Cristian y Gabriela: The Deep-Dive Interview

The family history of the K-clan, bachata royalty. It's just cozy rambling, so pardon the loose talk ♡

Cristian y Gabriela: The Deep-Dive Interview (+ the family history of the K-clan, bachata royalty)

Before we start…. this is comfy copy-paste rambling, so pardon the casual talk ♡

A quick family history of the K-clan

If Korea has the G-clan of bachata royalty (Gats, Garion, and their Spanish cousin Gabriela), then Spain has the K-clan.

That'd be the bachata sensual dynasty that produced Korke, Kike, Kiko, and Cristian. Papa Korke, eldest son Kike, second son Kiko, and the baby of the family, Cristian. Papa may have codified bachata sensual, but the general consensus is that the visuals get better the younger you go.

And two of the hottest sons, Kiko and Cristian, both came to Korea around the same time. Amazing Bachata Korea~

Today's star is the youngest of them — Cristian and his partner. But before we get there, let's take a quick peek at this interview where all the men of the family are gathered. You might wonder if you really need to know this stuff, but come on, it's fun. Korke the ex-waiter, Kiko the ex-footballer, Kike the ex-Spanish-soldier…

Korke

· Started dancing after watching the movie Dance with Me — LA-style salsa and bachata

· Stopped dancing for a while, but a salsa performance team was short one guy, so he went to fill in, joined the team, and started dancing again

· While looking for ways to dance bachata to all kinds of music, he began developing the sensual style himself

· He was a waiter and thought he'd live in Cádiz forever, but bachata changed everything. How he dresses, how he takes care of his body, his friends, and he met his wife — his whole life changed 100%.

Gloria

· Started dancing at 15 — ballroom and dancesport

· Started Latin dance at 17 — salsa and a little bachata

· At 20, decided to go pro and entered the professional dance world partnered with Truji

· Since she'd been dancing since 15, nothing much changed in her life, but she loves this work and is doing well.

Kiko

· Before he was a dancer he was a footballer, and never thought he'd dance.

· But he had a serious knee injury and could no longer play.

· With nothing to do, he went to see a friend who worked at a Latin bar, and little by little he fell into the salsa/bachata Latin world.

· When he started, he was really, really, REALLY bad. He had zero ability to dance the way the teachers taught. He was clumsy at first but got better bit by bit, and now he's an ambassador of bachata sensual — and that changed his life.

· He met his wife, and made new friends and a new family. That's the beauty dance gave him.

Cristina

· From a very young age she loved watching dance movies and wanted to dance like in the films.

· Started with ballroom, moved to Latin, and got formal training to enter the professional world.

· Dance is passion, and she loves sharing her knowledge with people through teaching. She loves traveling the world and sharing the same passion with so many people.

Kike

· As a kid he loved football and had all kinds of other hobbies.

· He'd go to parties and listen to all sorts of genres, until one day his parents said, "How about listening to something a bit different?" and played him Latin music. He'd never heard Latin music before that.

· His parents let him go to a small Latin party in Cádiz, and there he met Korke, who's now his best friend for life. That's how he found Latin dance, and his life changed.

· But really, it all started with his mom and dad.

· He originally worked in the Spanish military and danced as a hobby. One day he entered an amateur competition for fun, kept entering more, and then someone offered to pay him to teach a workshop at their event — so he figured, why not.

· After a year or two of that, he competed in Spain's big competitions and the European one (Bachata Stars), and here he is.

Nahir

· Started learning dance with her older sister at age 5

· Her mom said she was too young and wouldn't let her, but she nagged and nagged — let me go dance, buy me dance clothes — and kept at it.

· From then on she devoted her life to dance and learned many Argentine dance genres. But ballet and contemporary were her main thing, and at 14 she discovered Latin through her sister, who loved it.

· She always wanted to live as a professional dancer, and she gave her life to dance.

· She sacrificed and invested so much for ballet, but ballet made it so hard to achieve anything. With Latin dance, on the other hand, she reached the top in about a year. Her mom used to say all that ballet investment was a waste, but now she's achieved that much in Latin and her mom is proud of it.

Okay, now for today's star!

Before we go further, click this Short! Along with those grainy long-distance social videos floating around at the time, this is the legendary Short that set off the CyG craze in Korea. Enter the monster.

February 2019, and Cristian's popping was borderline shocking. This was before he'd even visited Korea — the Short that had everyone asking, who ARE these monsters?!

And that June, his first visit to Korea for a bachata marathon event….

That's how I first met Cristian and Gabriela… pure visual shock.

