The Joy, Flavor and Affection of Salsa Dancing: David Schafran's Transformational Journey

When David Schafran felt his life spiraling into depression and emptiness, he discovered an unexpected lifeline – salsa dancing. That first night on the dance floor sparked something profound: "It makes me feel so happy because it's so joyous and flavorful and juicy." This moment of clarity eventually led David from his high-stress tech startup in Boston to the vibrant streets of Medellín, Colombia, where he immersed himself in dance for five transformative months.

David's story challenges conventional thinking about wellness and healing. Despite practicing meditation and yoga, these solitary pursuits weren't enough to lift him from his emotional fog. What he desperately needed was connection, expression, and embodied joy – elements he found abundantly in the salsa dancing community. As he puts it, salsa offers three essential gifts: "joy, flavor, and affection."

This revelation didn't just change David's personal life – it birthed a mission. Through his company Soma Loco (meaning "we're crazy together"), he now creates personalized dance immersion experiences that help others discover the same transformative power of movement. Whether you're an experienced dancer or someone who believes they have "two left feet," David's approach proves that dance isn't about performance but feeling. The results speak for themselves, with participants describing the experience as genuinely life-changing.

Ready to discover how movement might transform your life? David's journey reminds us that sometimes healing isn't found in stillness, but in rhythm; not in isolation, but in connection. As he advocates, dance isn't just fun – it's medicine that should be taken seriously as a path to well-being. Follow your curiosity to somoloco.com or @dancesomoloco on Instagram to learn how you might find your own rhythm.

Want to be a guest on Journey with Jake? Send me a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/journeywithjake

Visit LandPirate.com to get your gear that has you, the adventurer, in mind.  Use the code "Journey with Jake" to get an additional 15% off at check out.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joy, flavor and affection those are the three
words my guest, david Schaffran,uses to describe something he
absolutely loves and is deeplypassionate about salsa dancing.
But this episode isn't justabout what salsa dancing is.
It's about how David's love forit completely changed the
trajectory of his life.
So get ready to move, grooveand fill the rhythm with David

(00:23):
Schaffran.
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how, through our
adventures, we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will featuredifferent guests or guests as
they share experiences andstories from the different
adventures they have been on.

(00:43):
Not only will you beentertained, but you will also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
their way.
My goal is to take each of uson a journey through the
experiences of my guests, withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination, as it is about

(01:07):
the journey.
Hello everybody, and welcomeback to the show.
I'm Jake Bushman, the host ofJourney with Jake, and I'm so
excited you're here.

(01:28):
I can't wait for you to hear myconversation with David
Schaffran.
His passion and love for salsadancing absolutely energize me
and I know it's going to inspireyou too.
Even if you feel like you haveno rhythm or two left feet which
, by the way, david says isn't areal thing Whether you're a
seasoned dancer or someone whojust appreciates a good story,
this episode has something foryou.

(01:48):
David's journey is powerful,heartfelt and full of joy.
Before we dive into thatconversation, just a couple of
quick things.
First, journey with Jake isproud to be part of the Podmatch
Podcast Network.
Head over to podmatchcomforward slash network to explore
other amazing shows on a widevariety of topics.
Want to get to know me and myguests a little better?

(02:10):
Follow me on instagram atjourney with jake podcast.
I post clips from past, presentand even upcoming episodes,
plus some behind the sceneslooks at my personal life.
And don't forget, journey withjake is also on youtube.
Just search for journey withjake podcast and hit that
subscribe button and give thevideos a like.
One of my favorite parts aboutrecording these episodes is

(02:30):
seeing the expressions andemotions of my guests, and I
definitely felt that connectionwith David Schaffran.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to check out episode 58
with Tigor Lettsam and hisacrobatic journey Another
inspiring conversation you won'twant to miss.
All right, let's get to it myconversation with David
Schaffran.
I'm excited.
Today I've got someone who I'vebeen wanting to talk to.

(02:51):
He's got an awesome background,the energy I love the energy
that you bring, and this isDavid Schaffran.
David, welcome to Journey withJake.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Thanks, jake, great to be here.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, I'm excited to have you here, like I always do
on my show here.
Yeah, I'm excited to have youhere, like I always do on my
show.
I want to know a little bitabout who you are first.
We're going to dive into a lotof like dancing.
We're going to talk dance alittle bit.
I haven't had a dancer like you.
I've had a few couple of dancertypes, but no one like you.
Who's like this gave you life,so to speak, and I want to hear
all about that Before we do that, though.
David, where are you from?

(03:22):
Where'd you grow up?
That sort of thing, just so weget a background on who you are.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Sounds good.
So live in New York City.
Actually was born in New YorkCity, grew up in suburbs in New
Jersey.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
And family-wise, you an only child.
You got brothers, sisters.
What's kind of the family lifelike?

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, I got an older brother, three and a half years
older, you know, grew up playingsoccer and little league and
you know public school kid had afew different adventures, going
from being like kind of a punkto kind of being a stoner, into,
you know, music and and othersuch things, and then it was
kind of like trying to get thehell out of high school for a
couple of years, just quittingand bearing it.

(03:57):
So you know I don't know, itfeels like a very just Americana
experience I had.
You know, we had the jocks, wehad the, we had a bit.
All these things you Americanaexperience I had, we had the
jocks.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
We had all these things in our high school.
I know you ended up becoming anentrepreneur.
I don't know if you become oneor if you're just kind of
naturally one, but I want tohear that story because I know
that was a big part of who youwere and what you did.
I think you ended up.
Did you end up going to theSilicon Valley to do a little
startup?
Kind of give us the backgroundon what you did
entrepreneur-wise.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, I'll just start saying that, yeah, when I was
26, I started my first company.
We had major investment fromone of the biggest investors in
Silicon Valley, vinod Khosla.
He's a billionaire.
He was the founder of SunMicrosystems, and it was an MIT
Media Lab project that I spunout with a high-profile
professor and a student that hadthe promise of giving people

(04:45):
eye exams just using their cellphone and a really low cost add
on.
Really cool technology wasmeant to help a ton of people.
Now, how did I end up doing that?
To be honest with you, I didn'treally see myself as an
entrepreneur until I was likemaybe my early 20s.
Before that, I was always justfollowing my inspiration.
I always just wanted to learnand experience and live truly.

