Stacey Paulín

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Mrs. Stacey Paulín’s dance journey began at the tender age of eight when she began training in ballet, pointe, jazz, and modern dance. An accomplished classical vocalist, Mrs. Paulín first graced the stage as a professional musician while attending university. She was a member of the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers, and with them she completed three European tours and performed extensively throughout the United States. In 2010 she was introduced to Latin dance, and under the tutelage of Gordon Neil she has been able to cultivate her own style of movement that incorporates Afro-Cuban, modern, and contemporary dance styles. Mrs. Paulín believes that dance is a force that should not only entertain us, but engage, transform, and inspire us. A natural educator, she enjoys spreading her love and knowledge of body movement and mechanics to her students, and facilitating the process of understanding their bodies, their personal facility, and all that it is capable of. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA.

David Cuevas

Director of the Ardiente Dance Company, David Cuevas has been dancing salsa since age 14. David was named the 2017 Instructor of the Year at the fifth annual DC Latin Honors Night ceremony.  Known for creating intricate and elegant turn patterns, accompanied by sharp stylish footwork, it’s no surprise that the team has been turning heads at congresses nationwide, including Houston, Chicago, Washington DC, Tampa, and Charleston.

Scott was born and raised in South Florida. He started dancing salsa as a hobby in college, and then made it his career once graduating college and started working at Casa Salsa. 5 years later, Scott is the head instructor at Casa Salsa and director of many performance teams. Over the years he has traveled to teach and perform throughout the United States and his looking to spread out even farther to share his passion for dancing. His dancing has taken him to place 3rd and 1st place in two Rising Star Divisions at the World Salsa Summit 2020.

Michelle Garcia

Michelle Garcia was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI where she was classically trained at Dance Theatre Studio beginning when she was 5 years old. Michelle joined a collegiate hip hop team while still in high school and went on to train in latin dances after a study abroad program sparked her love for salsa. She briefly trained under Laura Geldys at dance revolution and moved to the east coast upon graduation from the University of Michigan to pursue a dance career.

Michelle then trained under the leadership of Joel Masocote before founding her own women’s company, Volante. She now serves as a director and solo artist and is currently expanding her full time dance career where she travels to perform, teach and choreograph. Michelle and Volante are based in Boston where she continues to grow – fighting for equality and kindness on all dance floors.

Julissa Cruz

Julissa Cruz has been training, teaching coaching and performing dance for over 20 years.  As a child, she would spend hours dancing to videos in front of the tv until her Mother enrolled her in dance classes at the age of 9. She would go on to train in jazz, ballet, tap, hip hop and the Latin dance arts.

At the age of 15, she began to combine her passion for dance with a new found love of teaching at Leggz Dance Academy, first as an assistant teacher and later developing her own youth Hip Hop Program there. In addition, Julissa also served as director of the Salsa Heat Professional dance company, teaching with them for 4 years before venturing out on her own as a solo artist. Since then, she has performed and taught throughout the U.S. and beyond on her own, while collaborating with other world-renowned performers such as Andy Cruz, Gordon Neil, Ana Masacote, Benjamin Cartagena and Liz Becerra.