Raquel Paez - Founder, Director and Choreographer
Raquel was born in Ecuador. Although she is an Aussie, her Latin American roots have always played an important role in her life, as does her family. She grew up speaking Spanish at home and always listening to traditional Andean and Latin American music. Until 2007, Raquel worked full time in the IT industry in Australia and then in London. In 2007, she taught salsa in London for the Latin Dance Collective Team, one of Europe's biggest salsa promotion companies.
Raquel's passion for salsa has also given her the inspiration to create beautiful salsa performance choreographies. This has led to Salsabor representing Australia at the 2010 New York Salsa Congress, and at the 2006 Los Angeles West Coast Salsa Congress, along with many national events to name a few.
Raquel began her official dance training in Los Angeles in 2003, and has since furthered her training in New York, South America, London and Europe. She believes that to maintain her teaching fresh and up to date, she must continue to learn and gain influence from around the world.
Raquel founded Salsabor in 2004, which has since reached a following of over 400 students a week. Raquel's believes it is her passion for dance, and her amazing Salsabor family which has made Salsabor what it is today. She is very proud of having such a fantastic team of instructors who show her their dedication and love to what they do every day.
Raquel’s favourite dance style is Salsa/Mambo and Cha Cha On2, which she believes makes you bilingual on the dance floor. Since Term 2, 2008 she has started to teach On2, and hopes that more people will catch on to this great dance style. Raquel looks up to dancers and groups such as Eddie Torres (NY), Santo Rico (NY), Salsa Mania (San Francisco), and Juan Matos’ Fogarate Dance Project.
The highlights' of Raquel's dance achievements include:- Salsa Brava Productions' Salsa Teachers Training Qualification
- Diploma in Marketing and Product Development
- Choreographed and Performed at Sydney Latin Fiesta 2004
- Choreographed and Performed at Sydney Salsa Congress 2004 - 2010
- Choreographed for the Sydney Latin Dance Corroborree 2005
- Choreographed for the Los Angeles West Coast Salsa Congress 2006
- Choreographed and Performed at Floriade 2004 - 2010
- Choreographed and Performed at the National Folk Festival 2006, 2009/10
- Choreographed and Performed for various Latin Events in Canberra from 2004
- Choreographed and Performed for the Canberra Multicultural Festival 2008 - 2010
- Choreographed and Performed for ‘Passion on the Lake’ – Weereewa Festival 2008
- Choreographed and Performed at the New York Salsa Congress 2010
- Choreographed and Performed for interstate events such as Palladium
- Created a set curriculum for Salsabor Dance Company's Salsa classes
- Organiser of one of the largest Latin Dance events in Canberra - Sabor, held bi-annually.
- Organiser of one of the best Latin nights in Canberra, Salsa Mondays at King O'Malley's
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Andrea Paez
Andrea was born in Ecuador and grew up surrounded by the Latino sounds of Salsa, Folkloric, Cha Cha, Cumbia, just to name a few. Like most South Americans she started dancing the minute she could walk.
While living in Europe for a year she decided to attend a salsa class and it was then that she discovered that Latin dancing took more than moving her hips. In 2005 she took up classes with Salsabor and has not looked back. She has also attended different dance classes including hip hop, funk and jazz.
Andrea is very passionate about Latin music and dance and is always learning to bring the very best to her students.
Her recent love affair is with Zumba, she became a certified instructor in 2009. So make sure you join one of her very popular classes. Join the Party!
She is an official member of the Salsabor Performance Group and has performed at many prestigious national and international salsa events including:
- Sydney Latin Dance Corroborree, 2005
- Los Angeles West Coast Salsa Congress, 2006
- Sydney Salsa Congress, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010
- Canberra Multicultural Festival, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010
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Peter Sbirakos
Peter was born in Melbourne but moved with his family to Canberra back in the mid 70s. He didn't have much choice in the matter since he was only a toddler and now he can truly call himself a Mel-Canberran!
