The Record
Performance
Competition
Education
Inspiration
Trained in the room, not just around it.
PerformanceCompetitionEducationInspirationAustralian, with Dutch heritage, never the obvious choice for Street Latin dance. That's exactly the point.
I'm Jacqueline Valk, though most people just call me Jacki. I was dancing before I could really call it that. No one in my family danced, there was just something in me that knew I had to. I grew up in Canberra, started at a local studio young, moved into teaching hip-hop at sixteen, and at seventeen I found Latin dance. That's where I found my passion.
By seventeen I'd already opened my own dance company with Ben Brilliante, while competing and performing in Sydney. After school, I moved to Sydney to train under Oliver Pineda and his company, Latin Motion, home to some of the most technical dancers in the country at the time. I was a sponge. It took four years of relentless work before I finally got a compliment out of him, "you've got it," with a nod of approval. That's how tough he was. I heard later he only pushed the dancers he believed in. It made me work harder.
In Los Angeles, I was once told I "didn't have the look" for Latin dance films. In Mexico, I heard the opposite, "I've never seen a white girl move like that." I competed in Los Angeles alongside Rodrigo Guzman, world number two in salsa cabaret, taught internationally on Spanish-language television, and built my own choreography, before finally coming home to Sydney to that compliment from Oliver. It was all worth it.
Teaching is what I always come back to. I love seeing dancers take what I've taught them and make it their own, students often leave my workshops stronger in their movement, and more connected to the music, their bodies and each other.
I go all in on everything I do, which means my highs are high and my lows are low. The lowest was Vegas, where I moved for a relationship and, somewhere along the way, lost myself. I still danced there, corporate salsa gigs, work alongside dancers from Dancing With The Stars, but that isn't why I went. When I came home, my family barely recognised me. Vegas taught me to be tough, to use my voice, and to never let myself be run over again.
"I wouldn't change any of my experiences, because I've met incredible people and learned so much along the way. But I'll certainly enjoy helping others understand the lessons I learned the hard way, so they can learn them a little more kindly."
You find your true friends at your most vulnerable. For me, that was Nichole, Anna and Gustavo, three friendships that got me through the hardest moments and are still close today. I once called Gustavo, who was choreographing for Ricky Martin or JLo at the time, and asked if he wanted to come to Cuba with me the following week. He said yes. That's the kind of friendship it is.
Life is funny. When you want something, it doesn't come. When you don't have something, you want it. And when you don't want something, it comes and bangs down your door. I've competed and performed in Los Angeles, danced in Mexico with some of the best dancers lining up to partner me, and found my spiritual home in Cuba, the birthplace of the salsa that started it all.
After a breakup in Sydney and years of travel, I moved back to Canberra to be near family. There, my creative energy found an unexpected outlet, I built a construction business from the ground up, earned my builder's certification, and ran it for eight years before selling it.
I moved to the Sunshine Coast to be near family again, and found paradise. Today I run a small dance company purely for the joy of it, coach business owners through burnout, and I'm on a mission to help others move, for their minds, their bodies and their independence. Somewhere in between it all, I also picked up my recreational pilot's licence, because if I set my mind to something, I finish it.
My broader mission is Dance for Mental Health. I believe partner dancing has the power to support confidence, memory, connection and emotional wellbeing, and that belief is what everything else on this site is built from.
3rd, Australian Salsa Classic National Titles
1st, NSW Social Dancer Competition
3rd, Australian Salsa Open
Danced Mambo (New York), Cuban Salsa (Cuba), LA-style Salsa (LA & Mexico)
Taught & performed for Latin Motion, alongside cast members of Dancing With The Stars
Taught Salsa congresses; performed at Sydney Salsa Congress
Author, 76 Percent, on dance, brain health and reducing dementia risk
Working With Children (Blue Card) certified
PerformanceCompetitionEducationInspiration