Salsa Vacation with the Stars

Ara Hwang (Korea)

When Ara met Anton Berchenko in Manila in 2005 she first joined his salsa company, Cachimbo, with whom she performed at the Manila Salsa Congress. He then offered to train her in tango and salsa, as he found out she was gifted and seemed to enjoy dancing more than her own job (graphic designer). When Anton asked her to become his partner, Ara decided to quit her job and try it out as a dancer. They performed in Seoul together, and came then to Shanghai, where the re-created Cachimbo with the local Chinese salsa instructors.

In October 2006 she came to Hanoi, Vietnam : the dance couple Anton Berchenko - Ara Hwang, following an invitation from a Vietnamese Salsa dancer, had decided to move to Vietnam to develop Salsa here. Together they've been teaching salsa on 1 and on 2, and tango, and helped out the local 'aficionados' to train and become better, by developing
their musicality sense as well as their technics. They also organised 2007 Salsa competition, that was won by Dinh Sy and Sao Mai. Ara has also choreographed a very special chachacha for Bastet Douat.

Gary Foo (Singapore)

Coming from a dance background of Latin Ballroom, Street Jazz and other dances, Gary was first introduced to Street Salsa in 2002 and has since, never looked back.

Gene

Salsa and Bachata instructor as well as the pioneer of Bachata dance in Shanghai, Gene was born in a Ballroom Latin teachers' family and started to be trained in traditional Chinese folk dance ten years ago. As a salsa dancer he has been performing in the first Beijing Salsa Festival in 2005, and has been one of the instructors and performers of the Shanghai Salsa Congress in 2006 and 2007. In 2007 he has been invited to perform in the first salsa event in Hoi An (Vietnam) with Amélie Pontaillier’s team, Sangre Nueva. Also in 2007, he had been invited to perform bachata in the Salsa India Festival in Mumbai. Performer in Shanghai Salsa Festival 2008. Performer in Beijing Salsa Comgress 2008

Güpson Pierre (Singapore/ Montreal)

Nguyen Thuy Ha is a member of Viet Nam's first bellydance troupe, Bastet Douat.

Ha, with a vast background in ballet and salsa, is among the country's leading dancers organising and performing in the two bellydance festivals in Ha Noi.

She is training and helping make the dance popular in Viet Nam.
Under the lead of Korean artist Ara Hwang, she also made her performances with Bastet in Bangkok, including the last Salsa Fiesta.

Joyce (Netherland)

Joyce is well known for her funkys shines and her creativity on and off the dancefloor Because of her Brazillian roots, dance and music have always influenced Joyce her life. She grew up with the fast rhythms and the quick steps of the samba.. She started dancing salsa at the young age of 14 at Extremos Dance Company. After a few years she realized that she wanted to experience dancing on stage and joined Salsa Dance Squad (SDS), by Eric Lalta and Liduina Lovert. Next to Diferencia Joyce also performs with Drankenwoede, by Orville Small and Sabrina Buis, teaches at Swing Latino and she is a co-founder of My Dance Style and sells Burju shoes.

Juan Montoya (USA)

DJ Juan (the on 2 guru) was born and raised in New York City to parents from Puerto Rico (which makes him "Nuyorican"). Juan DJed regularly at the monthly salsa party at Dance Manhattan (the home of Jimmy Anton's bi-weekly social) from 2005-2009, and the Dance Atlantic social in Brooklyn from 2007-2009 before starting a round-the-world tour of Europe and Asia. He has DJed at Jimmy Anton's social a few times throughout the years, and has DJed at several other on2 socials in New York (Carlos Konig, Almyra Ayos, Mambo Bravo), as well as various special events at outdoor venues. He has also spun a guest DJ at salsa nights at various clubs in New York and Boston (Iguana, Session 72, Link, Nell's, Club Caribe). DJ Juan also has a free online salsa radio station that plays salsa music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: http://www.live365.com/stations/on2guru

During his round-the-world tour, DJ Juan has spun at clubs in Iceland, England, Norway, Germany, and the Czech Republic, most recently playing at the Salsabangkok Fiesta with DJ Henry Knowles and DJ Rodrigo from Japan.