(05:10):
I didn't have this.
I wasn't selling lemonade whenI was 10 years old.
I actually didn't care aboutbusiness at all.
I was just like I'm interestedin art, let me go explore art.
I'm interested in physics Letme learn about physics.
I'm interested in culture andLatin America Let me go live
physics.
I'm interested in culture andLatin America.
Let me go live abroad there,learn about Latin American
culture.
So what ended up happening was,I guess, two things is like my

(05:33):
background right Number one whenI was 13 years old at summer
camp, which a lot of people inNortheast go to.
This is a two-month longsleepaway camp that parents send
their kids, often in theNortheast, so they have two
months to go actually be acouple and also it's a good
experience and we were up in theAdirondacks in upstate New York
.
We did a lot of sports, we dida lot of outdoor adventures.

(05:56):
One of the trips, calledSaranac, which is up in Saranac
Lake in upstate New York, wasthis big, treacherous trip that
all the older kids scared theyounger kids to be like.
When it's your turn to do thisseven-day canoe trip, with
portaging and all this stuff,you're going to really hurt.
And when it came my time to dothis trip as a 12-year-old, I
was like I don't want to be thebiggest wuss on the trip, I want

(06:20):
to go balls to the wall on this.
So I went balls to the wall andthere's a story of this big
lacrosse player who used to solo, meaning when you portage, when
you take a canoe from lake tolake, you need to put it over
your head and literally walk itall the way to the other lake.
So I did that as a prepubescentsmall guy, when you'd heard

(06:43):
legends doing it before, and Idid it the first time and being
like Whoa, I just did that.
That was kind of interestingand I just kept on doing it and
even on the most difficultportages, something switched in
my brain where I was able toachieve continuing this really
difficult effort of putting thisbig metal canoe on my shoulders
and walking a mile and a halfup uphill, uphill that I had

(07:05):
this sense of empowerment thatwas really palpable, so much so
that I was like, wow, this issuch an amazing feeling.
Wouldn't it be amazing ifeveryone else felt this way?
And I'm just a regular person,so I bet everyone else can feel
this way.
That's literally what occurredto me as a 12-year-old.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
That is amazing.
That's amazing that, as a12-year-old, that thought came
to your mind.
That is amazing.
That's amazing that, as a12-year-old, that thought came
to your mind Because I thinkback to when I was 12 and at Boy
Scout camp or something.
I don't know if I ever hadanything like that happen to me.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, I think it's unusual and that's why I bring
it up as part of the storybecause it was something that
was just so natural for me tofeel that way.
I've always felt like I'm justa regular guy for me to feel
that way.
I've always felt like I'm justlike a regular guy.
But I also had this reallybeautiful coming of age
experience that also then thetrip leader started calling me
Mr Hart.
I was the top kind of personkid on that trip and I got an

(07:55):
honor from the entire camp.
I was alpha camper.
I was really into it, but thatstuck with me forever.
It's like let's go becelebrating, let's be empowered,
let's be enlivened.
That's always been my vibe,like we should all like let's go
be celebrating, let's beempowered, let's be enlivened,
right.
Like that's always been my vibe.
How do we, how can we all bethat way, versus being stuck and
afraid and you know, andfearful and closed down of life
and everything that's about andparticularly ourselves, like no,
be yourself, like hello, likeit's all good, right.

(08:17):
So this has always been my myvibe.
And then Then fast forward tocollege where I was taking this
history class.
I was actually a Spanish major,even though I was into physics
and calculus in high school Idid really well in my SATs I
just was curious about learningsomething different in college.
I never approached college asthis place to get a job.
I was like I don't want to workfor the man, I just want to

(08:39):
learn things that are useful forme because I'm interested.
Part of that experience waslearning in this one class.
I'll never forget it was how theEuropeans came to America and
kind of just like said, hey,there's some like nice land here
, we can kind of cut it and makesome nice cities and modernity.
And the people that are livinghere like yeah, we can kind of

(09:02):
put them to the side.
You know, I'm not.
I'm like frankly, like on aspiritual level, I just think
we're all in this together, likeI just feel the oneness like
you know I really do and notjust people, just like all
things.
And so it just didn't.
I just didn't agree with that.
Like just something inside waslike that's kind of like.
I'm not into that.
How do we then live differently, right?
Like how can we coexisttogether and be mutually

(09:25):
uplifting?
And so I started learning aboutthis idea of social
entrepreneurship and other wordslike sustainable development,
or triple bottom line capitalism, and basically the idea that
you can use capitalism not justfor enriching yourself, but you
could actually do somethingthat's good for everybody, like
it doesn't need to be a zero sumgame, like that's actually just
a mindset good for everybody.

(09:46):
It doesn't need to be azero-sum game, that's actually
just a mindset.
Once I learned that that was athing and I read authors like CK
Prahalad and Stu Hart these areuniversity admission guys,
which is where I went to collegeit was really motivating
because I had at least some sortof framework to think about.
How do I create a world that ismore inclusive and mutually
uplifting?
That's what started myentrepreneurial journey.
I was like I want to go do that,and so that led me to going

(10:10):
through the RockefellerFoundation to India for a year
working with an incubator ofcompanies that were helping
people in rural areas, and itwas an amazing experience.
I got exposed to healthcare onsmartphones and I was like, oh,
that's amazing, like 2009,.
Smartphones are this computerdevice in in your pocket that we
could do some cool things withthat.
And it turns out I was rightand I just like, ultimately
found some research at MIT andsomehow convinced people to work

(10:34):
with me, as this, a young guywith, you know, a bunch of
energy and vision, but like, not, frankly, like not a ton of
experience.
And that's what happened.
And we, you know, we startedworking together.
We won a bunch of awards we,you know, ranging from, like
Vodafone Wild's InnovationProject won first prize.
We won a pitch fest in SiliconValley at something called DC to
BC, run by Morgan TaylorVentures, and then we got major

(10:55):
investment and then we just didthe thing, and that's kind of
the beginning of theentrepreneurial journey of David
Schaffer.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
I love it Because one thing I've had and I've had a
few entrepreneurs on the, on theshow and the what I love about
it and you're, you're a greatexample of this.
For most of them the ones whoare successful, the ones who
love it it's not about them.
You're not just like I'm goingto be an entrepreneur so I can
make money for David and youknow, you know, be rich or

(11:25):
whatever.
You kind of had the idea inmind of how can I help others to
you know, help themselves orhow can I do.
You know, to help others waskind of what you were doing,
which I think is really unique.
I think some people kind of gointo the game thinking it's all
about me, but for you it wasn't.
It wasn't all about you, it wasabout others and helping others
.
And you know you didn't likethe way you felt about certain
things.
You're like let's make this tohelp others.
Kind of tell me about that alittle bit and why that was so

