Giancarlo Johansson
Founder and Director
International Performer- Head Instructor
- Choreographer
- Webmaster
Giancarlo is a Swedish national with Peruvian background and is no stranger to Latin music and dance. He is a;
- 2003 Australian Salsa Champion
- 2006 Asia-Pacific Professional Salsa Champion
- 2009 New Zealand Professional Salsa Champion
- 2010 New Zealand Professional Salsa Champion
- 2011 New Zealand Professional Salsa Champion
- 2011 Swedish Professional Salsa Champion
- 2011 Australian Professional Salsa Open Champion
Giancarlo and Masha have also been featured as NZ's leading salsa dance professionals on TVNZ's Good Morning Show and were guest choreographer for the Salsa & Mambo on the New Zealand version of TV3's "So You Think You Can Dance".
Giancarlo was born in Peru to a Peruvian mother and Swedish father. He started his salsa dancing on the summer of 2001 in Sweden when a friend took him to Stockholm's most popular Salsa/Latin nightclub it was here that the passion and addiction to Latin music and dance begun for real. Giancarlo & Masha were the first salsa instructors in New Zealand to introduce syllabus based salsa courses that would extend to any level of salsa dancing. The idea of the syllabus was to spread it to all of New Zealand in order for the schools to be able to teach the same basis and as result students would have a "universal" way of learning and competing. Today the idea of a syllabus structure has been adapted by most of the main salsa dance schools, which in return has raised and continues to raise the level of salsa dancing in New Zealand.
Giancarlo started out with jazz dancing and gymnastics training at the age of 11 and kept doing so for 4 years, until he was given his fathers old SLR camera. He got completely immersed in photography and it took over his life for some time to come. In 1997 he got an opportunity to work as a freelance photographer with 2 major news photo agencies in both Sweden and the USA . After some time, he decided to travel to the other side of the world and arrived to the Australian continent in early 2002. Photojounalism was what he wanted to pursue in life. However, it was just a few months prior to emigrating from Sweden when his friend re-introduced him to his Latin-American roots of music and dance. It was this that would eventually turn Giancarlo's life around!
Although his intention and goal in life was to excel within the photographic industry, he could not let go of dancing and eventually founded Latinissimo Dance Company in Melbourne in 2003 as a hobby to start with. As his dancing and knowledge for salsa grew, his school became more and more popular. Naturally the aim and purpose of the dance school grew and he decided it was time to put his dance school on the international salsa dance circuit. With his background in jazz and gymnastics combined with amazing natural coordination, athleticism, agility and determination – it did not take him long to get noticed and make his salsa dancing impressive and unique.
Today Giancarlo is highly respected in the salsa dance insdustry for his clear, precise and technical instruction. Giancarlo & Masha had the honour of being the first salsa dance couple ever to be invited by the NZFDT to do a salsa demonstration at the Opening Ceremony of the New Zealand Ballroom & Latin-American Dancesport Championships. They have also been featured on a full page spread in the New Zealand Herald's "Photos Of The Year 2007", featured and interviewed for DANZ Magazine by Francesca Horsley as "...New Zealand's Best!" and were main characters and dancers in the music video "Insane" by The Sagittarian, to mention a few.
Giancarlo and Masha dance with style, energy, professionalism and precision. They have performed and taught in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Seoul, Bangalore, Miami, Los Angeles and more. Together they are the choreographers, instructors and directors of New Zealand's most popular and successful student salsa team - TEAM Latinissimo. They are also the coaches for the 2009 Asia-Pacific Amateur Salsa Champions and the undefeated New Zealand Amateur Salsa Champions, Alyx & Tania. Latinissimo won the NZ Salsa People's Choice Award in 3 out of 4 categories at the NZ Salsa Nationals.
Besides the dancing and coaching, Giancarlo is still very active with his photography. It has extended into video and video editing and has set up his own video filming service. He is also the webmaster for this website.
