After an 11-year career in the NFL, former Eagles wide receiver Jason Avant replaced his cleats for a pair of dance shoes – salsa, that is.
September marks Latino Heritage Month and as the Eagles get set to take on the Falcons on Monday Night Football, Avant and three local dance studios are preparing for a special halftime performance.
Avant got into dancing in 2018 after his friend invited him to a Latin dance class that featured salsa. Once he started, he didn't want to stop.
"All my life I've heard it, but then when I got invited to a class, I just fell in love with it and that inspired me to take courses," Avant said. "I travel to conferences to learn and to get better at it and then I joined a team that dances at different places around the country at different times. So it just turned into a life of its own, and I'm a very addictive personality. Once I get into something, it's kind of hard to stop me."
Three studios will be onstage with Avant on Monday night – Art in Motion (Turnersville, New Jersey), Estilo Dance Studio (Philadelphia), and Latin AF (Reading, PA).
According to Avant, although it may look like it on stage, the dance will not be choreographed.
"We're going to go off these songs and let it flow, just like they would if they were in Puerto Rico or Cuba not something that's choreographed like we've made it modern in America, but like they would do in other countries," Avant said. "They just ask somebody to dance, rotate dancing partners, and you let your personality show through the dance."
Avant has been able to meet tons of new people and make great relationships since he started dancing, – including a connection with Latin Dance Champion Darlin Garcia – the owner of Art in Motion.
"These are people who I've learned the skills from. And so, bringing them together was an honor and a treat for me, because they've given back to the Philadelphia community for almost 30 years."
While Avant will be a familiar face for fans to see during the performance, his focus is on making sure the dancers around him and countries being represented are the main focal point.
"It'll be fun, but it's not about me," Avant said about returning to Lincoln Financial Field for a different kind of performance than he has been accustomed to there. Avant wants the spotlight on the Latino culture, its heritage, and the dance.
"I'll be out there. I'm going to try to my best to be as small as possible, because I want the countries to be represented."
There will be several countries represented during the dance, including Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, and Cuba.
While performing in front of thousands of people is nothing new to the former Eagle who spent eight seasons with the team, the rest of the dancers that will be up there with him have never experience something like this.
Avant said that even the thought of the studios being able to perform during Monday's game made all of the dancers extremely excited – "They we're having heart attacks," he said.
"They have never, ever seen anything like this, or been able to perform in front of this many people at all. So, it's one of those things that they are over the moon ecstatic and when the Latinos hear that the Eagles are representing them and shining a light on their culture, they're excited as well. So, it's going to be the Super Bowl and just a lifetime memory for a lot of these dancers and the community."
For Avant, he has stepped into something that he not only loves, but has felt welcome in since the day he began. Avant is ready to let the music and the dancing do the talking on Monday night and he hopes that those watching can leave with a new view on Latino dancing.
"The thing I love about the dance community is that it is a rainbow. It's so much diversity. Because when you think about salsa music, every instrument tells its own story," Avant said.
"So, when you're looking at the dance on Monday night you should think that I can do this too and it's a way for me to express myself."
– Written by Liam Wichser
