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Johnny_StraightUpSalsa

@straightupsalsa

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Johnny | Event Promoter • DJ • Salsa Dancer • Instructor
🔥 DopeMamboMoves
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🌐 StraightUpSalsa.com @jayren8rd 🛼ig
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🚨 NOW LIVE: StraightUpSalsa.com 💃🏾🕺🏾 Looking for your next place to dance? StraightUpSalsa.com is live and ready to help you get on the floor. 🔥 Find Salsa & Bachata events 📍 Discover where to dance 🎶 Stay connected to the scene 💃 Less searching. More dancing. THE DANCE FLOOR, SORTED. 👉 StraightUpSalsa.com Tag your dance crew and spread the word! 🔥 #StraightUpSalsa #SalsaDancing #Bachata #Salsa by @straightupsalsa
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a month ago
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🚨 WE’RE BACK! 🚨 StraightUpSalsaCLT is officially relaunching and we’re excited to bring the Charlotte salsa community together once again! Whether you’re taking your first salsa class, looking for social dancing opportunities, or searching for a welcoming community, Straight Up Salsa CLT is the place for you. 💃 Salsa Lessons TBA 🕺 Social Dancing TBA 🤝 Connections That Last All levels are welcome. One family. One community. One passion. 📲 Salsa events & lessons: @straightupsalsa 📘 Join our Facebook Group: StraightUpSalsaCLT Charlotte, let’s dance! #StraightUpSalsaCLT #CharlotteSalsa #SalsaCharlotte by @straightupsalsa
2
4 months ago
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A special workshop collaboration featuring Al & Niya of Proyecto Barrio and Johnny of StraightUpSalsa. Great energy, great instruction, and even better people sharing their passion for salsa with the community. More collaborations, more growth, and more dancing on the way. #DopeMamboMoves #straightupsalsa #straightupsalsaclt by @straightupsalsa
2
4 months ago
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🔥 THIS WEEKEND - GET READY TO DANCE! 🔥 We’re excited to welcome special guest artist Yusniel Garcia, visiting us from Tampa, Florida! 🇨🇺🇺🇸 Yusniel brings his passion, energy, and incredible style to the dance floor and we cannot wait to have him with us for an unforgettable weekend of movement, music, and connection💃🕺 ✨ What’s happening? 🎓 Exciting Dance Workshops 💃 Social Dancing All Night 🌟 Special Performances 🎶 Great Music from @dj_julio_sabroso and @straightupsalsa ✨Debut Performance from @_danny_alicea and @_leamarie.x Whether you’re coming to learn, sharpen your skills, watch some incredible dancing, or simply enjoy a night out on the dance floor - this weekend is for YOU! 📍2600 Central Ave 📅 October 9th-10th Bring your dancing shoes and your best energy — let’s make this a weekend to remember! 🔥 #salsa #afrocuban #socialdancing #latindance #charlottenc by @straightupsalsa
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3 days ago
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I’m back DJing salsa events in CLT. Come holler at me. Fri October 9th @afincaodance @_danny_alicea by @straightupsalsa
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11 days ago
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The Danny and Lea Debut is set (low key gonna pass out) Come join us for a very special edition of our Baila Que Baila Weekender happening Oct. 9 -10. 🪩 We will be bringing @yusnielgarciaoficial from Cuba to share his knowledge in various cuban dance styles including Rueda, Rumba, and Afro Cuban Folkloric dances. Two nights nights of socials, performances both nights, and two special guest DJs @dj_julio_sabroso @straightupsalsa We will have four hours of workshops over Friday and Saturday! Full pass is $80 which includes both socials and all four classes! Grab your passes at afincaodance.com (word on the street is the first few passes are discounted) 👀 taken in Afincáo Dance Team by @straightupsalsa
15
12 days ago
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Johnny Giraldo: Dancing From the Heart, Building Community Before technique became a vocabulary, Johnny Giraldo understood salsa as a feeling. Growing up in Medellin, Colombia, he absorbed the music at house parties and family gatherings. After moving to the United States, he danced in school talent shows by instinct—long before counts or formal training shaped how he moved. His path toward performance took form in Boston. Giraldo joined the Colombian folk group BAJUCOL in 1995, gaining stage experience and opportunities to choreograph. Four years later, he attended the Salsaweb Convention in Washington, D.C., initially drawn by the chance to hear El Conjunto Clasico live. The dancers he saw there deepened his ambition. Back home, he and his brother Andres studied their convention footage, practiced, and eventually joined Jamnastics Latin Dance Company. A duet opportunity at Jamnastics helped crystallize a larger dream: Salsa y Control. Performing with Andres was never only about matching movement. Giraldo described it as an extension of their family bond—a place for shared ideas, honest advice, occasional brotherly friction, and a deep ability to read one another onstage. That same spirit shaped his view of Boston’s salsa community. He credited local companies with offering unconditional support, promoting one another’s events, and celebrating each other’s successes instead of competing for status. For Giraldo, the strongest dancer was not defined by ranking, but by soul: someone connected to the music and to their partner. His interest in people extended beyond performance. With a bachelor’s degree in psychology, he hoped to pursue expressive therapies and explore how salsa might support healthier, happier lives. The thread connecting it all was simple: music, family, community, and movement with purpose. What changes when a dance scene chooses mutual support over competition? Original source: Johnny Giraldo Salsa Dancer Interview — StraightUpSalsa / La Voz Del Mambo https://straightupsalsa.net/la-voz-del-mambo/archive/dancers/johnny-giraldo-interview #StraightUpSalsa #LaVozDelMambo #SalsaCommunity #JohnnyGiraldo by @straightupsalsa
