Alex Morales, dancer and choreographer: "Dance should be more present in schools."

"Since I was very young, I've listened to music at home, because my parents always loved it. It was also a constant presence on car trips. When I was about 15, they started dancing at the San Martín community center, my lifelong neighborhood in Barcelona. Ballroom dancing brought them together and they made a very friendly group of friends. Looking back now as an adult, I think dancing changed their lives. And one day they asked me if I wanted to go dancing with them," recalls Àlex Morales, who as a teenager couldn't imagine that invitation would end up shaping his life as well. A professional dance career wasn't in his plans back then, because he had wanted to be a soccer player since he was a kid. However, when the time came to choose university studies, he opted for the world of education, his other vocation. Restless by nature, one career wasn't enough. "I'd always loved teaching. When I was 16, I earned my leisure instructor qualification and worked in cafeterias and summer centers. I also worked as a soccer coach. When I decided to study, I chose teaching, but I also looked into social education, and I was very interested. That's why I decided to pursue both qualifications, despite the difficulties," the dancer explains.

More than a hobby

Those were intense years of combining studies and work, without ever abandoning her passion for dance. Two worlds, that of education and dance, that eventually merged. "When I finished Social Education and worked in centers for minors under the supervision of the administration, I already did some dance projects with them that were very positive. Dance continued to be for me like a parallel path in my life, which I basically took as a hobby. But in reality, it was more than a hobby, because I dedicated many hours to it each week. I liked various styles, but especially Caribbean dances, such as salsa, merengue, cha-cha-chá, and bachata. The more I danced, the more I learned, and I still wanted more. Over time, it has given me many joys, such as becoming a salsa champion," Morales acknowledges, adding: "During another period of change in my life, which has been many, I decided I wanted to pursue a project that definitively combined education and dance, that would allow me to spread all the benefits that dance brings to people without losing this educator's perspective."

The Benefits of Dance

The result of this entrepreneurial drive was the founding of the DanceLab academy, which at the end of the school year fills the streets and squares of Sant Martí with students from the school rehearsing their performances for the closing show. It's not just about dancing, but also about creating communities that go beyond oneself. "Physically, dance benefits people of all ages, but its values go beyond that. It also provides social skills and verbal and nonverbal communication tools. In the end, you learn to break the ice and be part of a collective. In times of screens, cell phones, and social media, dance allows people to reconnect face to face," argues the choreographer, who with his company also strives to professionalize Caribbean dance. However, in his opinion, the great challenge is integrating dance into the education of young people: "Dance must be more present in schools and be part of the educational system because it is important that classrooms work with a more multidisciplinary and comprehensive perspective," he concludes.