(11:46):
important to you.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
I don't know.
I mean, I just think I'm wiredthat way.
I guess, like, like I said, Ifeel part of this thing, like I
I'm a spiritual person and I'malways I've always been
self-reflective and you know, belike ask questions like well,
what am I actually doing here?
Like, what are we all actuallyeven doing here?
Right, like, am I here just towork for somebody and prioritize

(12:09):
like making money as likethat's the thing, that's like
all I'm doing and it's like, ofcourse I'm not saying that's
what most people are doinganyway.
Right, like you're doing thatas a means towards an end.
It gives you freedom.
There's lots of good reasons todo it, but I don't know, just
for some reason, I just was likemuch more in this like big
picture societal mindset, whichactually ended up biting me in

(12:31):
the ass a little bit, which goesto the part of the story of how
I got to salsa, because youknow, when you're living in the
abstract so much and you'retalking, you think about like
helping society in the world,you kind of lose sight of just
like your own day-to-dayexperience, and that's something
that I think can be difficultfor a lot of people who are
researchers or entrepreneurs orcreatives or people who are just
like focused on building thisthing, but then forget about,

(12:53):
like wait, there's like I havethis actual day-to-day
experience of people around me,right like it's easy to get
caught up in the story of, likethe big impact I'm gonna make
for all these people and you,some of the interpersonal like.
Something I like to say is that,you know, sometimes people are
very focused on humanity, butthey're not so great on the
human to human level, andsometimes it's reverse.
So people are really, you know,great with humans one-on-one,

(13:15):
but they don't care at all aboutsociety and other human like
humanity on a on a macro scale.
So I was definitely in a formerbucket.
That was my mindset.
I was because I did have afeeling and I, to this day, of
course, like I, I that I do feelthat on a spiritual level and I
think that's that's whatmotivates me.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Interesting this is.
This is fascinating hearing youtalk about this.
So here you are, you're whatyou say mid twenties.
You've got this, your companymid twenties.
But then you found yourself.
So you found yourself not superhappy, because you were, you
were missing something.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
I was missing something.
I think you know being inBoston for me was challenging.
I'll just say it Like I thinkBoston is great for a lot of
things, but I was coming fromthe Bay Area right before that
for a year and a half where Iwas, like you know, in like this
community house and we weregoing to like Burning man events
and you know we're exploringourselves and you know it was

(14:09):
very enriching and gave me a lotthat I think I needed on an
emotional level.
Like I was, I hadn't developedmyself emotionally at all not
saying at all, but not enoughand it was happening in the Bay
Area.
I don't know if your listenerscan relate to this, but
certainly for me, 2010, aroundthat time, the East Coast was

(14:29):
still stuck in an old mindset,whereas the West Coast was a lot
more open towards Easternphilosophy and meditation, yoga
and psychedelics and things thatI think is a lot more common
now that we think these thingsare really helpful in personal
development, right, and so I wasjust tapping into that in the
Bay Area.

(14:49):
But then I moved to Boston todo this company because I was
passionate about it, but Bostondidn't meet me emotionally and
also because I was stillimmature.
I had an outlet for, you know,my creativity, my romantic side,
my kind of poetic yin side, wecan call it and instead I was,

(15:13):
you know, in a very high stressenvironment with not a lot of
support for years.
It really screwed with me.
I mean, just being stressed allthe time is never good anyway,
let alone like not feeling likeI had outlets and support by
three or four years in, like Iwas just like I just felt

(15:34):
terrible.
I just felt like really gray onthe inside, not yeah, just I
felt really gray and just likenot like isolated, lonely,
depressed, just didn't feel good, even though the company was
like in my mind.
Like I was like this is whatyou know, this is what it's all
about.
Like I was so one-dimensionalabout like the company is
everything and yet like my ownday-to-day experience was shit

(15:55):
for me, like I felt really badthat's interesting.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
So, yeah, you're focused so much on the company.
You went from, you know, thethe west coast to the east coast
.
Now you've said you know youpicked up some things like
meditation and things like that.
Did you try to implement any ofthat when you were in Boston
and did that work, or what kindof was the experience?

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, I did.
I did meditation.
I mean even like from the Bayarea, like I did the 10 day
Vipassana retreat with.
You know that's a if yourlisteners know of it one of the
most profound things I've donein my life is sitting for 10
days in a Vipassana meditation,dhammaorg.
I will plug that foreverbecause it is transformational
when you'd sit for 10 daysquietly and meditate in this

(16:37):
Vipassana style, like amazing,amazing learnings happen for me,
for example, just learning thatI had emotions and they were in
my body.
I didn't even know that before.
I literally had to sit for manydays to be like wait a second,
I think this and I feel it hereand that, oh, that's my emotions
.
Holy cow, I didn't even knowthat.
Why are we not teachingeveryone that right, like things
like that sort?

(16:58):
I took those learnings intoBoston.
But one thing that didn'thappen in Boston, for example, I
was actually my first part ofdance was tango was doing in San
Francisco.
I didn't know if dance was likea thing on some level for me,
but when I went to Boston,didn't feel the vibe.
Didn't feel the vibe.
If you don't feel the vibe,can't do it, not for dance.
Dance is all about emotion.
I did not feel the vibes inBoston for me to do that dance.

(17:20):
There's something about beingin a space where a music and an
art form feels alive and juicy.
That's important to be able topractice it.
Otherwise it's hard to kind ofbe fully in it.
Right, I didn't feel like on theinterpersonal level that I was
finding outlets for me to feelenlivened, even though I did

(17:44):
have, you know, some basic.
I had some.
I had some nice foundationswith meditation, a little bit of
yoga, even plant medicine Ididn't do actually I hadn't done
plant medicine yet in my lifeat that point.
But even when they plantmedicine, I wasn't feeling good,
like it didn't really, itdidn't really give me what I
needed.
Right, and I think what I foundwas that these practices

(18:06):
meditation, yoga they're verysolitary, on the pillow type of
work, and I think they'reeffective for knowing yourself,
for clearing issues you havethat were deeply seated for many
years past.
Right, like there's, I'mbutchering all the value,
because there's a lot of value.
The point is that there'ssomething limited about it, that

(18:29):
if you just did that for yourwellness, that is going to give
you the benefits of aflourishing life, like if you
just sat by yourself on a pillowlike you're, you're, you're not
, you're not in the world,you're actually just, and
there's something reallyprofound about being out in the
world and connecting with peopleas part of your wellness

(18:51):
practice, and I found thatthrough dancing salsa.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Dancing salsa.
How Okay, I got it, we got it.
Why salsa?
Why dancing salsa?
How did that come about, haveyou?
You said you experienced it inSan Francisco.
Was it that first experiencethat was like oh, that's it.
Or was there other times Likehow, yeah, hi, and how and why?

