Business Idea: Salsa Dancing Even if you have two left feet, this Latin rhythm can be big biz.

Dancers and entrepreneurs have nothing in common, right? Exceptthat they're both passionate about what they do, devoting longhours to that passion and tasting the sweet elixir of success onlyafter a ton of hard work. OK, perhaps they're more alike thanwe thought. Running a business can be similar to dancing a routine:You have to practice; it's your life's work; you have towear special shoes...wait--bad analogy.

Thankfully, the connection between salsa dancing andentrepreneurship isn't as difficult to see. From creating salsaWeb sites to producing instructional videos to managing a dancecompany, these salseros, as they're called, do itall.

Business In Motion

Josie Neglia, 35, has loved dance for as long as she canremember. She attended York University in Toronto to study it, butshe found her niche--and her market--in teaching instead."With [salsa] being a social dance," says Neglia,"the average person is going to be interested in takinglessons, so it's a bigger business."

Neglia started teaching at a club in Toronto before finding herway to Los Angeles and into one of the hottest salsa scenes around."The very first night I was [in L.A.], we went out to a salsaclub," recalls Neglia, "and I got into the whole salsascene here in California. I fell in love with the style right away,and within a month, I was teaching classes here."

Neglia's smooth moves got her noticed, but her businesssense won her several student clients. She'd pass out businesscards and brochures at the clubs to direct people to her company,Dancexcitement, while using her dance prowess as a way to see andbe seen.

Instructional salsa videos soon followed, with the first videocosting about $6,000 to produce. Neglia's videos are now someof the best-selling Latin dance tapes around--she's sold over$200,000 worth since 1996. Now she has seven instructional videosavailable on her Web site and through distributors worldwide.

These sales, combined with Neglia's presence as anadvertiser on Salsaweb.com--the place for salsa on the Net,according to most of the salseros we talked to--have greatlycontributed to her success in the salsa world.

That world is a small one, say salsa veterans--everybody knowseverybody. And to be truly successful, salsa-minded entrepreneurshave to immerse themselves fully in the scene. Going toInternational Salsa Congresses, salsa tours and, most of all,dancing in nearby clubs is the best way to locate your potentialmarket while gaining exposure in salsa circles.

Fame And Fortune

It was on the club and competition scene that people firstlearned Janette Valenzuela's name. Twenty-eight-year-oldValenzuela, who appeared in the 1998 feature film Dance WithMe, loved to perform, and she had always wanted to start herown business to complement her dancing, singing and acting career."I searched all my life to find the perfect product tosell," she says. "I came across this shoe line, and whenI saw it, it just clicked. I said, 'This is the perfect venuefor me.'"

At first, Valenzuela purchased shoes from other designers andsold them, but in 1999, she designed her own line, Salsera ConShoes. Now her challenge is dealing with the factories thatmanufacture them. "You have to acquire the materials, heels,labor and machinery," she says, "and it can get trickybecause it's a specialty item."

Still, in a good month, Salsera Con Shoes sells up to 20,000pairs of shoes, priced at $80 to $115 per pair. Valenzuela plans tomarket her shoes--now sold under the label Star by Janette--notonly to the dance world, but to the general entertainment world aswell. The line has already been worn by performers in the CherWorld Tour as well as in the Broadway show Swing.

Building A Dance Empire

Entertainment is the main feature on the plate of Luis and JobyVazquez, husband-and-wife founders of Salsa Brava Productions inLong Beach, California. They do it all, from teaching to managingtheir group's performance schedule and producing instructionalvideos.

Started in 1994, Salsa Brava Productions was one of the pioneers of thesalsa dance craze. Back then, salsa was just a hobby--in fact, Luisand Joby met on the dance floor--but their salsa stylings garneredattention. "People were always asking Luis about teachingprivate [lessons]," says Joby, 33.

When Luis quit his job a few months later, he decided to tryteaching part time. That evolved into group lessons at nightclubsin the Orange County, California, area, and a year later, Joby wasable to quit her job so she and Luis could focus on their businessfull time.

It's safe to say that Salsa Brava is enjoying the best ofboth the dance and business worlds. "This is a socialbusiness," says Joby, "so you're pretty much on call24 hours a day."

Their final advice for aspiring salsa entrepreneurs? Says Luis,"Go where the dancers are."