Peter has an active interest in physical fitness with qualifications in strength and conditioning, sports coaching as well as holding a Sandan (3rd degree) black belt in the art of karate. Peter has written and published extensive articles in sports coaching, and regularly tailors training programs for friends who are looking to get that little bit fitter.
In 1991 Peter traveled to Tokyo, Japan to train with the then Natianal Japanese Coach, Sensei Sadaharu Fujimoto (9th Dan) and what an incredible experience it was to see genuine karate from its land of origin. Peter's main teacher and coach in karate however, has been Sensei Ivan Mehkek (6th Dan) from Canberra.
In 2003, Peter was appointed captain and head coach of the ACT Karate Team, a post he held till 2006. In that time, under Peter's coaching guidance, the ACT Team won the bronze medal in the National Australian Championships after being for many years in the sport karate wilderness. Pete's competitive martial arts career spans from 2000 through to 2006 culminating in a bumper 2006 year when he finally retired from sport karate at the ripe old age of 39. In 2006, Peter won a gold and silver medal at the World Championships, Gold and Silver in the National Australian Championships as well as taking out the ACT State Titles.
Peter took up salsa in early 2006 on the encouragement of a good friend, Benjamin Brilliante and former Salsabor Dance Instructor however, he stopped after 6 months due to his commitments in sport karate. In 2007, he returned to salsa with a vengeance and now says "its great, you don't get kicked and punched in dance!". And after nearly 2 yrs of training with the Salsabor Dance school as well as being part of the Salsabor performance team, Peter has been invited to be part of the team of Salsabor Instructors.
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Jason Tabiolo
Jason was born in the Philippines and moved to Australia when he was 5 years old.
Half way through high school he realised he had a strong interest in dance. Since the tender age of 17, Jason has been undergoing dance training in Contemporary in Bega taking part in the "Fling Project’, then was advised to further his training in Canberra, at the Australian National Choreographic Centre.
Amongst Jason’s list of dance projects, includes: Quantum leap project:- out of bonds, Eternity, Live Add 3, Recovery Tour, and Armidale Australian Dance Festival.
Jason’s passion for dance saw him taking up hip hop/ break dance in 2004, under the dance company Kulture break in the ACT. This led him into performing and also teaching for them. In 2005, he was also asked to teach for Dynamic Studios.
During the early years of his dance career, Jason studied jazz and ballet which helped him with his strength and core in dance. It wasn’t until Salsabor’s own Cromwel Flores introduced him to Latin dancing.
Jason’s latest training in his field is from Los Angeles’ Millennium Dance Complex, under the guidance of some of the best and most well known dancers such as Shane Sparks, David Moore, Shaun Evaristo,
J.R Taylor just to name a few.
Jason now brings all of his experience and talent to his students, teaching them the latest technique, moves and routines straight from the entertainment industry, in various dance genres which builds strengths in the style of all his dancers.
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Bo Djikic
Bo was born and bred in Canberra and is currently studying the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education at university. She enjoys travelling and has been to a number of countries including Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, China and Hawaii. She has always loved to dance from a young age, with her mother being a major influence by teaching her traditional Cambodian dancing. Until this day Bo thinks that her passion for dancing is definitely inherited!
Bo discovered Latin dancing in 2006 with her first style being Reggaeton. During this time she began Salsa and absolutely fell in love with it! She became a regular in the salsa scene and even performed at a number of Latin events. In fact she has a zest for performing and thoroughly enjoys entertaining a crowd! Bo believes that she is forever learning in salsa and is currently undertaking the style of On2. She enjoys all styles of Latin dancing including, Bachata, Cha cha, Brazilian Samba and Zouk.
Bo thinks that Salsa is a great way to meet people and to keep fit. She is pleased to be selected to teach at Salsabor and endeavours to bring a warm and friendly atmosphere to all of her classes.
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Darian Bridge
Darian was born and bred in Canberra. He studied Computer Engineering at university and has been working as a software developer since 2000. He loves his car and takes it out to the race track whenever he can get the time off work. He plays indoor soccer on the weekend and fills the rest of his week with as much salsa as he can get his hands on.
