Aybar: True believer in the art of dancing

Dr. Edwin Aybar. Contributed photo

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Edwin Aybar, 43, who earned a doctorate degree in music from North Dakota State University, moved to Hannibal with his family last fall, in order to accept the position of music department chair at Hannibal-LaGrange University.

Once in Hannibal, he and his wife, Rebecca, decided to get “plugged into” the Latin dance scene in order to meet new people. But they were in for a surprise:

“Wait a minute, there is no Latin dance scene,” Aybar said.

Now, he is taking steps to rectify that.

After a few months of offering dance lessons from his home, and several classes taught in the student union on the HLGU campus, beginning Tuesday, April 15, he will be teaching Latin Salsa dance classes at the Hannibal Music Academy and Performance Hall, 901 Broadway, (the former First Methodist Church building.)

The Puerto Rican native’s introduction to Salsa dancing isn’t as straightforward as one might think.

He moved to the United States when he was13. Friends assumed that he could dance the Salsa because of his heritage. But that was not the case.

During his last year as an undergrad near Chicago, “I began taking Salsa lessons,” he said, “and I loved it.”

At first, “I wasn’t very good,” he admits. While working on his doctorate degree in Fargo, N.D., “I got serious about it.” He earned a certification from DVIDA (Dance Vision International Dance Association). “I opened my own studio, and I’ve been teaching for 21 years at this point,” he said.

Aybar is a true believer in the art of dancing.

“Coming to Hannibal, we are so excited about our new community. We love it, the people are so warm. We weren’t expecting that.” While still new on the faculty at HLGU,  “We’re hoping it’s long term. We’re staying here. We bought a house here, on Central Avenue near the university.

“I’m on a crusade to get young people dancing,” he said, “especially to get young people properly dancing, a partner dance. When I was young, I went to clubs with friends. There was no physical contact,” he said, referring to what they termed “dancing”. 

It required no skill,” Aybar said.

“Not all learning is book learning,” he said. Latin dancing is “Learning  to move your body in relation to another, and both to the music.

“Once you get the steps down,” he said, “you always want to dance to the music. What are we listening to? What is the pattern? How do we let the sound inspire our movements?

“I do promote (social dancing) to young people, especially young men.

“Are you lonely?

“You need to tell young men to ‘man up’ here. If you’re having trouble” connecting with women, Latin dancing is “a good way to mingle, and to have skin-to-skin contact in front of others. I am on crusade.

“If you are 18 and 19 and a great dancer, that gives you a super power. You connect immediately with your partner. She will feel protected.”

He has five words that he teaches to young men who are lonely:

“May-I-have-this-dance?

“Memorize those five words. You will have interaction with women.”

Artistic pursuit

Dancing is similar to taking piano lessons, or any other artistic pursuit. “You have to work on this craft. It is both an athletic and artistic pursuit combined. It takes work.

“I really think is is right for everybody,” he said, young and old alike. “I’ve even taught children; you can’t been too young.”

Facebook

In order to promote his dance classes, he established a Facebook page: Hannibal Salsa Dance Club.

“Eighty people are following me (on Facebook) right now.” he said, which he finds very encouraging. 

So far, “I’ve had two couples become regulars,” he said.

“There’s a lot of interest,” he said, “that’s the way it will be for awhile.

“I’ll keep doing it, keep trying,” he said, in order to achieve his goal of establishing a Latin Dance community in Hannibal. “I’m thinking of going door-to-door,” he said, in order to promote social dancing.

He also likes to promote the physical exercise associated with Latin-style dancing. “If you dance salsa for an hour, that’s 4,000 to 5,000 steps.”

“It is constant movement, very quick.

“It is a very tough mental workout as well,” he said.

He promotes continuous lessons, in order to build skill. “You need at least four to six months with one style to go beyond a beginner level. I make it fun, offering an introduction into other styles, but I focus on Salsa.”

He compares learning the Salsa to other social dancing. “We all have two legs; a right turn will be very similar in every dance style: swing, fox trot, waltz. There are only so many ways a human body can move.

“Learn one style, get comfortable, then go on to something else. Your body has to learn the moves and become comfortable doing it. That’s very important.

“Dance is non verbal communication between two people,” he said.

One memorable student was a man in his 60s, in North Dakota. “I was much younger than him when I was teaching. In the middle of a lesson, he said, ‘Edwin, you changed my life. You have no idea what this has opened up for me.’

“It opened up a venue for him to travel. He was a widow. Now he has a destination, a social group immediately. I really thanked him for telling me that.”

“I do promote it to young people especially. It’s is a good way to mingle,” he said.