Speaker 2 (19:11):
I guess I hadn't, I hadn't danced.
Also before I was in Boston notthat I ever remember the Bay
area was tango.
And so like totally differentright, like totally different.
Like tango is about.
Is is about passion andsincerity.
You know, like every dance hassomething particular about it.
Right that you can get out ofpracticing it.
Salsa, for me, was just onenight.

(19:33):
A friend of mine who's a dancerwas like hey, you want to go to
salsa dancing.
This is back in 2015.
This is like at the peak of mefeeling shit.
I was just like, yeah, I waslike sure, so we go.
And it just struck me soquickly.
I was like, yeah, I was likesure, so we go, and I just it
just struck me so quickly.
I was like this makes me feel sohappy because it's so joyous
and flavorful and like juicy,and I'm like it's like a light
bulb went off in my head and Iwas like whoa, like I need to

(19:56):
remember this, like you knowthose moments where you have
this kernel of truth and you'relike I can't forget this, like
I'm not gonna let this go, likeI need to remember this because
it was so real for me, and I waslike I'm gonna come back to
this and basically what ended uphappening was, a few months
later, I finally it reached apoint where I was like I need to
leave the company, like it's ata place where I feel like I can

(20:18):
leave and also I need to, butlike it was like kind of two
things.
So I left, my company, had abreakup and turned 30 all in the
same week Wow.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
That's a lot.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, I was like I feel kind of I have to be honest
with him, I don't feel good.
So I was like what the hell doI do?
You know, I was like a verylike you know, I was like had a
like a hot red motorcycle and Iwas a rock climber like you get
the stereotype like I was like avery like this type of person,
but I was really just likeputting armor on to go to battle
all day, every day for years,like this is all I was doing and

(20:51):
it's like.
It's just like.
At that point, it's like I justfelt like I'm like a surrender,
almost like I really felt likeI had nothing.
That's how I felt.
I was like I have nothing, Ihave nothing, I have nothing,
and so the only thing that'sthat made sense to me I was like
I just got to dance salsa.
I don't even know what else todo.
I started dancing salsa inBoston and there was a, you know
a great group class that I didlike an intro class, you know

(21:13):
intro course, and it was like acouple days, a week of group
classes and I was like, okay,this is this feels like
directionally correct, like I'mnot, like oh yeah, but I'm like
this is feeling right, you know.
And then, within like threemonths, I had the opportunity to
go to Cuba.
This is before it was opened upby Obama.
My cousin made a movie theremany years ago, so I was able to
go out with her and I broughtsome friends and for a week I

(21:34):
played music.
I played music too.
I played music and I dancedsalsa and my soul was on fire,
like I was alive in a way thatlike I hadn't felt in such a
long time and I was like holyshit.
I was like this is all I needed.
Like all I needed was to goreally live salsa for a bit.
Like I didn't need all thepillow work, I didn't need the
meditation, I need the ayahuasca, I didn't need the all these

(21:56):
things.
Like it's not what I needed.
Like what I needed was toconnect with other people in
this like flavorful, joyous way,right, which only salsa could
have given me, right.
I mean, there's certainly otherdances that are also joyous,
but like salsa is like.
It is about that, like thelyrics and the culture is all
about practicing joy.
It's like, no matter whathappens, we're still going to be

(22:18):
, because some of the lyrics aretalking about crazy things that
happen to people.
You know like I lost all mymoney betting, my wife left me
and hey you know, and it's likethat's the vibe, and I'm like,
wow, okay, these people knowsomething we should all be
learning about mindset, right,that you can choose happiness

(22:39):
and you can practice it and youdo it through this art form of
salsa dancing.
And so it was so clear to me atthis point, with you know, in
Cuba, I was like this is what Ineed, and so I was like, okay, I
need more of this.
I like pretty soon, was like,okay, I'm leaving Boston,
looking up you know bookend,that chapter of my experience.
I don't know what the hell myfuture is going to be like.

(23:01):
I just know that I need to getinto the salsa thing.
I want to get into music.
I want to get immersive theater.
I want to get into, like, checkout virtual reality and that
type of stuff.
This is 2015, 16.
So would be, or was this comingup like very into immersive
experiences.
It's just a world of mine.
That was kind of the goal, andso you know I is just a world of
mine.
That was kind of the goal.
And so you know I went to.
I first went to Israel for acouple months just to like there

(23:23):
was a whole other thread ofdelving deep into, like
spirituality.
It was in Jerusalem, I wasstudying at Yeshiva, like it was
a beautiful thing, it's cool,and like I need to go to Latin
America because I'm feeling likemy soul really wants this
flavor, this wants this salsathing.
And so I had the opportunity togo to Panama with some friends,
people like 150 people andrainforest and workshops and

(23:45):
yada, yada, yada.
The point is we were in LatinAmerica and a bunch of us were
like, hey, well, let's go toColombia after, it'd be great.
And we went to Cartagena,colombia, and I was like, okay,
well, if I'm going to be inColombia, I might as well go
dance salsa for a month, waslike, okay, well, if I'm going
to be in columbia, I might aswell go dance salsa for a month.
And a buddy of mine was like,well, you know I, he's like I
want to go to medellin becauseyou know he heard that medellin

(24:05):
was innovative, it was lovely,the climate was very temperate.
You know that's where he wantedto go.
And I was like, but there'ssalsa everywhere in columbia.
So sure, I mean kind ofinterested in maybe living in a
good place.
I don't want to just be in somepodunk, you know, beach town.
You know I was like I'm moreinterested in being in a dynamic
, beautiful city.
So we're to Medellin and youknow, like I said, my goal was

(24:27):
to become fluent in salsa, likeI wanted to be.
I wanted to be part of who Iwas.
I didn't want to be this ideaof myself.
I wanted to change my internalstate period Like not, oh, I do
a little salsa class and now,like I kind of suck at it, like
I kind of have it, it's like.
No, I didn't want to kind ofhave it, like I wanted to fully
have it and that's just like.
That's just how I am.
Like when I'm into something, Ijust I just go deep, dive into