He started salsa classes in 2005 with Salsabor but stopped after 6 months. In 2007 he started again and hasn't looked back. He is committed to the salsa social scene in Canberra, as well as regularly travelling to Sydney with a keen group of salseros, which is helping to build a great relationship between the two cities.
Darian has recently started his performance career and has performed at the Folk Festival and at the White and Red Party. He is now a member of the Salsabor performance team and has set his sights on
performing at the Sydney Salsa Congress in 2010.
We are proud to have such a great team member to represent Salsabor. Darian’s enthusiasm and dedication is hard to beat.
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Mel Markey
Mel is a born and bred Western Australian. Like many young girls, Mel attended jazz, tap and classical ballet lessons where she developed a taste for dance. As well as dance, Mel has always possessed a keen interest in all aspects of "The Arts" (Theatrical and Creative). She attended the Western Australian Theatrical College were she began to study stage acting, modelling and singing, as well as taking part in dance classes. Mel has also instructed Modelling (Photographic and Catwalk) to adults, teens and tweens for several years. Mel has also attended NIDA Screen Acting Workshops.
In 2003 she moved to Canberra where she proceeded to let herself get rather out of shape. After trying many fitness programs, none with any success, she discovered Zumba! After getting bitten by the Zumba bug, Mel's life has been completely changed. She now spends her days spreading the Zumba love and hopes that all of Canberra gets bitten by the Zumba bug too.
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Ben Brillante
Ben's interest in music and dance began when he was 16. He was active in choir and was also a member of a Hip-Hop and R&B dance group, "X-ibition" which he formed with his friends in 1994. Most of their performances took place locally in special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations up until late 1996.
Ben was first introduced to Salsa by his younger sister Angela, who for many years, practiced and danced with the Sydney Dance Company and Urban Dance Centre in Sydney. Angela has been a huge inspiration to her older brother through other dance forms like Hip-Hop, R&B and Funk. But it wasn’t until an invitation to check out one of Sydney’s hot Latin night clubs did Ben begin to understand how beautiful Salsa dancing is. And so on that night of October 16, 2004, Ben took up a passion for Salsa.
Ben's enthusiasm in Salsa has developed him into a well respected and sort after dancer in the Canberra Salsa scene. He has a unique and elegant style of dancing Salsa; very passionate and full of energy. "...I put my heart and soul in every step... My greatest reward whenever I dance is to see that glitter in my partner's smile."
Ben has been performing and teaching with Salsabor since 2006. He has amazing body isolation and a creative flair which also makes him an amazing bachata dancer.
Ben is the Creative Director of a multimedia firm in Canberra, BENB (www.benb.com.au); specialising in Web Design and Development, Graphic Design and Photography. Originated from the Philippines, he moved to Australia with his family in 1991. After a few years of study in Architecture at University of Technology Sydney, he decided to change career and move to Canberra to study Bachelor of Graphic Design, which he completed in 2005. Ben's undying passion for creativity has led him to start his business in 2008.
Career Highlights
- Sydney Salsa Congress, Performed - 2006, 2007, 2009 & 2010
- The Latin Tribe, Choreographed, Performed and Instructed - 2008
- National Folk Festival Choreographed, Performed and Instructed - 2007
- National Museum Canberra, Choreographed and Performed - 2007
- Latin Fusion, Dance Team Instructor, Choreographed and Performed - 2006 & 2007
- Los Angeles West Coast Salsa Congress, Dance Team Instructor and Performed - 2006
- Sydney Latin Dance Corroboree, Performed - 2005
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Dave Breheny
Dave Breheny is not your typical salsa teacher. He grew up in a West Australian whaling town, about as far from Afro-Latin rhythm as you can get, and came in contact with salsa
music and dance through sheer luck while backpacking through Central and South America. Dave has been credited with bringing a larrikin approach to his salsa teaching and emphasises
partner connection, good technique and 'shining' as the best ways for beginners to have fun on the dance floor.
Outside of teaching Dave has a passion for New York Style Salsa on2 and performing.
It didn't take long for Raquel to see potential in Dave, as someone with the drive and dedication to become an amazing social dancer and performer.