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20 days ago
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Karen Aguilar: Where Movement Becomes Meaning Some dancers begin with counts. Karen Aguilar began with feeling. In her La Voz Del Mambo interview, the Washington, D.C.-area dancer recalls entering salsa because she loved the music she had grown up with, moving naturally before she knew the difference between dancing on1 and on2. That instinct—following first, understanding later—became the foundation of a deeper practice. As Aguilar became more serious, she widened her frame. Training with Psyon Mauricio and Shaka Brown gave her fundamentals; dancing with friends, studying videotapes, and observing dancers such as Yesenia Peralta helped her explore on2 and develop her own voice. She also trained with Rosy Diaz and Yambu Dance Company, an experience that helped inspire her to create a company of her own. With Son Mulato Dance Company, Aguilar stepped into the demanding work of directing and choreographing. She describes a responsibility far larger than simply arriving for rehearsal and performing: shaping ideas, earning dancers’ commitment, and carrying a shared sense of passion to an audience. The company’s members, she says, became a second family through repeated hours of practice. Her creativity does not stop at dance. Aguilar also writes, and she sees the two forms as closely connected: both require feeling, expression, and the courage to make an inner reality visible. Alongside these pursuits, she speaks proudly of being a mother, enjoys graphic design, and holds an interest in acting. The lasting idea in Aguilar’s story is not a single step or performance. It is that creativity becomes meaningful through disciplined practice, shared trust, and the willingness to pursue a dream before every detail is clear. What might change if we let feeling begin the journey—and then gave it the work needed to grow? Original source: Karen Aguilar Salsa Dancer Interview — StraightUpSalsa / La Voz Del Mambo https://straightupsalsa.net/la-voz-del-mambo/archive/dancers/karen-aguilar-interview #StraightUpSalsa #LaVozDelMambo #KarenAguilar #SalsaDance #DanceLeadership by @straightupsalsa
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22 days ago
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TOP 10 RECOMMENDED SALSA EVENTS · SEPTEMBER 17–19 Ten verified upcoming picks across Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, and New York City. 1. Baila Thursdays Salsa Social — Sep 17 · Washington, DC 2. Bachata Thursdays — Sep 17 · Los Angeles 3. Latin Beats — Sep 18 · Charlotte 4. Salsa Night — Sep 18 · Raleigh 5. Viernes Tropicales — Sep 18 · Atlanta 6. Bachateame Mama — Sep 18 · New York City 7. Cuba Libre Nights — Sep 18 · Washington, DC 8. Mama Juana Nights — Sep 18 · Los Angeles 9. Mambo Mayhem — Sep 19 · Atlanta 10. Noche de Fuego CLT Dance Social — Sep 19 · Charlotte Calendar sources: https://straightupsalsa.net/city/charlotte https://straightupsalsa.net/city/raleigh https://straightupsalsa.net/city/atlanta https://straightupsalsa.net/city/washington-dc https://straightupsalsa.net/city/new-york-city https://straightupsalsa.net/city/los-angeles Which event would you choose? #StraightUpSalsa #SalsaEvents #SalsaDancing #SalsaCommunity by @straightupsalsa
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23 days ago
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Charlotte, your next dance floor is calling. 💃🏾🕺🏾 Latin Beats 📅 Friday, September 18 📍 Bonnie & Clyde’s Lounge, Charlotte 🕗 8 PM–12 AM 🎶 Salsa + Bachata 💵 Price: See organizer Event details: https://straightupsalsa.net/city/charlotte#events Who are you bringing? #StraightUpSalsa #CharlotteSalsa #SalsaEvents #CharlotteNC by @straightupsalsa
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23 days ago
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GRISELLE PONCE: DANCING BEYOND COMPETITION For Griselle Ponce, salsa is family, discovery, and a lifelong practice. Her mother danced, her father was an award-winning Latin percussionist, and meeting Ismael Otero helped turn that inheritance into a calling. Their paths crossed again when Frankie Negrón hired Griselle as a backup dancer and Otero as choreographer; in 1997, their work reached Madison Square Garden. What stands out in the interview is her refusal to treat growth like a contest. She describes herself not as someone finished, but as a dancer still learning through performance, social dancing, and teaching. Her advice to newer dancers is simple: enjoy the work, respect your own journey, and focus on surpassing yourself—not somebody else. What lesson has salsa taught you about growth? Original source: Grisselle Ponce — StraightUpSalsa / La Voz Del Mambo https://straightupsalsa.net/la-voz-del-mambo/archive/dancers/grisselle-ponce-interview #StraightUpSalsa #LaVozDelMambo #GrisellePonce #SalsaHistory #Mambo by @straightupsalsa
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23 days ago
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Charlotte dancers: good floorcraft makes every social better. Ask with respect. Share the floor. Thank your partner. Small habits create the kind of community people want to return to. Which dance-floor habit matters most to you? #StraightUpSalsa #CharlotteSalsa #SalsaEtiquette #CharlotteNC by @straightupsalsa
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23 days ago
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