Kaytee is the founder and the heart and soul of Salsa India. He lives and breathes Salsa and has had the courage and conviction to follow his dreams. Kaytee is a perfectionist, laying great emphasis on technique and also on attitude and interpretation of the music. He calls his unique style ‘Karma-Salsa’. Why? Because ‘Karma’ is Kaytee’s real name. Karma-Salsa as Kaytee likes to say, focuses on musicality, body movement and dancing through one’s body, mind and soul, in a dancer’s interpretation and representation of the instruments being played and feel of the music. As each dancer has his or her own personality, so is Karma-Salsa synonymous with Kaytee’s panache and energetic yet fluid style

Larry Shao (Taiwan)

Larry Shao is an active member of the Taiwan salsa community; he choreographs, performs, instructs, DJs, and promotes salsa events. He has been dedicating his efforts in promoting On2 style since his relocation to Taipei in 2007(thus the nickname “Larry On2”). He founded Taipei Mambo Project in 2008 and has taken his choreographies internationally (2008 Seoul Salsa Congress, Hong Kong Salsa Festival 2009). Larry choreographs collaboratively with dancers from different disciplines and continues studying other forms of dances to advance his salsa. Fostered by the charismatic community in San Francisco, Larry trained under Mambo Romero Latin Dance Company from 2004 until he returned to Taipei.

DJ Mariachi (Singapore)

KLEINMAN, Jean Christopher Benjamin (aka DJ Mariachi)

The birth of salsa began for Jean early 2003. Inspired by his sister, he became one of Singapore’s more prominent dancers. Jean first started teaching in 2004 and later co-owned Thebodytalks Dance Studios from 2005-2006. A reoccurring knee injury prevented him from teaching full-time. However, that did not elude his passion for the dance. Jean was to be the next resident deejay for Union Square. Throughout his salsa years, he has travelled to different salsa congresses/festivals to teach and deejay. Even after his departure from Union Square, Jean is still known as “Singapore’s Favourite Deejay”

Quynh Linh (Vietnam)

Quynh Linh’s relationship with Belly Dance began four years after she graduated in biology and business management and worked for the government. She still felt something was missing in her life, so she took up dance as a hobby.

Quynh Linh’s hobby soon became a passion; her talent was recognized and she was offered a place in Bastet Duoat – Vietnam’s first ever and premier belly dance troupe, led by international dance personality Ara Hwang. After one year of full time, intensive training, Quynh Linh performed with Bastet for a further two years, performing in numerous shows in Vietnam and Thailand, incorporating a range of dance styles.
Quynh Linh’s involvement and reputation with dance has only grown since then.

As a teacher and performer, Quynh Linh is recognized as the face of Vietnamese Belly Dance on TV, hosting her own belly dance instructional show, as well as being a dance instructor at dance studios. Most recently Quynh Linh performed at the 2009 World Belly Dance Festival in Penang, Malaysia.
As an organizer, Quynh Linh is behind Hanoi’s largely successful charity event “SKIN!” as well as regular performances in various venues.
As an innovator and choreographer, Quynh Linh has a passion for bellydance, jazz, and hiphop, which she often fuses together to form her own unique style.

Dr. Salsa (Bangkok/France)

Dr. Roland a French national was born in Benin (West Africa), the country of ritual dance and music known under the generic name of “vaudou”. He was raised in an atmosphere of authenticity where he received music and dance influences that go back to the roots of Salsa. In the African traditional context, dancing has both social and religious purposes. Roland also received the ritual initiation to perform the “sacred dances” steps.

Roberto Carlos, also known as DJ Tico, was born in Washington, DC but is of Columbian Descent. Tico grew up listening to old school salsa and began collecting music at the young age of 13. Now at 22 and having spent a good portion of his childhood in New York City, he has amassed a respectable repertoire of some of the finest tunes from some of the notable underground legends of 1960-1990 New York City, Columbia and Puerto Rico. Upbeat mambo classics that will have you dancing non-stop. He is also currently Dancing with Mamboki, a latin dance company in Okinawa, Japan, ran by Erik Rodriguez, another old school New York mambo enthusiast.

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