(24:48):
it, like I'm just like, likehyper, like.
So it took me about a month tofind the right kind of situation
.
After I found it, I just lovedit so much that I just like kept
on saying yes to it and I spentfive months dancing full time,
like three to six hours a dayevery day.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
I just like, created my own experience.
You know my own program toimmerse myself in salsa and then
eventually other things likebachata and you know the latin
dances, but salsa is the coreand it truly was
transformational in helping mefeel joyous in myself, flavorful
in my self and affectionate,and those are the three words

(25:30):
that I always use described whatsalsa is.
For me is joy, flavor andaffection.
Like.
If you want to feel joy andpractice joy, if you want to
feel flavor sabor is the word inSpanish flavor, flirtation,
right.
If you want to feel it, if youwant to practice it, salsa is
the answer.
If you want to feel andpractice being affectionate with

(25:52):
other people, not like this,like, oh, I can't touch you,
like it's weird, right, like,just you know affection.
Right, like be human.
Affection.
Right, like be human, right,salsa is amazing for that.
So I got all that through doingthat intensive, day-to-day
living salsa experience formyself and it was amazing and
it's it's.
It literally changed my life.
It was so enriching that I waslike other people should be

(26:15):
doing this, like this is not,like this should not be
something that's like in thecloset for only lat to do.
It's like like cause we have inour culture.
You know like, oh well, youknow, of course, the Latinos are
doing it Like.
They're just like that.
You know, they're born like andI'm like what I learned down.
There is number one.
They actively practice thisintention of of being joyous,

(26:36):
right, like it's not.
It's not like they're justalways joyous because they just
happen to be.
Their DNA is different.
That's insane.
Like they literally say like no, I want to be, I want to be
happy.
It's important to be happy andsalsa is kind of your daily
practice, or, whenever you do it, to remember it and to practice
it and actually live it withother people.
Like you're actually doing thething right.

(26:56):
So it's a way to awaken it inyourself but also perpetuate it
right, like any practices, I waslike I need to show this to
other people.
I need to show this to otherpeople like me who are like.
They say like oh, you know,you're like, you're a white dude
from New Jersey.
It's like you can't dance.
That is such like hell, yeah, Ican dance.
Like we all dance, we're Likeit's part of our, it's part,
it's part of just being a humanbeing.

(27:17):
We have bodies to move right.
There's no one way of doing it.
It's just the art form.
Is the feeling of it right?
It's not being a performer toshow like I'm doing all these
moves for you to look, look atme like that is also an art form
.
That's beautiful, but my wholething with dance is it's a
feeling art first, a visual artsecond.
So if you feel it, then that iswhat is important, and salsa is

(27:40):
all about having fun.
It's not about necessarily, youknow, like, being like a
professional dancer.
Of course you do that and so,long short, this was something
that I needed to birth into theworld and that's, you know, what
I'm doing today and since, like2018, the company I started,
called Soma Loco, provides thesedance immersions which,
basically, are a replica of theexperience I created for myself

(28:04):
over that five-month period andthen years.
I spent three years living inMedellin with the most amazing
dancers in Colombia, having themost unique experiences you
could have in Medellin, allrelated and all about having
people immerse in this art formof salsa.
And now we do it in bachata, intango, in hip hop, zook Dances

(28:26):
that are native not only toColombia but just the region,
and really authentic in thisplace where you can really feel
the feelings that each one ofthese dances provide.
There's a profound practice.
When you look at these dances,like, okay, so if I want
sensuality in artistry in mylife, I can do that through
sensual bachata.
I'm going to live it, I'm goingto reprogram myself.
If I want sincerity and passion,I can go do that through tango.

(28:48):
If I want joy, flavor andaffection, I can do that through
salsa.
Every dance has somethingreally beautiful to teach us it
that way, and you're in anenvironment that is cultivating
the experience, where you canfeel free to let go and enjoy,
and so that's, that's what we'vecreated and we've had.
Now, like thousands of peoplehave come from all over the
world.
They come for one to four weeksto immerse themselves in this

(29:09):
dance and in this, in this, inthis art form, and people I mean
like people love it, like it'slike that's awesome yeah, okay,
I want to.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
I want to hear a little bit about that.
The first thing I want to askyou, though, is you started off,
you said, okay, I'm going to goto Columbia for a month.
You ended up.
You said what?
Five months of three to sixhours a day, salsa dancing.
Yeah, you know Medellin.
You think you know anybody whowatched Narcos or whatever.
You think all Columbia you knowdangerous or whatever.
Tell me about the experience ofbeing in Medellin and what that

(29:38):
was like.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
I mean, every time I ever go there, the word that
always comes is lovely.
It's so damn lovely.
That's my experience.
It's so beautiful and lovely.
Now, why is it beautiful?
Lovely, I mean, you just got togo there because you just feel
it.
But like, right when you go outat the airport, like you're
surrounded by these, likebeautiful, like soft mountains,
everything's so green, it'stropical, they've got beautiful

(30:01):
flowers and you know there'sbirds everywhere, like huge I
think it's most biodiverse placefor birds and planet, like
you've the most beautiful birdseverywhere.
So you like have beautyeverywhere and the people are so
sweet and friendly and andplayful and helpful.
It's just charming and this isbeautiful and that's always been
my experience and I went therefor some 2016.

(30:21):
It's always been true, Everytime I go back, I feel the exact
same thing and you know, likethe safety part, I've never had
an issue there.
We know, obviously, the historyof Pablo Escobar, but like the
dude died like decades ago, it'sjust not that place anymore and
it hasn't been that place for acouple of decades.
So they've done an amazing jobat rebuilding the city, at

(30:42):
rebuilding trust, and it shouldbe a case study that everyone's
looking at like urban renewal.
Like truly, it's great whatthey've done.
So it's just not what it usedto be.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Not a thing.
Yeah, yeah, and I think ofColumbia, and I think I mean the
climate.
I'm guessing it's got to bepretty much the same year round.
I don't know if there's muchvariation.
I know it's kind of near theequator, so to speak.
So what's is that kind of yourexperience?

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, I mean Medellin is called the city of eternal
springtime.
It's pretty much seventies,right, like like pretty much all
the time.
Maybe you can get to like low80s, depending on the drier
season, but like upper 70s islike pretty, the vibe, mid 70s,
like it's really nice.
You can cool off and get downto like low 70s, upper 60s, but
like great, like like prettymuch.
Weather is amazing.

