SALSEROS DANCE STUDIO INSTRUCTORS
Jose Cruz, founder and artistic director of Salseros Dance Company, has been performing and teaching Salsa and all styles of Latin dance in the Eugene community since 1999. Born and raised in El Salvador, Central America, Jose has been dancing since the age of twelve. Over the course of his teaching career, Jose has taught and performed a variety of styles of salsa, including Cuban style, L.A. style and New York style, and he currently teaches salsa in addition to the other Latin dances of merengue, cha chacha, bachata, and cumbia.
Jose and Salseros Dance Company organized the first ever Eugene Salsa Festival in February 2014, a full weekend of salsa performances, live music, and workshops.
Jose is a dedicated full-time instructor, choreographer, performer, DJ, musician & promoter and he is excited to continue sharing Latin music and dance with the local community and beyond.
To see what our director and our company are up to, please visit our What We Do page.
Paloma Laguna is originally from Spain and has over 8 years of experience in various disciplines of dance including salsa, bachata, flamenco, modern dance, African and South American Folkloric dances. She has been dancing with Salseros Dance Company since 2018. She is also a flamenco dancer with Maestra Martita Santiago in Eugene and a former dancer of Valverde Dance Company in San Francisco. She has participated in numerous Carnavals Competitions over the years in both San Francisco and Spain. At Salseros Dance Studio, Paloma teaches group classes & private lessons and co-leads the Salseros Bachata Team. She also offers private lessons and private group classes in Spanish.
Mariah Helm
Mariah has been dancing with Salseros for the last 5 years and performs for the Salseros Ladies Styling team, Bachata Team, and Salsa Team. She also teaches salsa classes at Salseros Dance Studio. She loves encouraging students to build their confidence and explore themselves in new ways through dance. Mariah began dancing with Salseros to learn more about Latin culture and found a community of passionate people at Salseros who have inspired her to always keep learning, no matter what level you are. She has taken this piece of inspiration with her and channels it through her teaching and performance style. Prior to Salseros, Mariah trained in mixed martial arts for 13 years.
Michelle Cruz is the Assistant Director of Salseros Productions. She teaches the intro salsa & bachata lesson on Friday evenings once a month, and assists with the performance and training teams. Michelle has been dancing salsa since 2007 and joined Salseros Dance Company in 2009. Prior to dancing salsa, Michelle grew up learning a variety of dance styles, including jazz, hip hop, African dance, Argentine tango, and bellydance.