Portland Salsa Dance Instructors: Antonio Torres of Rumba Y Caché Dance Company

My name is Antonio Torres, and I am the Director of "Rumba Y Caché Dance Company." I was born in Mexico, where I grew up dancing to different genres of music. My interest for Salsa started when I attended college at Oregon State University, which is where I began taking dance classes, and where I started to perform once in a while.

After obtaining my degree at Oregon State University, I relocated to Portland, Oregon, where I rediscovered my passion for Salsa-dancing. It was here that I began taken classes with Erick Gonzalez, starting in 2002. Shortly after this, I joined Erick Gonzalez' "Salsa Con Sabor Dance Company." As a member of Salsa Con Sabor, I perfomed at MANY different events in the 4 years of my training with Erick Gonzalez. Major events include the Los Angeles World Salsa Congress, where I perfomed in 2003, 2004, and 2005. (In 2006, I performed in Los Angeles Congress and in the San Francisco Congress as a member of a Seattle, WA.-based Dance Company)

I formed "Rumba Y Caché Dance Company" in 2007, (an L.A. Style Dance Company "on 1") and our first major performance was at the San Francisco Salsa Congress the same year. Currently, Rumbay Y Caché is working very hard on our next choreography.

Personally, I have studied with Francisco Vazquez, and Alex Dasilva, and have taken an infinite amount of workshops with world-famous instructors, which are too many to mention. I will be in Milan, Italy, the Summer of 2008 to train with "Tropical Gem Dance Company", Johnny Vazquez, and a couple of other world-famous instructors–a dream come true in my search to become a better dancer, instructor, and choreographer.

I have a Masters in Education from Portland State University. I hold a Black belt in Taekwondo, was an amateur boxer, played soccer for many years, and in my spare time now I enjoy going to the gym. Welcome to the world of Salsa!