(31:28):
It's in a valley up in themountains.
Um, you can go to the mountainsaround it and wow, the villages
around there are just magical.
Familiar with realismo, majicoor hundred 100 Years of Solitude
is the new Netflix series.
I think it's a Netflix based onthe book.
Of course there is a magic toColombia.
There just is.
I can't explain it, but I swearto God, I did this indigenous

(31:51):
trail from village to villageand I saw Tinkerbell, I saw this
little rainbow fairy.
I can't explain it.
I know what I saw and yeah, I'mjust saying, like you know,
there's something going on overthere I love it.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
I love that.
So you started soma localbecause you're like you want
people to experience kind ofwhat you experienced.
So you said it's basicallypeople can come for one to four
weeks and immerse themselves insalsa and other dance.
That's the basis of it, right?
That's the basis of it right.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
That's the basis of it.
So it's very much focused onpersonalized, one-on-one
instruction.
So people come in from anydance background.
You could have literally zeroexperience and come by yourself,
or you can come with a bunch ofhighly advanced dancers in a
group and anything in betweenand we take you.
That's because the teachers wehave are amazing and we have a

(32:43):
bunch of them and we placepeople with the correct teacher
based on their background, basedon their level, based on their
style they're wanting to learn,based on special requests of
what they're trying to learn.
So it's very customized to theperson from a dance perspective.
And so they each week have 15hours, which is three hours a

(33:04):
day, monday through Friday, ofprivate one-on-one classes with
two teachers who are the sameteachers throughout the week.
And if you spend two weeks withus, three weeks, four weeks,
throughout that amount of time.
And they're not just there forthe private classes, they're
there for social dancing withthe students, so you never feel
like you're by yourself forsocial dancing.
They meet you at group classesand other activities.

(33:26):
So we literally take care ofeverything the airport pick up
and drop off to transport inbetween places, everything is
very tight so you people canjust come and feel free to let
go and really like relax intothe experience, because it's so
important to feel it, to feel itand to absorb it and to live
this life of a dancer right Like.
You can come and live a life ofa dancer, right Like.

(33:47):
You can come and live the lifeof a dancer with us in a way
that you know you can't.
If you just like put your footinto a you know some random
class and then pop your foot outand it's like yep, I did some
soul music.
It's like nah, like, if you'reinto dance or you want to be in
dance, like this is it?

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Can you share an example maybe of and you don't
have to give names or whatever,but I've imagined, because you
said you have people of all youknow, from very beginners to
experienced people.
I could pick in my mind.
I'm just picturing somebeginner.
I mean I picture almost someonelike me I don't have experience
dancing.
What kind of change have youseen, whether it's one week or a
four week class?
What kind of change have youseen in some of these folks?

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Oh my God, I mean massive.
So we just I was just recently.
It was a girl from Germany.
She came, she'd never donesalsa before and we'll actually
probably put this video up ofher soon on our Instagram.
But like I mean, just afterlike three days of doing the
work with us, like she wassocial dancing and like feeling
good with it, I was like damngirl, like that's like hell.

(34:45):
Yeah, you, you know, likeobviously everyone's different,
so not everyone's gonna have thesame experience she did, but
she, she just picked it up right, like it was amazing.
And other people, you know thelearning they get, I mean it's
it's goes well, even beyond justthe dance.
I mean people, it's it's.
We have several people that youknow recently.
I mean it happens all the time.
Actually it was like this wasliterally life changing for me,

(35:07):
like this is what people tell usis life changing for me.
Why?
Because if you come from aplace like I came, or, for
example, somebody that came outof a bad divorce recently and we
have that often actually comeout of bad divorce, bad breakup,
or a really like challengingjob experience, that in
betweenbetween jobs, people whocome for those reasons versus
just like I want to learn,having the space that is really

(35:31):
loving and about you feelingconnected to yourself and
sharing this experience with abunch of beautiful people.
When I say beautiful people, Imean lovely, affectionate,
caring people that we're in thistogether, we're just having fun
, we're're expressing ourselves,we're like supportive.
The healing is really profoundand people feel like confident
again, radiant, again, enlivened, which is literally the whole

(35:54):
point of what we're doing.
I even look I like looked at ajournal entry of mine, like in
2015, like when I was finishingthe other company, I was like I
want to create, I want to createmore enlivenment for people and
aliveness in people, and then,like now, I'm like we like we're
doing it and it's like, yes,I'm like okay, cool, I'm glad
I'm doing it, cause, like thatwas that's what I wanted to do
and I think we're, I think we're, we're achieving that.

(36:14):
I really do.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
For you who kind of you know?
Now you kind of run thiscompany and you're not there all
the time, but you're thereevery so often.
What does it people you knowhaving these experiences and
gaining so much from it?

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Oh it, just, it just.
I mean I'm just so grateful,I'm so grateful that we're able
to provide that experience forthem, and I take it's important
to me, right, like if we weren'tdoing that, I would, I would
feel really bad, I'd be like why, why am I even doing this?
Right, like it's, it's, it's sonot the point, right Like I
could be doing a million otherthings.
So why?
This is because of thosemoments, those that feedback we

(36:50):
get from, you know, people comeon the trips, the videos they
share with us, the experience Ihave when they share with me.
I love it.
I love it Like it's.
It's literally the point of allof it.
I mean, there's also an amazingbenefit for our teachers, too,
of, you know, giving them reallyamazing work that they wouldn't
necessarily have otherwise andexposing them to people from
around the world and giving themnew opportunities, like as

(37:11):
someone who's an artist too,like that's a big part of it too
of like helping the dancecommunity.
But I think grateful is reallythe word, because they didn't
have to trust us, they didn'thave to take the leap, they
didn't have to pay the money,they didn't have to do any of
these things, and so I feelgrateful that they took the leap
of faith to come on this tripwith a company called Somo Loco,

(37:31):
which means we're crazy, somos.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
Locos, right?
Yes, I guess you just kind ofshortened up the Somos Locos, so
yeah, somo Loco.
I love that.
I guess we're all crazy, aren'twe, in a way?

Speaker 2 (37:42):
I mean yeah, well, that's the origin of it.
I was basically when I wasliving in medellin.
Don't ask me why I was thinkingabout this, but I was like I'm
trying to synthesize what Ibelieved at the time and I was
like, you know, there's so muchstigma about being crazy.
You know, there's so muchstigma about mental health, of
being, you know, you're, you'recrazy one, right like I'm like
we need to destigmatize that andalso we're all nuts in our own

(38:03):
way and that's a beautiful, funthing.
So what the hell like what'syou know?
So?
So let's celebrate our, ourindividual crazy and so so my
local is a plan words instead ofso much locals, which is how
you would say it with a plural,like we're crazy in Spanish, so
my local means we're all crazytogether, like the unity and the
crazy.

