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As a Salsaweb representative for Northern Virginia and for Baltimore, I sometimes get emails from people who are planning to visit the area, asking where is a friendly place to dance. I'd love to be able to introduce them to some Salseros so they don't feel like a stranger, but I am not always out and able to do that.
So I had the idea that of putting up a Who's Who page on my website with some basic information about some of the dancers in our area. Then either visitors or people who are simply new to Salsa could look on my website and find others with whom they have things in common.
My thought was that, for example, someone might see that a local dancer went to the same college as them, or grew up in the same state or country as them, or that someone is in the same profession, etc. This would enable people to introduce themselves and make connections more easily. (In fact, it may result in some of us local folks learning things about people we dance with that we didn't know!) I hope this page is helpful in fostering connections between people, as many of us have a lot in common in addition to our love of Salsa.
I have used only first names on these profiles, and people submit just whatever information they want to share, so many are short. I am starting with folks I know through Rueda, but intend to expand to anyone who dances in our area.
If you would like to have a profile on this page, please email me the information and a photo and I'll be glad to include it. I hope that this contributes to our Salsa community being perceived as one of the friendliest around!
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Mike:
This photo was taken at the Charles Theater in Baltimore during a special brunch program where I was hired to discuss, Shall We Dance, (with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere) at a pre-release showing. I brought along a couple of dance friends and we fielded questions from the audience (and did a dance demo!) after the movie was shown. Michael is obviously the middle person in the photo, talking and holding the microphone.
Mike was born in Manhattan and was raised on Long Island. He is a DJ, massage therapist, life coach, and sailor. He has learned Rueda and he loves to dance Salsa!
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Barb (yours truly!!)
Guess which one is Barb. I am pictured here with Doug, a ballroom dancer, at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza before a performance.
I (Barb) grew up in Silver Spring, went to the University of Chicago for undergrad and the University of Maryland for graduate school. I think my sanity in college was preserved largely by the foreign folk-dancing I did---Balkan, Israeli dances, Italian Mazurkas, English Country dances---you name it!! I danced four nights a week in college and continued folk dancing in grad school, too. After my school years, I trained in all the ballroom dances. Initially, dancing was just a much loved hobby. My "day job" was to work with my husband in a family business---which was a small publishing company. Together we published a Tax Guide for College Teachers. He wrote the book and I ran the business end of things. (I had taught math in a small liberal arts college for a few years and my husband taught math at the U. of Maryland for many years, so we knew the "college market.") Eventually, I found my way on the dance floor to Salsa/Casino Rueda which I immediately loved. I started Dance In Time Productions, and began dancing "full time." My other musical interest is singing. I sang tenor in an all-women's performing barbershop quartet which was great fun. (I'm convinced that in another life, I was a Supreme.)
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Sara
Sarah is the third lady from the right. This photo was taken after class in Baltimore just for fun one day. Sara grew up in Baltimore and attended Eastern High School. She is an L.P.N. (that's a nurse's degree) and also has gone to school in the field of "Asian Studies," learning the Japanese language, in particular.
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Monica
Monica is shown in the picture with Sarah; Monica is on
the far left.
Monica reports that her passion for salsa started when she was only 5 years old
growing up in Peru. She still remembers going home after school to watch an hour
show of Celia Cruz on a black and white TV. Besides Salsa, Monica also enjoys
dancing flamenco, ballroom, and going to ballet practices. She also performs
with a Latin America Folkloric Dance Group, showcasing dances from all over
Latin America.
Monica works full-time at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Public Health.
She coordinates and manages the production of the foreign language editions of
Population Reports and other Public Health publications. She has a BA degree
from Hopkins in Information Systems and an AA degree in Interior Design from
Catonsville Community College.
----------------------
Teresa is also in the photo with Sarah and Monica. Teresa is the tall woman who is second to the right.
She was born in Charleston, WV, but lived in Maryland for most of her life (Prince Georges and Baltimore Counties). She graduated from the University of Maryland and works as a physical therapist. Her hobbies in addition to dancing, include photography, arts and crafts, and studying foreign languages.
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Anka
Anka grew up in Egypt, Iran, and Germany. She studied Arabic and Farsi as a translator. Anka came here in 1999. I met her in a club in D.C. where she was willing to be a much needed follower for a Rueda circle though she hadn't yet studied Rueda. (That kind of adventuresome spirit is always appreciated!!)