So who would Cristian and Gabriela be by 2022? What kind of inner world is hiding under those gorgeous visuals? How did they get here?

I got curious, so I went digging.

Cristian y Gabriela: The Deep-Dive Interview

It's someone else's interview, but it was SO good. So I pulled out the important parts. Please excuse the rough translation~ (red pen welcome)

Cristian, with his razor-sharp body lead now even more matured, and Gabriela, with her Decision to Follow, her insane following, that consistency and calm that borders on holy — and it turns out they've been carrying around thoughts this wonderful too.

Their journey from just being local social dancers to falling, as if by fate, into competitions, teaching, and the professional path. It's honey for pure fan reasons alone, but I think it'll land especially hard for anyone trying to make bachata their career, whether dancer or instructor — and for amateurs taking on life's challenges through bachata, whether performances or competitions.

Alright, here we go —

Q. How did you find dance and start bachata?

Gabriela

When I was 3 I saw my sister dancing flamenco and I loved it so much I fell head over heels. I didn't even know how to dance, but I got enrolled in a flamenco class, and that's how I found dance.

Around 10 I came across bachata videos with Daniel y Desiree and others, and I loved them so much I wanted to take classes — but there were no bachata classes in my town. I lived in Chipiona, in Cádiz, and there were no classes; Luis (Luis y Andrea) was in that town too. Bachata back then was really different from now.

Cristian

I found dance through high school classes and after-school activities. At first it was boring and I wasn't interested, but I gradually came to like it and got completely hooked.

I lived in Seville, and one day a friend asked me to come to a free Latin class at a nearby bar. He said there'd be lots of pretty girls.

There were tons of people, and some of them turned me down when I asked them to dance. I never turned anyone down. I tried to dance as much as I possibly could. Even though it's exhausting. (laughs)

Q. When did you start teaching bachata classes?

Gabriela

I started teaching regular classes at 15. Together with Cristian.

Cristian

I started teaching at 16? 17? It was about a year and a half after I started dancing. I got the offer before I'd even been dancing two years. That's when I started partnering with Gabriela. (For reference, they're one year apart)

Q. What was hard about teaching?

Gabriela

I thought I was way too young, and that was awkward. Teaching, or speaking in front of people, was uncomfortable.

Cristian

Getting students at first was hard. Seville has a lot of classes and a lot of artists. And we started a bit outside the city, so getting people to come all the way out there was even harder. People, like flowers, don't really like to move.

Q. Any advice for people who want to start teaching bachata?

Cristian

Speaking from my experience — I was a student at the same time, so getting good training and building solid fundamentals came first. In bachata sensual it's important to master both sensual and traditional. In the end that becomes your base.

To be a good teacher you have to be well trained yourself, and above all the most important thing is drilling the fundamentals and the basics. Because eventually all the variations and advanced patterns get stacked on top of that.

Gabriela

What we consider most important is the basics. We love flashy patterns too, and people love them — but from a teaching perspective, what actually holds you up as an instructor is how you do the basics, whether you truly know proper basics. And whether you have the ability to teach that.

Q. Your Instagram says "Bachata Sensual Instructor" — do you have some kind of degree in dance?

Cristian

No. I evolved while learning to dance, and started rising to a professional level. I had many wonderful teachers, and Korke y Judith gave us things like the Bachata Sensual book.

But you don't need a degree to teach bachata. Although I did get something like a certificate later. (He seems to mean Korke y Judith's bachata sensual instructor certificate)

Q. How did you get that certificate?

Cristian

There was a course for professional instructors. There were various classes for teachers from beginner up to advanced level, and separate theory and practical parts.

Gabriela

We were split into 5 groups, and on the last day there was even a theory exam with a practical component.

Cristian

I also think it's great to watch and learn how other people teach. Everyone has their own style and explains things their own way. I try to learn from everyone and everything. Even someone who's only just started teaching — there's something to learn in how they understand and explain something.

Hearing all the different ways of explaining the same thing ultimately develops me.

Q. So the two of you started teaching, and soon after you entered several competitions. You competed in the top competition Bachata Stars 2018 and Bachata Arte Spain 2018, and became finalists. Both in 2018. What was it like preparing for and experiencing Bachata Stars?

Cristian

I was competing even before I partnered with Gabriela. Though soon after, I started competing with her and traveling all over.

Bachata Stars is basically not set choreography — it's improvisation. The competition gave us a list of about 35 songs. Nobody could dance well to all of them. Some songs fit you, some don't.

