San Francisco, Calif.
1997 - 1999 - Years learning and dancing ballroom
1999 - Year started dancing Salsa
2005 - Year started deejaying Salsa
2007 - Year started dancing and deejaying Bachata
2009 - Year started managing Bachata festivals
2014 - Approximate year retired from teaching Salsa and Bachata
2020 - Returned back to the community to organize events
Present - Event Organizer and local deejay
Years owning and managing a non-profit dance studio:
The Miraido Studio (San Jose)
August 16, 2002 to March 2012
Jimmy was a philanthropist, studio owner, and dance instructor operating under the name "J Smooth Salsa" from 2002 to 2012 In San Jose, Calif. He was best known for providing free Salsa dance lessons for the time he had his studio "Miraido Studio in Japantown on Thursday nights. He has donated hundreds if not thousands of dollars to the community through free lessons, or donations to various events and nonprofits.
In 2007, Jimmy began to deejay Bachata music when Salsa was still dominating the San Francisco Latin dance clubs. In addition to traveling to deejay to places like Las Vegas, Denmark, Reno, Hawaii, and Canada, he was managing aspects of various festivals such as San Francisco's Bachata Festival, Reno Bachata Festival, Hawaii Bachata Festival, and Las Vegas Bachata Festival.
In 2012, Jimmy closed his dance studio due to low donations due in part to the challenges of the housing bubble burst that started in 2007. He moved out of the area and tried his hand with starting new events in Santa Rosa, Calif. Unfortunately it did not do well and he effectively retired from teaching, managing festivals, and organizing dance events by 2014. However, around 2017 he slowly returned to deejaying in the San Francisco bay area.
In January 2020 he started a new Bachata night event called "Bachata Thursdays" which lasted until the second week of March 2020 of the same year. Due to the COVID pandemic the event closed and never came back up again. During the shelter-in-place order of 2020-2021, Jimmy spent his time learning about filming and photography as a way to pass the time.
In March or April of 2021 he created an outdoor free event that was expected to bring around 30 people. It was an event that was meant to get people back to dancing as COVID restrictions were loosening up. Although Sacramento was months ahead with hosting dance events indoors, San Francisco was essentially limited to outdoor events. Outdoor Salsa events had already started around this time but Bachata was very much lacking in the San Francisco bay area.
Finding an excuse to use his newly refreshed video and photography skills, and calling upon his years of graphics design experience from creating flyers for various events, Jimmy began to market the free event which was named "Bachata by the Basin". The event drew in around 200 people and an encore was requested. The encore event was in July 2021 and that event drew in around 400 people.
Bachata by the Basin was a way to bring people together and due to good intentions by the deejays, instructors, and media it spawned a friendship among the newly created team. However, Bachata by the Basin was not meant to be more than a one-time event and thus the event was shelved until the following year for 2022.
The friendship that grew from the team resulted in an opportunity and a new excuse for the team to get together. In October 2021 the team started a new event: Hello! Bachata and its companion event: Hello! Kizomba.
The monthly event started just around when the COVID surge of December 2021 happened. Although attendance was around 160 people at the time, unknowingly the team was positioning themselves to be an event that the community would soon come to look forward to each month. They just had to make it through the pandemic.
Over time COVID restrictions continued to ease even further which had many people feel more safe to return to dancing. Hello! Bachata/Kizomba was becoming known to be a highly organized and fun event, with dancers coming from the far corners of the bay area. The reason for the event's success had more to do with experienced dancers coming out than anything.
Fast forward to present day, the team is still together but now managing a festival together.