Salsa Instructor Helena
Helena is a salsa instructor who loves what she does because dance has always been more than movement for her. It is identity, expression, and connection. It is the one place where she can take everything she feels and translate it into something powerful, confident, and alive. Whether she is training, performing, or teaching, she is doing what she was built to do: moving people, not just physically, but emotionally too.
She loves it because she has put real work into her craft and she has built something of her own. With over a decade in the DMV dance scene, she has trained under world-class artists like Magna Gopal, Eli Torres, Darlin Garcia, Jose Maldonado, Sekou Miller, Antonio Doza, and Andy Lyric Cruz. She has performed with respected teams and companies including Melao Dance Company in DC, Linda’s De Doza in NYC, and Santana Dance Company. With Santana, she performed on both the Amaterasu On2 Mambo Team and Mambo Swing, sharpening her discipline, musicality, and stage presence at a high level.
She loves it because she has lived the art side of it too, not just the technical side. She performed for years in the DMV with Stephen Jackson, showcasing On2 Salsa through storytelling and artistic expression, blending Afro Cuban flavors with a more contemporary flow. She also directed Fusion Urbana Dance Company, a concept rooted in On2 Salsa, with flavors of pachanga, cha cha, hip hop, and bachata as accents, while always keeping the foundation On2 Salsa. Today, she is currently performing with Luis Armand and continuing to teach and develop dancers in the DMV, helping students go from “I can’t” to “I did,” and making dance feel accessible, exciting, and empowering every week.