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Amanda and Jorge
Jorge is in the clown suit and Amanda is in all blue.
Amanda grew up in the D.C. area. Jorge grew up in Mexico and has been in the US since 1998. Amanda used to help me with the beginners in my Virginia class--something that I appreciate and which earned her a permanent place in my heart. Amanda and Jorge love to dance and have been doing Rueda in the DC area for some time. Jorge sometimes does this clown thing to entertain, and he came to Rueda class once in his clown suit. We all got a great laugh out of it.
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Ilene
Ilene has had a passion for the Hispanic culture since 1988, and for Latin
dancing since 1995. She has taught salsa in many locations in Baltimore/D.C.
metropolitan area, and you can find her in salsa clubs throughout the week.
Ilene has traveled to Puerto Rico several times and danced on the island. She
has lived in Spain and Mexico and danced in those countries, as well as other
countries around the world.
Ilene graduated from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in
Elementary Education and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Spanish (she is fluent in
Spanish). Currently, she is a second grade teacher in Baltimore County. On the
side, Ilene does volunteer work translating Spanish for several organizations,
teaches Spanish, and tutors children. She also performs and assists in teaching
Rueda with Dance In Time.
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Ann
Ann is the lady on the left in this photo
Ann grew up in the Baltimore area went to Towson University. She has been an active member of the Salsa community for a number of years.
---------------------------------
Rosemary
Rosemary works as a consultant in "emergency preparedness and disaster
response," and as a behavioral health consultant to human resource
professionals. She has a background in Slavic languages (Russian and Ukrainian),
and has taught Spanish and cross-cultural training to social workers. Rosemary
has spent a lot of time in Venezuela and has been dancing Salsa since 1987. Her
final comment for this bio was: "When I am not dancing Salsa or Rueda, I can be
found in the gym or dreaming about becoming the US Ambassador to Venezuela."
-----------------------
Ed
Ed was born in Manila (in the
Philippines). He is a systems engineer for Northrop Grumman Corp. He lives in
Pennsylvania, but likes to dance so much, he travels to Baltimore area to dance
down here!! He began dancing Salsa Rueda where he used to live, in Boston
Massachusetts, and then continued it down here. In addition to his love for
Latin dancing, Ed is very sports minded. He also likes to ski, bike, run,
swim, play tennis, and travel!
-----------------
Michael
Michael was born in Los Angeles, California. A Chinese American, Michael went to U.C.L.A. and got a degree in microbiology. He works for a pharmaceutical company and has been dancing for a couple of years. Mike does other forms of dance as well, including Hand Dancing.
-----------------------
Above: Tom and Natalja--taken at the show at the Verizon Center.
Tom was born in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city), Vietnam but has lived most of his
life in the U.S. He attended high school, college and professional school in
Oregon state, moving to Washington D.C. area a number of years ago. He works as a
chiropractor. He's been dancing Salsa for over 5 years, and also dances Cha cha
cha, Merengue, and Argentine tango. Tom also enjoys outdoor activities such as
camping, going to the beach, mountain, swimming, kayaking, exploring new places
and and likes meeting friends.
-----------------------
Tania Nunez teaches all the Ballroom Dances and Salsa in Connecticut and in DC.
Tania has performed with the American Dance Montage and DanceInTime teams at many venues.
Her dance training ranges from
classical ballet and ballroom to Hip Hop. She has worked with the
Connecticut Ballet, taught at an Arthur Murray Studio and a studio named
"Let's Dance in Rhythm," as well as teaching dance on some college campuses.
Tania is also a professional hair stylist. In the second photo
above, Tania is on the left.
-----------------------
German
German is originally from Nicaguara. Along with his good friend, Rodrigo, he has advanced rapidly on the D.C. dance scene and dances with the DanceInTime Rueda performing group. In the second photo above, German is on the right.
-----------------------
Garrey (the guy in the middle of the photo) is a ballroom teacher in the area. I have a soft spot in my heart for Garrey as he was my original Ballroom coach. He grew up in the area and once told me an interesting story about how he came to teach dance. When he was just in high school, his older sister was training to be a ballroom teacher at a Bethesda studio. He went to watch her train one day. He must have been moving to the music, because the studio owner came over to him and asked if he'd like to teach dance as well. He immediately started training at that studio and began teaching despite how young he was. Garrey teaches all the dances, both Latin and smooth. I not only learned a lot about dance from Garrey, but I learned about teaching from him. He was a great instructor and we have remained friends through the years. We now sometimes perform together---plus I show him cool Salsa moves and he refreshes me on the ballroom dances.