(38:27):
And that goes to my spiritual,spiritual, like oneness thing.
You know why not?
Why not be curious about ourown crazy and the crazy of the
world, right, like, be curiousand through that adventure of
like exploring, you know what isunique about all things that's
just on this planet, who knowswhy?
But there's something beautifuland profound about what we are,
what we are for a reason, in myopinion, not like I really know
, but that's what I believelet's be exploring through

(38:47):
beauty, through humor, throughadventure.
Like that was what Soma Locosstarted as, and it was a
creative laboratory for me tomake art.
I was making music and danceand immersive theater and comedy
.
All these things and theseimmersions came out of that kind
of laboratory and mindset.
Now it's not a creativelaboratory, now it's.
This is what we do, we do thesedance immersions and that's
that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
I think it's a beautiful thing that you've done
.
I think it's a beautiful thingthat you've created.
I want to ask, now that you'vegot this going things are moving
along what challenges do youhave?
Like what are the some of thedifficulties today that you face
?

Speaker 2 (39:21):
I mean, I think right now it's just about growth.
Like, how do we get the wordout to more people?
How do we scale Right, likewe're doing well, like people
love it, people love what we do.
We just need to get the wordout Right.
And like, getting the word out,you know, for something that
like, if you're not already adancer, it's like how do we tell
this story to people Like, hey,like you don't need to be a
dancer, you know, consideryourself a dancer to go do.

(39:51):
This experience pays dividendsfor your internal state that
could stick with you and alsoit's a beautiful practice.
You could do your whole life.
You could do it up until yourwhatever age.
You could do it anywhere in theworld.
What a gift in this world ofmaterialism and bs and all these
things, you have this thingthat's interpersonal and
beautiful and natural and honest.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
Obviously I've drank the Kool-Aid.
Clearly I'm saying that.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
What would you say to someone like me then, who I'm
not a dancer by any stretch?
I would, what you consider,have two left feet.
My wife, my daughter, yeah,they can dance, they got some
moves, not me so much.
But in my mind I'm thinkingwell, maybe I should do this,
but I'm nervous.
I'm apprehensive.
What would you say to someonelike me?

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Well, I'd say you don't know until you try right
and trying.
People have gotten burnedtrying in a non-safe,
non-conducive environment forbeginners.
So often people who want to trydance in the US cities or even
European cities, they try agroup class.
You feel like an anonymousperson in a swath of people.
You get any personal attention,you have no idea what the hell

(40:54):
you're doing.
Obviously, you're not going tofeel a connection to it.
Obviously, and if youself-identify as having two left
feet, yeah, you're alreadyself-defeating yourself, right?
The reality is you don't havetwo left feet, like literally,
you actually have a level.
So it's actually factuallyincorrect that you have two left
feet.
And and I mean we askedexamples.
Also, like I now rememberthere's another guy that came
with us and he was the guy.
He was like you, he had twoleft feet, but he was determined

(41:17):
, he wanted to learn and withina week he learned with us and
now he was starting to socialdance and he was already doing
it.
And then he came back a secondtime and did another second one
with us recently and he's holycow, this guy's gotten so much
better.
It's amazing.
And he was the guy that said hehad two left feet.
So I think it's getting pastthis like this critic, this
inner critic narrative that likeI have two left feet or I'm a

(41:38):
white dude who doesn't move hisbody, or whatever kind of
statement that we make aboutourselves, there's, there's just
like having the trust that like, maybe that's not right, like
maybe, maybe maybe it isn't meRight and I'm saying it isn't,
but you don't have to trust mesaying it isn't.
You could say like, well, maybeit's not right, maybe it's not
true.
And then the second piece isfinding that environment that is

(41:59):
very conducive to meeting youwhere you're at as a beginner,
that can be loving and patientand personalized for you to have
, you know, a wonderfulexperience.
Because without that, you know,I think you are risking like
having like this hard, you know,like anonymous experience that
can turn people off, and thathappens all the time and it's a
shame because these people islike, it's like having like a

(42:22):
bad teacher, let's say, in mathin middle school, and you're
turned off for math your rest ofyour life because that one
teacher, I mean you didn't likemath, maybe, maybe not Right,
and there's.
You can think of that exampleat everything.
I think dance is actually a bigexample of that, because the
model of learning in groupclasses sporadically in America
and Europe too is is not thatgood for, particularly for

(42:44):
people who are beginners.
Like it's hard, it's hard toget it and like.
One thing that I knew when I was, when I was starting off, was I
was like this isn't like.
When I was in Boston, I waslike this isn't it Like, this,
isn't it for me to learn it?
I don't, this is too like overhere, like I'm not intimate
enough with salsa to understandthrough these group classes,
which is why I wanted to go toLatin America and deep dive.

(43:06):
I wanted to do a place where itwas authentic and alive and
also where I could afford doingthe amount of immersion that I
needed.
I'm not coming from the culture.
I don't know what the hell likeclave.
What's a clave?
I didn't know anything.
I literally didn't knowanything.
I just knew I felt good with itand I was like I don't know
what Kool-Aid they got, I justneed to drink that kool-aid.
I don't know anything, and so Ihad.

(43:26):
I went and discovered itbecause I so needed it that I
went through the bs to figure itout, and that's kind of the
point.
It's like well, I figured outthe bs, so hey, you guys can,
you guys can drink the kool-aidnow too.
I figured this out.
Like there you go like here'sthe thing.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
So, at sumo loco, in order to facilitate that,
because, like, if you getsomeone like me, yeah that's, I
need kind of what you described.
I need someone who's going tokind of help me and, you know,
be someone who's going to bethere for me.
And how do you do it?
You kind of, do you talk topeople ahead of time, do they
fill out a form, like how is itthat you know to like, okay, I'm
going to line this person upwith jasmine or whatever your

(44:00):
dancer's name.
You know, how do you know?
Is that how you do it?
How do you?
How do you do this?

Speaker 2 (44:03):
yeah, yeah, I mean anybody who signs up.
We ask them to fill out anintake which is saying what's
your level, what style do youwant to learn?
If you don't know your style,here's some resources to know
your style and also we canfigure out later special
requests if you do have anyconsciousness about where you're
at.
We ask all these questionsahead of time and that helps us
match the two teachers and wehave one male, one female, which
is it doesn't need to be male,female.

