Take a video of cute kids dancing and you’re bound to get views on social media. But these kids are not like any other dancers.
They may only be second graders, but these young girls are tearing up the dance floor to Romeo Santos’ “La Demanda.” The video describes it as the “La Demanda Challenge.”
“Mr. Sorto’s Class loves to be challenged,” it reads.
In the video, four young girls, roughly seven years old, swing, glide, and cha-cha their way across the floor. They’re adorable, but their moves have a professional quality that’s almost unbelievable.
The girls dance with total confidence. They have the finesse of much older dancers with a talent that most adults don’t have themselves.
But there’s a secret to their dance: it’s actually an incredibly difficult challenge.
Most people in the United States aren’t familiar with bachata dance. It’s a difficult form of dance that originated in the Dominican Republic. To see a group of second graders performing it is astounding.
The dance style started in the 1960s. At that point, it was usually danced with a partner. However, as the style grew and spread, it developed into modern forms of bachata, which include “open position” style.
This particular dance challenge comes from a superstar of the Latin dance world: a dancer known as La Alemana.
If you speak Spanish, you know that means “The German woman.” Believe it or not, this amazing salsa and bachata dancer doesn’t come from any of the countries where these dances originate. La Alemana, whose real name is Tanja Kensinger, grew up in Germany and eventually moved to the United States. There, she learned how to dance.
“Although my best friend since I was 10 is Puerto Rican and I grew up around the culture, I still didn’t feel too comfortable dancing to Latin music,” said Kensinger in an interview. Then I saw a couple dancing LA style salsa – and that was it for me. I knew right then and there that I needed to learn it, no matter what.”
Nowadays, La Alemana has traveled to countries all over the world to perform.
Her amazing dance moves combine control with precision and fluidity. Now, dancers around the globe are taking her dance to “La Demanda” as a challenge. But no one ever expected that a group of second-grade students from Washington D.C. could triumph over it like this.
The video, uploaded from a Facebook account called Mr. Sorto’s Class, features students from KIPP D.C. Promise Academy. KIPP is a conglomeration of 16 public charter schools in the wider D.C. area. Mr. Sorto teaches younger students, starting in kindergarten, P.E. Spanish, art, and dance.
Since the video was uploaded, it has been seen more than 10 million times.
Sorto, who is from El Salvador, is thrilled at the response.
“We came in on a Monday and I was like, ‘Girls I’m gonna teach you the challenge,’” said Sorto. “So, the next day we finished it. I was like ‘Alright, I am going to post this video, see if they like it.’ It’s [had] the highest views.”
The four girls are members of Sorto’s traveling dance team.
They have been studying with him since they were in kindergarten. There’s no doubt their talent and energy will take them far down their path in life, whether in dance or elsewhere.
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