SALSA STORIES

The creation of Salsa Stories started in 2017 out of the desire to combine my greatest passions: production and salsa dancing. My mission is to preserve the history and culture of salsa by inspiring people to practice the universal language of dancing. 

Salsa Stories is a public event that combines TV show screenings with live music and dance performances.

When the City Council passed a legislation that allows for artists to apply for permits to perform outdoors in open spaces, I saw an opportunity to take action and help rebuild my dance community from the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Applications were opened on March 1st 2021. I applied and was granted permits to host events in Manhattan during the Summer 2021.

Before the pandemic hit, NYC was home to hundreds of social dancing spots where people from all five boroughs and surrounding states came together, usually in dance studios, ballrooms, and outdoor public spaces.

As we are all well aware, the pandemic has drastically affected cultural venues, small businesses, and the real estate industry among many other sectors. The closure of these businesses has greatly jeopardized the very existence of social dancing in the city. Iconic venues such as the nightclub Copacabana (1940-2020) were forced to close their doors and the dance community is now faced with fear and uncertainty with no prospect of what lies ahead. With the vast majority of the traditional venues that hosted long-run socials having closed, I identified the urgency in the salsa dance community to restore a fragile cultural identity and I was fortunate to be presented with an opportunity to help reassess the dance culture. Once again, NYC is home to reinventing and innovating, as it did back in the ’70s with Salsa and Hip Hop. Social dancers are now faced with a major cultural identity crisis and are in desperate need to reconnect to themselves through their communities. As a social dancer myself I decided to rebuild my community from this loss instead of passively mourning it. My passion for this social movement, my vast experience in event production, combined with an array of invaluable key contacts cultivated over the years is the perfect combination for a successful endeavor. My background was shaped in these cultural communities that created these traditions and my work symbiotically coexists in synergy as an extension of it. 

Your contribution will help pay for equipment rental, PPE and signage materials, and hire crew and talent: driver/loader, headsets/technician, billboard truck/technician, DJs, dancers, musicians, photographers, videographers, event producer and production assistants.

¡Thank you for supporting Salsa Stories! Together, your contribution teamed up with my passion for dancing and my expertise in event production will help reconstruct the social fabric of the communities that define New York City as the most diverse place on the planet!