Arnold Gantuangco

Arnold Gantuangco (PHI)

Team Latinissimo 2010-2011

Born in the city of Cebu, Philippines, Arnold moved to New Zealand 5 years ago with his family. With only one year of salsa dance experience, he joined not just one, but 2(!) Latinissimo Teams! Would he cope...?!

Arnold placed 3rd in the beginners category at the NZ Salsa Nationals in 2010 and succesfully auditioned for Team Latinissimo only a few weeks later. He was invited to join Latinissimo's "DELTA" Team and was very keen and eager to start. In fact so keen, soon after he decied to join a second team, Team "CHARLIE". Arnold was rehearsing with Team Latinissimo 4x per week!

Being from the Philippines, dancing is part of Arnold's culture. He was break dancing for 2 years in high school, before taking ballroom lessons in college. This is how he got introduced to Latin dancing and never looked back.

I asked Arnold how his experience with Team Latinissimo has been:

"-Best experience! Gian and Masha are most devoted and passionate instructors I've ever been involved with and I learned the correct way of dancing Salsa!"

Arnold who works as a software developer in Auckland also tells me his long term goal with salsa is to be able to compete and be successful at top level. He also would like to teach and one day see his own students be sucessful in their dancing.

We found Arnold being very committed, talented and passionate about Latin dancing. During his time with Team Latinissimo he has performed at several big events such as Jambalaya, Kiwi Classic and New Zealand Salsa Congress to mention a few.

Some things you may not know about Arnold is that he is also a keen guitarr player, composes music and sings. He has also been a compeitive kickboxer since 2007.