OUR LATINO INSTRUCTORS
Salsa (Claudia) Mendoza De Rodriguez
OWNER / DIRECTOR Born from a Famous Flamenco Dancer and Uruguayan father, from the age of 5 she started salsa dancing to movies. She got her nickname Salsa Baby from being the youngest in her area to be involved in the community. The name Salsa has stuck with her for over 18 years. Getting her professional start with Picante Latin Dance one of the biggest event organizers on the latin scene and most recently teaching for Latin Dance Australia and expanding into her own dance school. She started assistant teaching in 2004 at Newcastle University. From 2005 she was apart of Candombe Groups in Sydney YAUGURU and URUMBE, in 2007 she created her own performance group Naturally Salsa. She loves to bring people together with smiles and joy as thats what dancing is all about and her aim when teaching her students.
Ysrael Joel Rodriguez
OWNER / DIRECTOR Moving to Australia in 2005 from Lima, Peru to be with his father and brothers in a better country with more opportunities. He realised there is a gap in the market in Campbelltown and wanted to introduce this area to the amazing latino culture he grew up with. His aim is to increase awareness of latin culture, food, and all types of latino dances from Salsa to Merengue and all in between. He loves his Cuban Salsa either listening or dancing. Don't know a name of a song? This guy is the one to get it for you! Social dancing is one of his favorite ways to dance!
2008 - Claudia Teaching with Picante Latin Dance
2009 - Claudia Performed at International Bachata Festival Zouk Bachata 2010 - Claudia Performed and Taught at Darling Harbour Fiesta 2010 - Both Performed at International Bachata Festival 2012 - Both Created Forbidden Dance Company 2012 - Performed at Pachanga & Silisila Night Club 2018 - Teaching for Latin Dance House & Latin Dance Australia 2018 - Teaching Cuban Workshop for Ritmo Festival 2019 - Created Dance Latino 2019 - Teaching Cuban Workshop for International Bachata Festival 2019 - Taught Basic Rueda on Carnival Cruise Lines 2019 - Performing at Sydney Salsa Mambo Convention, Wollondilly Illuminarte, Multicultural Day, FEAST Campbelltown and many more. |
Este Mantas
BACHATA Meet Estefania, been with Dance Latino Since Jan 2020, She is your Bachata teacher doing privates in the city. Born in Spain, the land where Flamenco and guitar music shines. Her dancing trip started at the age of 3 when she danced to Disney movies. As a child, she had 2 years of flamenco classes and 2 years of rhythmic gymnastics. Moreover, she had 10 years of music training that gave her a huge knowledge of rhythms and musicality. At the age of 20, she took dancing serious and she joined The Aberdeen Dance Society in Scotland, where she started learning all Latin styles, from salsa, bachata, merengue, foxtrot, ballroom, tango, and others. Dancing is her huge passion and a lifestyle for her. Since then, she hasn’t stopped learning and spreading her love for dancing with the world.
2013 Training at the Scottish Salsa Congress 2013-2014 Taught Salsa and Bachata for beginners at Santé Fitness Studio, Minneapolis (US) 2016 / 2018 Taught Salsa and Bachata for beginners and intermediate in Nice, (France) 2017 Performed Ladies Shines with Escola Salsa Dance in Barcelona, Spain for dancing events. 2016 - 2019 Training at European dancing festivals: IX Madrid Salsa FESTIVAL, Top Bachata Festival, BCN Sensual Congress, Barcelona Salsa Congress, and others. |
Robert Michael
ZOUK & KIZOMBA Robert has been dancing zouk for 10 years. He Loves Zouk with a passion and you wont see him dance anything else. His teaching style is unique with fantastic technique and lead tips. His favourite thing to do is to head to the zouk social dance floor on the weekend to live in the Zouk World.
2009 - Salsabor Canberra. 2010 - Started teaching beginners at both salsabor and kmotion. 2010 - Performing zouk with Latin heat for 2 years and went on to being their choreographer for more routines. 2012 - Taught for step up dance for 2 years 2014 - Teaching for Salsa Republic for 2 years and at the same time was performing with Latin Dance Australia and Choreographing with them. 2016 - Started to teach with Go dance and I was teaching zouk, salsa and bachata. 2017 He was teaching salsa, bachata and zouk with zouk amor including choreography and performances. 2019 - He started with us Dance Latino and have never looked back. |
Max Morte
L.A SALSA, CHA CHA & MAMBO Max has started his journey , love and passion for latin dancing in Melbourne 2011. His Goal is to share that fun, excitement, learning, experience and expose the melbourne flavour to the south west sydney community.
Melbourne 2011 - 2014 Trained by Salsa Foundation, Flavoured Rhythm, Loco Mojo Dance, Bamboleo Spin City Dance, Hub Bachata Project, Performed (salsa on1, salsa on2, cha cha, bachata) Melbourne Latin Festival, Byron Bay Latin Festival, Portsea Latin Festival, Johnston st Festival, Filopino Festival, Cuban Jazz Festival, Sydney Latin Festival, Latin 24/7 Salsa Foundation Xmas Party, Salsa Foundation Showcase, Flavoured Rhythm Showcase Track Night Club Congo room Federation Square Dance for Kids Cancer Appeal Redcross Appeal Weddings Competed (Salsa, Bachata,Shine Solo) Australian Open VIC State Championships Australian Open National Championships Bachata State VIC Championships Bachata National Championships Australian Solo Championships Brisbane Sydney 2015 - 2018 Trained by LDA Performed (Salsa on1, SWAT Salsa on2, Bachata) Sydney International Bachata Festival LDA Ball Salsa Paladium Competed (Cha Cha, Salsa on2) Australian Latin NSW State Championships Australian Latin National Championships Brisbane Salsa Solo Competition Salsa In 2019 he joined Dance Latino's Teacher Training and from 2020 is now a full lead latin dance teacher with us, he also won Dance Latino's 2021 teacher of the year. |