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You’d never know that this tidy brick-and-tile rental unit down one of Mount Eden’s quiet side streets is home to one of Auckland’s biggest and best-loved dance talents.
Here, Claudio Martinez has set up home with his partner of a year, professional musician Joe Locke, 34. It’s a world away from the heady streets of Santiago, Chile, but that was what Martinez wanted.
Landing in Auckland in 2018, the professional dancer came to the land of the long white cloud seeking expansion.
Living his whole life until then in Chile’s vibrant capital, his existence was something that many Kiwi dancers could only dream of; revolving around teaching, competing, and performing with various dance companies.
LAWRENCE SMITH
Claudio Martinez, Chilean professional dancer, at home in his Mount Eden flat.
It was an enviable life, one considered very uncommon and oftentimes unattainable by many in New Zealand’s own arts spheres.
He’d even been successful enough to purchase an apartment the year before, but still, something was missing.
“I was quite bored at home,” says Martinez. “Santiago is a very exciting city, it’s cool. Music and dance are everywhere, all the time. But I felt like I’d done everything. You know what I mean?
“I wanted to learn English and I wanted to grow as a person as well – as a teacher and as a dancer.”
LAWRENCE SMITH
Martinez is ballet-trained and makes rocking a pair of platform stilettos look like a walk in the park.
New Zealand is something of an unusual choice for those looking to grow a dance empire, but our working holiday visa scheme, that was open to 35-year-olds, meant that this was the place to come.
“Pushed on” by his best friend in Chile to get out there and live, little did Martinez know that he would still be here five years later, with a blossoming business, relationship, and network of friends, all made while carving out a niche for his art.
Replicating his professional life on our shores was initially a challenge. But within weeks of arriving in the country, Martinez had met a friend in a language class who pointed him in the direction of Viva Dance Studio, Auckland’s largest multi-style dance school, located just off the colourful K Road.
LAWRENCE SMITH
Martinez describes his life in Auckland with his partner as “happier and happier”.
Stopping by to offer his services as a dance teacher, although at that time he was barely able to speak English, the first person he ran into at the studio was a fellow Chilean.
As further luck would have it, the teacher of a reggaeton class was sick. Since the Latin hip hop style is one of Martinez’ specialities, he filled in. Only one student showed up, but his talent was clear. Viva’s management kept him on, and he was slowly given more and more classes, filled by an increasing number of students.
With a thriving community that surrounds the school, to dance at Viva is to both feel a buzz and to belong.
LAWRENCE SMITH
Martinez likes to draw in his spare time, and created this illustration for his partner.
Martinez quickly became the school’s star attraction, which he arguably remains to this day. His high energy Latin fitness classes multiple times a week are jam-packed with dancers of every age, race and stage, sweating it out.
If you try to keep up with him on the dance floor, you’ll lose, but the students give it their best shot anyway. Unlike many teachers, his “special trick” is that he makes his choreography up on the spot, for every style, every class.
This is something of a mean feat for an instructor who teaches ballet, chair burlesque, commercial jazz, samba, salsa, merengue, cha cha, rumba, hip hop, reggaeton and more.
LAWRENCE SMITH
Martinez likes to push his students while helping them to have fun.
In the classroom, Martinez is both inspirational and a perfectionist, falling back on his technique-focused years at ballet school in Chile to whip his students into shape. To do one of his Latin fitness classes is to feel like you’re in some kind of music video.To do a ballet class is to experience the demands of films like Center Stage.
Life for Martinez is “only now getting more normal”.
When he arrived here, Martinez was working as a labourer on a working holiday visa, doing bathroom renovations, and painting.
He would go on in the way that many new immigrants do, working as a painter for four years, “killing” his body five days a week and living his passion for three to four punishing hours in the evenings.
Recently, he’s finally made the long-awaited jump to the life of a professional dancer once more. Quitting his day job in painting to run his own dance school, StudioClau, which operates out of various different physical premises, such as Progress Hall in Brown’s Bay, as well as Viva.
No doubt Martinez’ infectious friendliness and genuine interest in his students has aided his success.
LAWRENCE SMITH
The couple’s home is also a plant hospital and Martinez has nursed a few of his favourite plants from surviving to thriving.
“It’s nice to see the progress. You know what I mean? I think I love teaching. I love to help people to progress with their dance skills.”
All ages are welcome at his often overflowing classes.
“I don’t know which one is the youngest, but must be a teenager, and I have people like maybe 60 something or 70 dancing with me. Mostly women.”
LAWRENCE SMITH
Martinez has swapped busy Santiago, Chile, for the leafy streets of Mount Eden, Auckland.
“I love that because back home is quite different. If you are older and you’re dancing, people are always looking at you like, ‘Oh, you’re too old to be here.’ You know what I mean? And that’s so stupid. This doesn’t happen here.”
Martinez’ home life is a total contrast to the active hours of dance teaching and the related promotional admin. Living in a compact spot, the couple’s place best suits entertaining only a few key friends at a time, but that’s also how they like it.
LAWRENCE SMITH
The dancer also likes to draw to unwind, often drawing pictures of dogs for his partner. They plan to get a pet dog once they eventually move to a bigger place.
The pair make all their design and lifestyle choices together: “It’s just easy.”
“We have quite a modern but simple style. We are always trying to pick everything together. Joe is such an easy and relaxed person to be with. I’m happy and happier.”
Living in New Zealand has offered him the different set of life experiences he sought, with the added boon of a more accepting and relaxed attitude to self-expression.
LAWRENCE SMITH
The couple have an easy existence and choose everything in their home together. Martinez’ partner Locke is a professional musician.
“I think back home we judge too much for stupid things,” says Martinez. “Why do you care? New Zealand is more relaxed.”
“At school, I was a bit shy you know? Because the school is quite hard. Always people bullying you because you dance. If you do soccer, oh yes fine, but if you do dancing or something else, people just judge you or bully you. But I did it anyway.”
“I was 17 years old when I started ballet school. Dancing was always in my heart, I guess.”
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