45. ADVERSITY with Christian Sola
Welcome to Episode 45 of the Salsa Kings LIVE podcast
On this episode, Andres is joined by Christian Sola, the creator of Sensual Bachata and founder of the Unity of Dance Festival. Together they talk about adversity. Christian and Andres discuss the adversity and realities of dance as a business and what is needed to persevere and succeed in the dancing.
Christian was born in Puerto Rico and originally got into dance as a hobby. Initially, he was focused on IT work, but getting a girlfriend gave him a push into dance. After awhile, he realized he was good enough to become a teacher and learned how to become an instructor. From there, he also worked to create Sensual Bachata, and a career sprouted from that.
Christian talks about the empowerment that comes from dancing. Dancing helps people and gives them a form of therapy and place that can make their life better. It’s one of the things that keeps him going. The fact that he is helping people helps not only other people, and gives him a personal sense of fulfillment. It isn’t just a job to him, though it is that. It’s something that he loves and sees value in.
Andres and Christan talk about how adversity is something that happens to everyone, whether it is a rough day or the death of a family member, and sometimes it can be difficult to overcome. In the cast of dance, there can be different types and intensities. Hopefully, you’ll become stronger once you get through it, but nobody wants to or should go through it.
Christian also recommends a book entitled Twelve Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson, which can help you deal with adversity better.
‘Haters’ are another subject that come up, discussing the psychology of haters as well as how to better deal with them and how it’s good to keep in mind the people who do like you and your work rather than focusing on the negative.
This and other elements of adversity are brought up, as well as how to deal with them in a healthy and productive manner. If you are also suffering from adversity when it comes to dance or even any aspect of your life, then you should give this episode a listen. It may give you the inspiration you need to keep going.
“If you are dealing with some kind of adversity, before you quit something or before you make some radical decision or something… I’ve seen people who quit dancing because they perceived one thing and they didn’t know how to handle it so they just walk away from it… and it’s sad because a lot of times it could have been things that could have been resolved. Don’t hold back from reaching out."