-----------------------
Vince is the man at the left in this photo. Vince grew up in
Baltimore. He began doing Salsa when clubs first started to sponsor Salsa
nights in the area. He joined the Baltimore Rueda class and soon began
helping me teach there.
--------------------------------------------------------
Below are photos are of Rita, a great dancer, a wonderful (flirtatious!) lady and a friend who has performed with the Danceintime teams for years. Rita moved here from Mexico knowing no one and has made a life here in the Washington DC area. Her talent and flair have added a great dimension to not only Danceintime routines but to many private jobs that she has done. In the first photo, Rita is posing with choreographer Frank Regan after a work session on Danceintime's choreography. And the middle photo is Rita posing with Tito Puente Jr. after a concert in fall of 2007 at Goucher College! In the last photo, Rita is on the left.
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In this photo, from the bottom row of people sitting are, from left to right: Mike, Sarah, Vince, and Pam.
The second row is from left to right: Francesco, Demetrius, and Allan.
The top row from left to right is: Masha, Sakar, Kim, Mekka and Carmen.
Here is a little biographical info on these folks:
Masha:
Sakar is always fun to work with!! Here is the exact blurb that he asked me to put for him in this Who's Who column:
"Sakar is awesome. This is not an exaggeration, but an indisputable fact. He likes dancing with fun people, eating delicious things and wearing funky hats. His secret dream (shhh!) is to play the male lead in the Salsa equivalent of 'Dirty Dancing'."
Kim
My name is Kim, and I live in Towson. I have lived in Baltimore all of my life.
I love to dance the latin dances, ballroom dancing and swing dancing, even
though salsa dancing is my passion. My other passion in life is cycling. I have
participated in oraganized rides such as Gettysburg, the Sea Gull Century, and
Tour de Ports. I am still working on completing my first century; I have made it
up to 64 miles, which is pretty much a metric century. I love the NCR trail and
teh B&A trails. Lately, I just picked up scuba diving, where I did my first dive
this past October in Burmuda during the salsa cruise that Grace and Hugo went
on.
While I am not doing my many numerous hobbies, I am a RN at the Johns Hopkins
Bayview Medical Center, where I work on a long term care dementia floor. I got
my BSN at Johns Hopkins and my Biology degree at Mount Saint Marys. Before that
I went to NDP an all girls school.
Emeka (nickname "Mekka")
Mekka has danced Rueda for a number of years and always makes class extra fun!
Carmen
Francesco
Demetrius
Allan
Michael
Pamela: Pam is a Rueda student who enjoys dancing in the Catonsville class.
----------------------------------------
In this photo, Rachel and Rosemary are at the front, back to back sitting on the floor.
The next row back, kneeling, includes from left to right, Carmen, Mekka, Allan, Kim, and Teresa.
Standing in the back is Demetrius and Jose.
Below are the people in this photo not already listed above.
Jose
Rachel-- She writes: I got into Salsa quite innocently and now I
am fully addicted!
I grew up in rural Virginia, graduated from UVA a couple years ago, and
currently live in Arlington. When I'm not salsa dancing, I'm an accountant for
work. I also love to read and write poetry, hang out in coffee shops, play board
games, and have adventures.
-----------------------
Nissim Albaig (aka Niss) came from Israel and lived in
Potomac before moving to Owings Mills in Baltimore County.
He has taught ballroom dancing at Arthur Murray Dance
Studio in Bethesda, and now is a part of Dancing With Grace
Productions in Baltimore. By profession he is a Senior
Systems Engineer. In his spare time he enjoys dancing
(especially Hustle, Salsa/Rueda, Cha Cha and Swing),
boating, and vacationing. He resides in Reisterstown with
his wife Alex, two young daughters, Isabella and Gabriella,
2 dogs and 3 cats.
Alexandra (aka Sasha or Alex) is originally from Ukraine.
She has an Interdisciplinary degree in Computer Science and
Business from Villa Julie College in Maryland, and worked
as a Software Developer and a Database Administrator. She
is the organizer of a Social Dance Meetup Group of Central
Maryland, which promotes all types of partner dancing. She
loves animals and enjoys dancing Salsa and Hustle,
horseback riding, hiking with her 2 dogs, traveling,
volunteering, and clothes and shoe shopping.