(44:24):
It's more about a lead andfollow, because you get unique
perspectives from a leadteaching you and a follow
teaching independent.
Whether you're a leader orfollow, there's really important
lessons that each can give you.
Once you're with us on the firstday, in the first class, our
teachers have done theirhomework on you.
They've read all these, thesestatements you made in intake

(44:45):
form, but then they have aconversation with you about like
, let's talk about it.
And also, why don't we juststart dancing a little bit and
let's see where you're at?
Because they're really good atdiagnosing where you're really
at, and from there and from whatyou've told us already, we
triangulate what is the bestcourse of action to help you on
your journey and it goes fromthere.

(45:07):
It's very, it's bespoke.
It is not cookie cutter at all.
There's no, like people say, oh, what's your program?
Like first you do bodymovements and then you do you
know rhythm and basic steps.
Like sure, there is like aloose framework about those
things, but everyone's comingwith something different.
Everyone's coming in with adifferent body, different
connection to themselves, body,different connection to

(45:27):
themselves, different connectionto the music, different
connection to the partner.
Depending on what they comewith, we provide a solution.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
This sounds amazing.
I love what you're offering.
I love what you're doing.
I love the fact that you havesuch passion for it.
I can see it on your face, sothat's why I always tell people
if you want to see what peoplelook like when they're talking
to me, go to go to the YouTubechannel, because you know people
light up when they they talkabout their passions, and I love
that.
What does the future hold forDavid?
What do you think?
Where's this going to go?
What do you want to have happen?

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Well, I can only think about what's happening the
next year.
I'm really bad at thinkingabout what's happening in like
20 years for David.
I have no idea.
But no, I mean, I think we have.
We've, we've spent yearsdeveloping this company and
developing, you know, ourimmersions, and it's so good
right now and I just like, Ijust want to grow it.
I just want to grow it.
We have a location now inBarcelona that's nascent, so

(46:13):
we've got something, you know,going on there, and there's
other places that will probablygo to at some point as well,
though Medellin will always beour flagship, like it's just we
have something amazing there,and so I think it's, you know
locations.
It's more trips, more people,collabs, like doing collabs with
you know artists, or you knowdance schools, or having amazing

(46:34):
birthday parties, I don't knowjust like just doing more of the
thing.
It's just like the more we doit, the more enriching it is for
me.
We're like spreading the impact, right, Like, and I guess, like
if I were to say like moonshot,you know, with this type of
thing, I think coming from likehealth care, Right, and as like
a non mainstream guy, like assomebody who's trying to
innovate on the model danceshould be reimbursable insurance

(46:55):
Dance you should be able to geta tax write off for dance,
Right?
Like your doctor should be ableto prescribe dance if you have
depression, because it has beenproven.
Because it has been proven,there is research.

(47:24):
There's been meta-analysis frommany research after, if you
want to provide the link sopeople can look at themselves,
Don't take my word for it, Lookat the research yourself.
But it's there and it's notrocket science.
If you've danced, you wouldknow exactly what I'm talking
about.
Particularly, if you've dancedsalsa, you'd know exactly what
I'm talking about.
So I think we have thisnarrative in our country, and

(47:47):
not just America, that whathappens in the clinic with you
know medication and trainedprofessionals talking to you
that that's the only thingthat's permissible and effective
in dealing with mental health.
And like we all, like commonsense people, it's like, yeah,
if you have a good diet, youwork out, you sleep well, like

(48:10):
this goes pretty long way, right?

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Well, so there's some rocket science that they'd be
like, oh and dance is alsoeffective.

Speaker 2 (48:15):
It's like, yeah, it is.
So why exactly are we payingall this money to insurance
companies that don't cover thesethings that are good for us?
Right, like it's so silly andit's, frankly like detrimental
to all of us.
So dance should be, should bereimbursed by insurance.
I have a lot of opinions aboutinsurance, which is another

(48:35):
conversation.
I have another company.
The point is it should besomething that's mainstream, as
something we do together becauseit's good for us.
We lost dance somewhere alongthe way in the West as something
that we do.
We do to connect with eachother, we do to connect
ourselves, we do it as awellness practice, we do it for

(48:55):
ecstatic, joyous reasons, we doit for grieving reasons.
We do, but it's part of who weare.
We did it for millennia ashumans and we should be bringing
it back.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
And that's, you know, I think, the broader kind of
arena that we're playing in Forsure, and I and I witnessed it
right here what it did for you.
You're, you know, when you'reabout turning 30, you have a
breakup, you, you know, leavinga company, and what it did for
you turned your whole lifearound, which is fantastic,
Saved your life in a way.
So tell everybody before wewrap up here if people are

(49:27):
interested in Soma Loco, wherecan they find you?
How do they, how do they lookthis up?

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Yeah, for sure.
So it's somalococom, that'sS-O-M-O-L-O-C-Ocom, and on
Instagram we're at dance SomaLoco, dance like D-A-N-C-E Soma
Loco, and contact us there.
And yeah, we'd love to have you.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
Awesome, I love it.
And for my final question, it'sa question I like to ask on
every one of my episodes For you, David what does adventure mean
to you?
Going into the unknown?

Speaker 2 (49:56):
Yeah, I mean I can elaborate on that, but yeah, I
mean just anything that'sunknown.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
I'm like, ooh, that's fun.
David on Journey with Jake.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
My pleasure, jake, thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
A huge thank you to David Schaffran for sharing his
journey with us.
If you'd like to learn moreabout David and Somoloco, head
over to Somolococom and be sureto follow him on Instagram at
Dance Somoloco.
Honestly, heading to Medellin,colombia, for a few weeks of
salsa dancing sounds like anadventure worth taking Wild and
amazing.
And, of course, thank you toeach and every one of you for

(50:27):
tuning in each week.
I know I say this a lot, but Itruly mean it.
This show means the world to me, as do you, and I'm so grateful
to have you along for the ride.
One of my favorite parts ofdoing this podcast is hearing
from you, so don't be shy.
Let me know who your favoriteguest has been, or suggest
someone you'd love to hear onthe show.
You can message me on Instagramat journeywithjakepodcast, or

(50:47):
shoot me an email at jake atjourneywithjakenet.
I'd absolutely love to hearfrom you.
Next week.
I've got another fantasticepisode coming your way.
I'll be joined by GiovannaSilvestre, a solo traveler,
author and the creator ofsportswear inspired by healing
crystals.
Our conversation was insightfuland inspiring and I can't wait
for you to hear her story.

(51:08):
Just remember, it's not alwaysabout the destination as it is
about the journey.
Take care everybody.