He was asked to join the Salsabor instructor team after only a few months of arriving in Canberra, and has since performed with Team Mambo - Salsabor's on2 performance team, and is
now Raquel's dance partner.
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Amanda Chiu
Amanda is a Canberran born and bred. She has always had a strong passion for all things related to performing arts, fitness, music and dance. From child hood Amanda has been an
active voice in choir, starred as main characters in theatre and represented various dance groups at state level. She has a wide range of interests, such as travelling, cultures, public
speaking, yoga and a vast range of sports. Amanda enjoys acting, singing and bringing positive creativity to her dance.
Amanda has a variety of training in diverse styles of dance and in the performing arts. This including gymnastics, callisthenics, baton twirling, jazz, funk, hip hop and contemporary to
name a few.
Since 2006 Amanda discovered the world of Latin dance in Tokyo and later decided to pursue her passion for Latin dancing in 2007 in Canberra and Darwin. Since then, she has
performed Bachata, Salsa, Cha cha and continues to perform as she loves to entertain. She is currently undertaking Salsa On2 and also focusing on further progressing her Bachata
and Zouk Lambada.
Amanda was invited to become a Salsabor instructor in 2010, having taken classes with the school for almost two years.
Amanda has great enthusiasm for teaching students amongst the world of dance. Her energy and passion is unique and endless.
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Vivien Vu
Vivien was born in Sydney and moved to Canberra at the age of 4. She has always had a strong love for music and learnt classical piano throughout her childhood/teen years.
Vivien found her passion for Latin dancing in 2008 when she accidentally enrolled in a Latin dance school instead of ballroom. It was the best mistake she made as she discovered an immediate love for salsa. Since then she has expanded her repertoire in bachata, brazilian samba and cha cha.
Vivien enjoys teaching as it gives her the opportunity to share her joy of dancing as well as instilling confidence in her students that they are able to dance. She loves social dancing as it is fun way of communicating on the dancefloor. Vivien is also a proud member of the Salsabor performance team and is grateful to be part of a dedicated group of passionate dancers.
Aside from dancing, Vivien also loves traveling and volunteering for the Red Cross.
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Rhonda King
Rhonda discovered Salsa in 2005 and has enjoyed many forms of dance including classical ballet as a young girl and international ballroom, lindy hop, folk, cabaret and contemporary styles as a grown
up. Her unbridled enthusiasm for dance, background in musical theatre and the fitness industry are reflected in her style which has been described as generous and fun.
Rhonda loves performing. Her most recent performances with Salsabor in 2011 include the Sydney Salsa Congress, the Adelaide Salsa Festival and the Sydney International Bachata Festival. Although
she enjoys performing her first love is social dancing and specifically the challenge of following the lead. She says: "social dancing is the best place to see people discovering their creativity in
movement, and you can learn so much just by watching"
Rhonda is a qualified teacher and has loved the opportunity to apply these skills to dance, in this role she says: "I love to see the journey my students take from the first time they walk through the studio
door saying that they have 2 left feet and no rhythm and then learning to experience the joy of dance, finding their own style, rhythm and discovering that their two left feet have transformed into a left
AND a right foot". That has to be my greatest joy.
Rhonda lights up the dance floor with her charisma, energy and her friendly out-going attitude endears her to all.
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Angela Dennis
Angela grew up in the country near Wagga Wagga and moved to Canberra for university. Music is in her family and she has been playing piano since primary school.
She first discovered Salsa in 2008 at Salsabor's free Monday night classes at King O'Malleys, and hasn't looked back since. She's dabbled in a bit of Cha Cha and Bachata, but Salsa remains her dance of choice and she is currently learning On2.
Angela became a part of the Salsabor instructor team in 2010 and loves introducing others to the world of Latin dancing.
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Malissa Phommaseisy
Born in Canberra, Malissa loved dancing since the age of 3 but never pursued it. It wasn't until she was 17 that her sister enrolled her in her first jazz/funk/hip hop
class. Ever since then she has been attending hip hop classes at several dance studios around Canberra, Salsabor being one of them. Under the guidance of Salsabor's
own Jason Tabiolo, Malissa found her true passion for hip hop. She enjoys performing at the Salsabor end of term parties and thrives off the energy of the audience.
