The Salsa Fiesta Dance Team!
Our amazing dance team is based all over the country and come from all kinds of backgrounds.
One thing they share though is their love for all things dancing.
Elise Partain
A multimedia artist, Elise Partain (they/she) is a dance teacher as well as a cinematographer. Elise has been a dancer for a total of 17 years with a strong background of 13 years in Modern Dance. She is experienced in a diverse range of dance genres, but discovered her passion when introduced to Cuban salsa and Afro-Cuban dance.
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Home Base: Louisville, KY
Favorite Dance Style: Cuban Salsa
Favorite Things To Do: Traveling, spending time outdoors, making films
Follow Annabel On Instagram: @elisepartain
Jessica Smith
Jessica is one of our amazing dancers based on the East Coast. She is a UVA grad, and PhD student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia where she is pursuing her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology. While at UVA, she was the UVA Salsa Club President, she helped run their annual Salsa Fest at UVA, and choreographed routines for the UVA Salsa Club Showcase and taught weekly workshops and group lessons. When she’s doing all those things, she’s traveling with our team or enjoying dancing around Virginia and beyond.
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Home Base: Richmond, Virginia
Favorite Dance Style: Bachata
Favorite Things To Do: Spending time with family and helping people
Follow Jessica On Instagram: @_jesssmith26
Annabel Landaverde Hill
Annabel is one of Salsa Fiesta’s orginial team dancers! Based in Texas, by day, she is one badass Direct Response Copywriter working with some of the biggest companies and entrepreneurs in the country. She’s also an aspiring dance shoe designer and plans to launch her first line of dance shoes soon. The sky is the limit with Annabel and her fun and positive attitude is downright infectious.
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Home Base: Austin, TX
Favorite Dance Style: Bachata
Favorite Things To Do: Traveling, and spending time with friends
Follow Annabel On Instagram: @theannabelhill
“El Jefe” - David Verde
David is Salsa Fiesta’s booking manager and lead dance instructor. Behind the scenes, he coordinates all of our shows directly with bookers and dancers so you have amazing experience with our team. From time to time, you might even have him show up and host a event himself! David was born in Honduras and loves teaching people how to dance Punta, a style of dance native to Honduras with roots to the Garifunas people from the Caribbean coast of his home country.
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Home Base: Staunton, Virginia
Favorite Dance Style: Salsa, Siempre - Always
Favorite Things To Do: Paddle boarding, skiing, and eating tacos
Follow David On Social Media: David’s not on social media, LOL.
Catalina Ferrada
Born in Santiago, Chile, Catalina first joined the Salsa Fiesta dance team while based in Austin, Texas. Now she called the Island of Oahu home where she is sharing her love of dance to visitors and Islanders alike. Catalina teaches all styles of Latin dance as well as other styles including fitness. Catalina brings such an amazing energy to every Salsa Fiesta. She brings a love and excitement to dance to everyone who gets to meet and dance with her. Catalina hosts and teaches many of our events on the West Coast and along the Pacific.
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Home Base: Honolulu, Hawaii
Favorite Dance Style: Bachata Fusion
Favorite Things To Do: Spend time with her little brothers, go to the beach
Follow Catalina On Instagram: @catalina_ferrada4