Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Lev.
Hi Tom, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My route is a little all over the place, but I can see all the pieces of my past in what I do today.
I grew up in Israel, pushed to excellence with a “no pain, no gain” mentality. Throughout my childhood, I was put into many activities, mostly in competitive environments – karate, basketball, swimming, and more. This, along with constant pushing from my father, leads to some body image issues and insecurities, along with overconfidence.
I was a highly emotional kid, and I never understood people. Pretty sure I’m somewhere on the autistic spectrum. I couldn’t look people in the eye, or read most if not all social situations. I think the “don’t trust anyone, only yourself” mentality did not help me open up and make a lot of friends, or even try to understand folks. I really felt everyone was out there to get me.
Then came time to join the Army. It’s mandatory in Israel, and I went to flight school, which was a high-stress environment where you’re being tested on everything, all the time, in competition with others. It wasn’t for me, and I went on to be an Air Traffic Controller – lots of work stress and responsibility at age 19, learning to work hard, plan, and work with others.
A few years later, still working hard for the army, I lost my dad. He lived a carefree life in the most unhealthy way – eating candy while diabetic, and unable to plan more than a week ahead. He was unhealthy, but he did what he wanted to do, and after having to sell his business, and looking into his life, I started valuing life and being more present with my experiences, making my happiness a top priority.
I had to take care of his widow (he was remarried) and 1-year-old child for a while, but eventually, I moved to Tel-Aviv where I found dance. It started with Hip-Hop, Breakdance, Bachata, Salsa – all at the same time, and then I found Brazilian Zouk. I started learning so much about people. I was able to interact with them more, understand them more, and slowly see what I love in dance.
After training in dance for a while locally, I decided to focus on Hip-Hop and Brazilian Zouk. I had to take it to the next level. I left the comfort of my home country and flew to LA, trained for 6 months, and trained to be a Locking teacher with a Soul Train gang member, Shabba Doo, my biggest mentor who taught me to see dance as a language. I continued to Brazil, where I lived for 3 months, learning the language, culture, and Brazilian Zouk.
I came back to the states and stayed, with a dream to travel and teach around the world, as well as being a DJ.
I settled in LA for a while and became a teacher for another dance company, traveling while teaching and DJ-ing, then decided that traveling isn’t the life for an introvert like me, and I moved to run a franchise branch of that company in 2019, up until COVID hit.
I was really living my dream, but it was time to start my own school, and COVID just rushed things in that way. I spent the next two years developing my method and school, to be launched when I found a new home.
I decided I wanted to build a community – I found that people and that sense of belonging really are the secret to happiness, not just the dance. Dance was the tool to express me, what made me fall in love with dance is the fact it was easier for me to connect with others through it.
My partner and I traveled across the states in 2021 to find the best place to start our community, with the main criteria being – finding the place with the best people.
I found a home in Houston, Texas, and started my dance school with the help of a trusty partner and team.
We are building a community around this dance school, with the goal of being happy, and giving a safe space for others to express themselves and be happy with us. I’m learning and getting better with people every day, and I found people who share that journey with me.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Over the last 5 years, I moved 8 times. I lived out of a suitcase for at least 2 years. I was broke for a while, and lost all my passion and motivation to do what I wanted at least 3 times – I broke down, paused, re-routed, and launched again. I went through many panic attacks and a couple of mental breakdowns – my body responds in extreme ways to stress, and learning to balance took time. Then there are the 2 years of COVID where I haven’t danced almost at all, lost my physical shape and confidence, and regained my social anxiety. I came here to do one thing, and ended up in a different place, all with the goal of happiness.
I still deal with all the challenges today – work/fun balance, stress levels, and social anxiety, but I am learning and becoming better as I go.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are in the business of fun, and people – in my opinion, two of the most complex subjects to manage. A dance school is a scary business, and as the team running it, we face some interesting challenges.
Dance teachers usually choose it for the passion they have for teaching and dance, yet in order to grow a community and run a successful school, they must treat it as a business, alongside their passion.
This line becomes muddy – can I just do what I want as a dancer and model, having fun with my students, or do I have to be “cordial” and put a professional mask on, in order to match people’s expectations of what a professional business looks like?
These dilemmas, and others, are things we encounter every day and are constantly learning to find a balance.
I learned that in order to create a fun experience, it’s not enough to say “just have fun” – fun comes from feeling safe and included, and it took a lot of research on psychology, group dynamics, and empathy to figure out how to do that for students! So we think of everything in the student’s experience, from how they hear about us, to the experience they have walking into the studio, in class, right after class, and back at home.
The guiding question is always: How can we make people feel they belong?
I think we differ from other dance schools in how we define our product – we don’t sell dance, we sell a human experience, and hopefully a great one. My life purpose (and the school’s purpose) is to make an impact on people’s lives, spread the gospel of fun, take things less seriously, and learn dance on the way.
I’ve always had a hard time communicating and understanding people, including myself, and dance was a way to understand myself and others better. That’s what brought me to start Sotaki, as a school for dance and using dance as a tool to teach empathy and better communication.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Drivers are the worst. People (outside of cars) are the best. I also like the heat, and the tacos.
Pricing:
- First dance class FREE every Tuesday!
- Drop-in Class $20
- 5 Class Plan $75
- Party $10
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sotaki.dance
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sotaki.dance/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SotakiHouston
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sotakidance
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCApeJ1VylG5OldeOhvUsDZQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sotaki-dance-school-houston-2
- Other: https://www.mixcloud.com/djfroyo/kizouk-social-in-houston-energy-5-7/
Image Credits
Victor Wynn
Maravilla Photography
Rachel Ma