Malissa is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Canberra, majoring in International Business and Financial Planning. Alongside hip hop,
she also trains in ballet and whenever possible, salsa. She also travels interstate to participate in events such as the Australian Dance Convention and the Australian
Dance Festival and has travelled to perform and train in L.A and N.Y in July 2011.
Malissa always encourages her students to have fun in her classes, where they can let their own styles shine and inspire people as to what they can achieve with a bit of
hard work.
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Justina Low
Justina was born and bred in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She moved to Canberra in 2005 to pursue her undergraduate degree and is currently working as an accountant.
She has always had the passion for being creative, being classically trained in playing the piano since young and also taking part in various Christmas productions and
performances in church whilst growing up.
In high school, she had the privilege of competing in national inter-school cheerleading competitions and it was then she discovered my passion for dance.
Since moving to Canberra, Justina has trained in various genres of dance, including Hip-hop, Contemporary, Jazz, Lyrical and Salsa.
In the midst of trying new styles of dance, she decided to give Zumba a go and enrolled in Salsabor's Zumba classes. The classes were so much fun, it never failed to
put a smile on her face. The first Zumba class was all she needed to get her hooked on to this contagious fun!
"I am so privileged to be a part of the Salsabor team teaching Zumba and enjoy it more than ever, being able to share my passion for dance with my students.
I love how Zumba gives such freedom to everyone in exploring their own style of dance, regardless of whether students have had dance backgrounds or none at all.
The best part to teaching is seeing my students enjoy themselves and watching them have fun and smile! If you enjoy having a bit of a laugh, grooving to funky tunes,
meeting new friends – and break a sweat while being at it, I would love to meet you at my next Zumba class!" – Justina
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Larry Schoenberg
Larry was born in the United States, moving to Canberra at the age of 7. He began dancing Jazz and ballet at the age of 8.
Larry was introduced to Salsa in 2009 and immediately fell in love with the style. He has since been given opportunities to perform at events around Australia and in New Zealand.
While not especially seasoned in competitive dancing; Larry was runner up in the first Canberra's Best Social Salsa Dancer competition in 2011.
Larry has been teaching Salsa in Canberra since 2010 which has given him limitless opportunities to spread his passion for the style.
After being introduced to the new style of Zouk-Lambada in early 2010 Larry immediately knew he had to learn this graceful Brazilian dance so he sought training in Sydney from then,
and his experience and technical knowledge has grown over time. He started teaching Zouk-Lambada with Salsabor in 2011.
Larry has an incredible passion for dance, and a huge space in his life for it, so he continues to receive training in Ballet and Contemporary (modern) in addition to Latin styles.
Chances are if the name of the day ends in "-day" you'll find him on a dancefloor somewhere!
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Deanna Ezzy
Deanna discovered dance four years ago, starting off and competing in Modern Jive, then progressed to Latin Dance... and fell madly in love!
Amongst her Salsabor classes and weeknight social dancing, Deanna spent the first year of Latin dancing travelling to Sydney on a weekly basis to train under
world renowned professional dance instructors. This propelled her into performing at events such as The Sydney Salsa Congress, The New Zealand Pacific Salsa Congress,
The Canberra Multicultural Festival and other local charity dance events.
During the week, you'll find Deanna working happy and hard to be the best Finance Broker she can be. On the days in between, when she's not dancing, you might find her
at the race track on her motorbike, falling down a mountain covered in snow (trying/learning to ski), or quite possibly under the ocean scuba diving.
Somewhere along the way, Deanna picked up a love for zouk and bachata, a bit of Cha-cha, and has even dabbled in West Coast Swing, but salsa is where her passion lies!
Although Deanna loves to teach and perform, the social scene is where she really thrives. "To find yourself halfway through a dance and realising that your eyes have
been closed for most of it – just getting lost in the moment of that magical dance connection between you and your partner...that's what it's all about!'
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