Spotlight Dancer
German stays very busy. The night I asked him for an interview, he had just arrived at Tropicana a few minutes late for the free dance class after driving 45 minutes across Houston from another dance lesson.
He plunges right into the task of showing new people how to get out on the floor and dance some kind of Salsa. As the lesson progresses, more new people stroll in. German hardly misses a beat as he inducts them into the class and quickly helps them catch up.
When a class is finished, he may join friends or students at a table, getting a well-deserved rest. But it's not long before he heads out to the dance floor himself.
It's a real pleasure to watch German take an advanced partner up on the stage. He shows everyone what Salsa is about.
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German (pronounced her-MAHN) Hernandez speaks with a very pronounced accent that even my Hispanic friends find hard to place. He may be surprised to learn that a consensus was forming that he might be from Cuba. My father, who was born in Mexico, grew up in La Villita, San Antonio, Texas, and served in the U.S. Army in places like Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Central America, can speak many dialects of American Spanish. I am not surprised that German's accent was hard to identify even for some Houston-area Hispanics who are themselves from other countries.
In fact, German says he was born in Mexico City. He lived there until he was 39, when he came to Houston.
Since I first started visiting Club Tropicana, I have noticed a very strong Hispanic influence. Maybe part of that was the fact that, when I called to reserve tables, the tape recording announcing the day's schedule started out in Spanish and then switched to English. But the staff speak English with strong accents, and the DJs speak to the crowd in both English and Spanish. So, I was not surprised to find that the dance teacher had a strong Hispanic accent.
But German is just chock full of surprises. For example, when I asked him how he learned to dance, I fully expected him to say he had grown up learning from his family. Instead, he told me, "I learned to dance after I came to Houston in 1998. I learned Tejano first and eventually I learned Salsa. I learned entirely in a classroom environment. But most of all, I learned from watching other dancers. I do not compete."
Cooperation, rather than competition, has served as the foundation of German's career as a dance teacher. He started assisting Alberto Garcia with lessons at Tropicana in 2002, but also teaches at the YMCA in Alief. There are some teachers who came out of the professional competitions. German's style is very polished, though. He sets out to provide his students with enough of an understanding of basic Salsa to help them get out on the floor quickly, even though they cannot match the moves of the more experienced dancers.
Of course, he offers private instruction to students who want to learn more advanced steps and refine their technique. Private lessons are very important for dancers who want to develop the polish and sophistication they see in more experienced dancers. Many people might be surprised to learn, though, that not all private instruction is offered in studios. I have seen my friends teach each other impromptu private lessons in special techniques. Friends and neighbors help each other in many ways, and German also provides a weekly class to residents at his apartment community.
When I asked German how he faces the challenge of teaching strangers to dance in an hour at a night club, he pointed out that he brought extensive teaching experience with him to Houston: "I love to teach. I learned patience working with children as a Sunday School teacher in my Church in Mexico. I try to make sure that everyone feels like they have learned something to help them to gain confidence, so that they will come back (to the club) and keep trying (to improve their dance skills)."
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