In the end you prepare a good sequence structure of patterns for each part of the music, and then adapt to whatever song comes up. Express the chorus a bit stronger, that kind of thing. We prepared pattern pieces we could use for various parts.

Gabriela

A slightly long intro, a short intro, a footwork part… like that.

Cristian

It's improvisation, but you prepare in advance for whatever might happen.

Gabriela

We competed in Seville and had to pick from a list of over a hundred songs. There's no way to prepare all of them… and after we drew our song, the MC announced the title and I had no idea what song it was.

Cristian

After the draw I was terrified. There were easy songs where I knew exactly where each part started and ended. After drawing, I unfolded the paper and read it, and got a little scared. I couldn't remember the song at all.

Q. Which song was it?

Gabriela

It was Esme's <Una Aventura>. I didn't even know that song existed. I came off stage and cried. What did I just do up there? I felt like I'd danced horribly.

Cristian

I came off stage and Gabriela had disappeared — I had no idea where she went. (laughs)

Q. If you could say one thing to your past self who just came off stage after bombing it?

Cristian

I want to cry too. (laughs)

Gabriela

You did your best, and nothing bad happens if you don't win, so don't worry. And you still learned something.

Q. Did you keep competing after that?

Cristian

We did a few more, but we've stopped competing now and are focusing on various events.

Q. Why did you stop competing?

I felt like it didn't really suit me. I can't quite put my finger on why.

Q. (As competition judges?) Are there teachers you've loved?

Both together

Sergio y Ana. We love them so, so much.

Q. Any advice for people preparing for competitions?

Cristian

More than anything, I'd say enjoy it. Because it's a beautiful thing. I don't know if we'll ever go back into the competition world, but it's a very beautiful thing. Enjoy it. If you compete and it goes as planned, you'll feel amazing. But the most important thing is to enjoy it.

Gabriela

Wherever you are, don't lose your own style.

Cristian

Some people take another dancer's pattern and use it in a competition. Say you loved something so much you took part of someone else's pattern. Even then, make it your own style. Copy the first 1, 2, 3, 4 if you want, but change the rest. Making your own patterns through those variations is how you build your own style.

And in competitions, that's what catches attention. Because what they're really looking at in a competition is creativity and originality. They also look at invisible things like personality.

For those 3 minutes on stage, you have to believe you're the best. That nobody in this world is better than you. If you don't believe it yourself, who else is going to?

Q. What do you think about the other Spanish or European competitions these days?

Cristian

Honestly, I know nothing about that world anymore. If Bachata Stars keeps going, I'd be interested. I love the improvisation in that competition.

Q. What was COVID like?

Cristian

The exact moment the pandemic started was when we had the fullest schedule we'd ever had.

Q. Which countries had you visited before the pandemic?

Right before it, we went to the UK, Korea, and Japan. Portugal too.

Q. Apart from Spain and Italy, which country has the highest level of bachata sensual?

Both together

Korea.

Cristian

Korean people listen to the explanation, watch, learn, and follow along really well. It's fun watching them do everything I say right away. They're at an advanced level.

Q. On the flip side, which country do you think still needs time?

Gabriela

A few parts of the US. We did an event in Miami recently and they were great at other styles of bachata, but struggled with the sensual style. For them bachata was a dance you did in the street.

Q. What was the pandemic like?

Cristian

Awful. Everything was hell.

Gabriela

Cristian was in Seville and I was in Cádiz. We weren't close by in the same town. It was unthinkable.

Cristian

(About the hard times) I'd forgotten everything, so when classes opened again I had no idea how to teach. Not seeing each other for months and then dancing again felt so strange.

Q. What kind of dancer do you want to be?

Gabriela

A dancer who pours out and expresses her own emotions to others through dance and body movement. A dancer who communicates with people through that.

Q. Who's your favorite bachata artist?

Gabriela

As a couple, Marco y Sara. I really love Sara. I love Truji y Gloria too. Korke y Judith, and so on… but my absolute favorite is Marco y Sara.

Cristian

Marco y Sara for me too. I have enormous respect for Marco. Because of his amazing creative ability. When he shows it with his own body it's just incredible.

I love Pablo y Raquel a lot too. Actually, I tell people preparing for competitions to watch Pablo's competition videos. The way his dancing commands the stage is truly impressive. He makes everything impressive. Watching everything he creates responding to every single instrument in the music is astonishing.

As a couple I love Pablo y Raquel, and I love Luis y Andrea too.

Q. But if you had to pick just one person?

Cristian

I'll go with Marco. No wait — Marco and Truji. Marco and Truji! Marco con Truji!