My Story

My Background and How Salsa at the Shore was Born

My love for Salsa began when I was around 19 years old. I watched the movie Havana Nights in theaters and fell in love. I always loved to dance but I just needed to learn this sexy, sultry style of dance. 

Fast forward about 3 years, I finally walked into a local dance studio called "Shall We Dance." I used to pass it every day on my way home from work, peering into the window watching people dancing thinking- "one day, when I have money!" Well I was young and figured I'd be waiting forever to have money, so I just walked in one day with a credit card and started taking lessons.

This was a ballroom studio so I learned all of the ballroom dances too. I competed in my first amateur competition and got 1st place in all my dances. After about 9 months, I took an offer as a dance instructor for Fred Astaire Dance Studio in West Palm Beach, FL. I was ready to live my dream and get paid to train as a dancer surrounded by palm trees.

I learned so much at Fred Astaire about technique, and how to actually teach beginners. I competed and wore beautiful latin dresses and ball gowns and had the time of my life for almost 2 years. I even won the National Championship in the Mixed Novice division with my partner at the time. What a feeling!

I was very broke though and I missed my family so I returned home to NJ and decided I wanted to focus soley on the latin dances- salsa & bachata.

I started commuting to central jersey for work and found a dance studio nearby (all the salsa studios were up north) so I would take classes after work. 

Eventually I felt ready to take my dancing to the next level and joined a new studio that had a performance team. This really improved my dancing and helped me combat stage fright. During this time, I had been with about 2 or 3 studios, learning from all the greats and becoming a well-rounded salsa dancer. 

I performed on stages at Salsa Congresses from DC to Boston to LA as well as at local bars and nightclubs and even did a few fun projects like performing at weddings & baby showers. I performed for 3 years with the Semi-Pro Salsa Team at Caribbean Soul in Jersey City.

I was finally ready to level up once again and head to NYC. I joined Zafire Dance Company's Semi-Pro Salsa Team and learned their new routine within a few weeks and performed within a month. Not long after that, I started training with the Pro Team. 

At the time, I also danced and worked a lot with NJSalsa, which taught me so much about how to create and grow a local salsa community. It inspired me to want to start a salsa community someday down the shore. There was nowhere to really dance down the shore.

Then Covid hit.

This ruined everything for me (and everyone else of course). I have asthma, so doing high intensity exercise in a mask was a no-go. Not to mention, I didn't know when we would be able to perform or dance again. 

I got tired of driving back and forth to NYC, not knowing when we would be able to perform again. I also missed living near the shore (especially in the summer) and decided it was a good time to move back home after 6 years of living up north. 

I had learned enough that I could start my own community and bring everything I learned with me down the shore. 

I threw a few events but it still wasn't quite the right time as Covid was still around so I decided to focus on myself and go on a fitness journey.

I focused on that for a year or so, gained some confidence and decided to combine my newfound love for fitness with salsa and start teaching salsa classes at the gym. 

My class quickly grew and the gym asked me to teach another class so I added bachata to my weekly class schedule. From there, once I grew a following and the weather started to warm up, I started offering monthly events at some of the hottest clubs and bars at the jersey shore.

Needless to say, every event was a success and my community grew quickly and continues to grow as we speak. I am excited to continue to offer the joy of dance to my shore community and see where else it takes me! I hope to continue to serve my community and to also reach those who need a positive outlet. Stay tuned for what's to come for Salsa at the Shore!