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Jorge Geronimo and his partner, Glaucia Dugue, on the TV show "Let's Shake It."
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A dance engagement in Hong Kong sparked Jorge Geronimo's interest in all things Chinese and sowed the seeds of a dream that's now reality.With his brown eyes, tanned skin, slender stature and shaved head, Jorge Geronimo, an American choreographer and dance coach, fits almost everyone's image of a delicate and graceful male dancer.
Having lived and worked in Shanghai for more than two years, the 36-year-old is holding himself true to his Chinese dream.
His interest in China dates back six years, when he had his first exposure to Asia.
As the founder of a dance company called Latin Grooves, he went to Hong Kong for a performance in 2003.
The glamorous city with its fast pace life and dynamic feeling of progress immediately buried a seed of "I must be in it" in him.
The desire was so strong that for a month after he got back to the United States, he was still feeling sad about leaving.
It took Geronimo four years to be prepared mentally and physically for a move to China. At first, he told everyone around him of his idea of a move to Asia. It was a "now or never thing."
"My time in America was done. I thought I needed a change. If I didn't do it now, I wouldn't make it," Geronimo says.
He started learning Chinese from books and DVDs. He studied the map of China. One day in 2005, he was watching TV with some Chinese friends and they introduced him to "Let's Shake It," a TV dance show in Shanghai.
"I watched it and I thought ... um, Latin dancing in China ah?! Very good! I would like to be in that show when I go to China," Geronimo recalls.
He saw Shanghai as the place he would move to also because it was modern and big. Then he sold almost everything - car, furniture, and went to see his family in Mexico.
Geronimo's grandfather was a musician in the 1900s and his uncle is a professional singer. Geronimo describes his family as one "used to crazy things."
They supported Geronimo's decision, his mother in particular.
In January 2007, Geronimo arrived in Shanghai. A friend introduced him to the producers of the TV show and he was invited to choreograph a dance piece and dance with one of the celebrities.
"The interesting experience was that once we finished the performance and I had the cameras in front of me, I realized my wish had come true and this time I was in front of the camera looking out into the audience," Geronimo says.
"It felt gratifying to be the first foreigner to dance with a Chinese celebrity in this popular national TV dance show when you have 400 million viewers or so.''
