Philly Leader

After an 11-year career in the NFL, former Eagles wide receiver Jason Avant has traded his cleats for a pair of salsa dance shoes. September marks Latino Heritage Month, and as the Eagles prepare to face the Falcons on Monday Night Football, Avant and three local dance studios are gearing up for a special halftime performance.

Avant began dancing in 2018 after a friend invited him to a Latin dance class that featured salsa. "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 join Avant onstage Monday night: Art in Motion (Turnersville, New Jersey), Estilo Dance Studio (Philadelphia), and Latin AF (Reading, PA). According to Avant, although it may look choreographed on stage, the dance will be spontaneous. "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," he explained.

Avant has formed many new relationships through dancing, including with Latin Dance Champion Darlin Garcia – 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 familiar to fans during the performance, his focus is on highlighting the dancers around him and representing various countries' cultures. "It'll be fun, but it's not about me," he stated. "I'll be out there. I'm going to try my best to be as small as possible because I want the countries to be represented."

Several countries will be represented during the dance including Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, and Cuba.

For many dancers performing with Avant on Monday night, this experience is unprecedented. "They have never seen anything like this or been able to perform in front of this many people at all," Avant said. "So it's one of those things that they are over-the-moon ecstatic about."

Avant hopes that those watching can gain a new perspective on Latino dancing from their performance. "The thing I love about the dance community is that it is a rainbow; it's so much diversity," he noted.

"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