The world champions of salsa

By Dan Hilborn
Published Nov. 17, 2004


The new world champions of salsa dancing are a pair of fitness instructors from Burnaby who are hoping to open their own dance studio in town within the next few months.

Alfonso Caldera said he was absolutely shocked when the judges announced that he and partner Aliza Kinney had won the title in competition against 50 other couples in Miami, Florida.

"I didn't think it was going to be us," Caldera said last week. "Sometimes you just don't know how good you are."

The pair started training together almost immediately after they first met during a monthly salsa dance on Commercial Drive just four years ago.

Caldera said he and Kinney, who was a trained ballet and tap dancer before discovering salsa, had a natural connection that made the dancing easy.

"Aliza is the one who makes me look good," he said. "Every time we go to a competition, people say how good she looks. She can move really nice."

And it was the encouragement from his partner that provided Caldera with a necessary push to win the world championship.

"When we were in rehearsals for the finals, I made the mistake of watching the other competitors, and normally that's not a good thing to do," Caldera said. "I was watching this Hungarian couple, and they were amazing. But they intimidated me so much I had to leave the room and take a deep breathe and relax for a bit.

"But then Aliza came to me and she said 'I know they're really good, but we can do better than that. Let's get out there and have fun.' So we we ended up going through the routine, and we won."

The couple expect to have their own website up and active by the end of the month at www.salsacanada.com.