’ Dancers. Later that same year Frankie performed « Concierto del Amor » at Madison Square Garden. Over the next three years Frankie went on to perform for such luminaries as Tito Puente, Jose Alberto, Fania All Stars and many others, from the Los Angeles Palladium to New York’s Roseland and countless venues in between.

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