NADC 2002
w/ Laura Cozik
Photo by Kermit Dukes

US Open 2001
w/ Tami Harris
Photo by Dave Head

US Open 2000
w/ Tami Harris
Photo by Dave Head

US Open 1999
w/ Tami Harris
Photo by Dave Head

New Year's Extravaganza 2007
Strictly Swing
Invitational Division
with Heidi Groskreutz
(from So You Think  You Can Dance)

New Year's Extravaganza 2007
Strictly Swing
Invitational Division
with Heidi Groskreutz
(from So You Think  You Can Dance)

Hustle USA 2002
w/ Laura Cozik
Photo by Kermit Dukes

Pacific Hustle & Salsa 2003
w/ Laura Cozik
Photo by Kermit Dukes

NADC 2003
w/ Laura Cozik
Photo by Kermit Dukes

My mother started ballet classes as a child.  She excelled very quickly and performed with The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Philadelphia Opera and New York City Opera Ballet.  She took professional classes at the School of American Ballet (where Rudolf Nureyev and Fernando Bujones later studied).

My mother constantly exposed me to the arts.  Ever since I was a child, she would bring me and my sister to see performances of the "The Nutcracker" by New York City Ballet and other classical works by American Ballet Theater.  To this day, we still attend regular summer performances by ABT. 

Going to the ballet with my family is very unique and slightly intimidating.  We are highly particular about each nuance of a dancer.  We cried together during breathless moments that are impossible to describe, and we have been disappointed when casts have not been up to par.

To this day, it's still tough for me to show my mother a work in progress.  She is my toughest critic, but she is also my most true mentor.  Although my mother has become a nationally recognized real estate broker, the discipline and truthful eye that the ballet forms have never left her.  When I want to know the truth about my dancing, I ask my mom.

These days, my mom is a nationally recognized commercial real estate broker with Murray Hill Properties in NYC.  She is one of the pioneer women in the real estate industry and has worked with some of the the most prestigious address and tenants in New York: 1 Park Ave, 60 Hudson Street, CBS and Sotheby's.

My father liked singing and singing liked my father.  Within a few years my father was beginning to sing with local opera companies including Bellas Artes (the equivalent to the Metropolitan Opera) of Mexico.

 After placing 2nd at one of the international scholarship auditions, Salvador moved to the United States to begin singing with New York City Opera.  At NYCO, he became nationally recognized for his interpretations of Don Jose is Carmen, Faust in Mefistofeles, The Duke in Rigoletto, Canio in I Pagliacci, Otello in Otello, and The Duke of Bomarzo in the opera Bomarzo.
 

My mother also brought me to see my father perform in Mexico, Argentina and across the United States.  I was fortunate enough to be on stage with my father in Art Park, NY during a production of "I Pagliacci" and lucky enough to see my father in the role that landed him in the World Book Encyclopedia, The Duke in Ginastera's Bomarzo.

My father retired in the mid 1980s but he has never stopped singing.  He continues to teach a BOCES, a cultural arts center in Long Island, and privately.  His encouragement of both my singing and dancing has never ceased.

I sadly found out that a "beginner" class at Steps (74th and Broadway) was anything but a class for a true beginner.  It was more like a toned down advanced intermediate class with dancers with 5-20 years of experience.  I almost gave up and went home my first day at the barre.  Well, typical with my personality, I didn't give up.  I took a couple of more ballet classes until I couldn't really figure it out and I changed class.....I started taking jazz classes.  It wasn't until another five years later before I would return my focus back to ballet.

Jazz classes were great! I learned many of the fundamentals of dance, ballet technique, industrial jazz used for MTV videos and  lyrical dance.  I was encouraged by my peers and I had an array of excellent teachers who kept me on track.  I was always known for my sense of bravura and never-ending supply of energy.

Simultaneously at age 15, I also started dating my first serious girlfriend, a ballet dancer.  Combined with my new love of dance, my relationship with my girlfriend solidified my dedication to dance.  Dance became a language that I wanted to speak. 

By the end of my high school career at Dalton High School, I had become one of the only male dancers in Dance Theater Workshop performances and an Undefeated State Champion Wrestler.  That's right, remember that little injury that perked my interest to my first ballet class....not only did I heal quicker, but I went almost injury-free through high school wrestling.  I thank dance for my quick speed, amazing flexibility (I had full splits on both sides and roll-throughs) and overall sense of "center".  I even had a article written about me in "News Day New York" starting with the question, "What do you get when you cross Jeff Blatnick with Mikhail Baryshnikov?"  The answer was Erik Novoa.  Fortunately, I lived up to the good press when I became one of Dalton's few undefeated, state champions.....thanks to dance.

Dance had started as a "tool" for me to physically move my body into the hearts of girls.  Somehow, during the process, it became more, much more.  It was a language.  Not just a language to communicate to an audience, but an inner language to communicate with myself.  There are times when dance has been the  conduit between music and the an intangible feeling the music has created.  I would even say that there have been times when my body, heart and mind have actually become one with an emotion or a sound.  Every now and then.....someone sees it.....that's performing.

 

A Good Life Credo

George Carlin's View on Aging Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we LIKE to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key. You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16! You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony...YOU BECOME 21... YESSSS!!! But then you turn 30.... Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk. He TURNED, we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you went sour. What's wrong? What's changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50. Sounds like it was a stretch to get there.   But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60. By then, you've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I was JUST 92." Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half! May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!! HOW TO STAY YOUNG 1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her. 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. 4. Enjoy the simple things. 5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. 6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive. 7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, artwork, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. 8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help. 9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is. 10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.