Carolina Cerisola (shown left) and Sascha Escandon, originally met in Los Angeles in 1999 in the Salsa dance scene. But it was years later in 2007 that they decided to collaborate - The Floor was born and is quickly becoming the place for LA's creative talent to share, celebrate, express and oftentimes get discovered.
"We felt inspired to create something in our own culture, which too often can be overloaded with technology, rapid information, short attention spans, and the need for instant gratification, but not a lot of everyday soul-filling culture."
"So, knowing how much talent this city of L.A holds (with a bit of a selfish need to fill our own souls), we decided to see how we could unite the artists of our city and beyond, to facilitate events where we could regularly celebrate our own culture of diversity that everyone can be a part of, enjoy and hopefully get in a little soul-filling of their own."
I bumped into Carolina over five years ago, where she was headlining at forty duece, Ivan Kane's extremely popular Hollywood burlesque bar which since closed. With Rod Stewart in the house, and Carolina performing on the stage, I remember that it was the perfect place to celebrate my best friend's birthday. When I introduced myself to her, (don't ask me how I had the courage to do so) I will never forget how polite and classy the artistic dancer truly was. We chatted a bit and then she kindly mentioned to me that she was out the door and on her way to Rome! I went home that night telling my buddy that I made up my mind that one day my future wife would certainly need to know how to dance!
Carolina was born in Buenos Aires and early on she trained in gymnastics, competing nationally and in the Pan-American games. By the time she was 16, her gifts as a dancer became known throughout Buenos Aires and Argentina and soon enough she was touring with the famous Venezuelan singer, Jose Luis Rodriguez.
At 19, she moved to the US and became successful dancing partners with world class salsa dancers, Johnny Vazquez, as they traveled the world performing and competing. After six years as a renowned salsa dancer, Carolina decided to team up with Ivan Kane in Los Angeles, to create Forty Deuce and even starred in a hit reality show covering all the action.
Carolina’s unique talent and dance style prompted many acclaimed artists like Prince, Sting, Justin Timberlake, Heath Ledger, Fiona Apple and Daniel Lanois to collaborate with her on an array of artistic projects including music videos and a recently completed tour as a guest headlining dancer with Sting.
Currently, Carolina is using her specialized dance and entertainment experience to produce and direct her own projects all over the globe including hollywood's The Floor which host's Improv Night - a live jam session with musicians AND dancers of all genres.
"The Floor Improv Night has gone from a one-time only event into a monthly night that has grown tremendously over a year. It is due to everyone that has walked through our doors that has made it the most unique night out in Los Angeles and has created an energy incomparable to any other place in Los Angeles."
"We have created this night to fill a void that we have been feeling for a long time. We live in a city that holds so much incredible talent and much of it comes from friends that we have met over the years from all over the world. So we’ve opened THE FLOOR to you - to come play, dance, enjoy yourself freely and expressively, and hopefully experience something magical that is truly organic and completely in the moment. It is an environment conducive to expression; a blank canvas that we put our art to - no rules, no egos, just all of us creating a rollercoaster to ride with one another."
This is huge for LA, not only because it provides an "open floor" to new, yet to be discovered talent, but more importantly because it is a vortex of cultural expression, a microcosm of what the city of LA is all about! I love it and I hope to see you on THE FLOOR!
The next event will be held on Monday January 18th!!! For more info, see www.thefloorproductions.com.
Check out the following clips including a performance by Carolina and a recent night at The Floor:
