About us. About us

Yared is a young postgraduate from Spain who grew up in a family of musicians and dancers. He started as a dancer at the age of nine and fell in love with Salsa. He has gradually adapted and learned other styles of dance and has fused them into his current style of Salsa while using Cuban Salsa as the foundation.

There is a quote by Yared that states his beliefs regarding dancing and music:
“I don’t want to think about dancing when I am listening to music. I want to be able to flow with it when it plays. Music and dance must be body and soul”.

He learned other Salsa styles such linear (Los Angeles and Puerto Rico Styles) and dances such as Funky, basic classical and contemporary. His goal has always been to remain focused on discipline and good technique. Combining all these styles, he has obtained a better understanding of dances and has been able to create his own unique style: “The best Salsa style is just the feeling of being free to use any style. No styles should control us”.

He worked with Tropicana Dancers as a Salsa dancer and complemented his knowledge with Funky and acrobatic dances. Yared also trained under Orlando Pelaez, a prominent international artistic director and choreographer while in Spain.

Yared has participated in several dance performances and contests in Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. He obtained first place in a National Cuban Salsa Talent Championship in 1998, when he was only 15 years of age. Following a few years later he obtained the first place in the National Salsa for Couples Championship in 2001 and in the Salsa “Rueda” in 2007. Yared aims to share his dance skills with others so that they too feel and embrace music the way he does.

Anton began dancing at the age of 6 in Taganrog, Russia. Dancing came to him naturally at the age of 6 and it quickly became his way of life. Always true to himself, he based his innovative style on total harmony in the psychical and psychological aspect of dancing. At the age of 14 he moved to Krasnodar and continued his career in ballroom dancing. Inspired by professional ballroom dancers, Anton arrived in Moscow in 2000 and continued dancing.

During that year he made many of his dreams come true. He obtained second place in the International Style contest which was the  beginning of his successful dance career. After 3 years of national and international contests, he finally got the first national place in 2003. That year he traveled to Spain ranking number 11 in the world..

Spain was supposed to be his home for a few months before coming to Canada to thrive in the ballroom dance with his new partner in Toronto. Instead of this, Anton fell in love with a new style of dance unknown to him up until that moment. That style was Salsa. Excited by this intricate dance he decided to settle down in Spain and started his dance career from the beginning as a Salsa and Ballroom instructor.

The first location where Anton started to developed his Salsa skills was Alicante (cradle of “On 1″ style in Spain). Anton continued to grow as salsa dancer in Cuban and Los Angeles Styles. After two years and motivated by this dance he decided to move to Barcelona (capital of Salsa “On 2″ style). Anton grew as a Salsa On 2 dancer for 4 more years. During this time he danced with renowned Salsa groups such as Mythical Mambo and he organized a Salsa company called “Saltatio”, performing all over Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia) as well as many other countries in Europe: Portugal, Italy, Poland …

William has been residing in Toronto since birth and has a background in business management and IT. He is the co-founder of Call4PcHelp an IT consulting firm providing services to his GTA clients. His interest in dance spawned in 2006 when he was invited to a Salsa dance party. Not knowing how to even spell “Salsa”, he immediately subscribed for a Salsa crash course 2 weeks prior to the event. Shortly after the event his dancing journey was put on hold.

Months later, being a passionate martial arts practitioner, he wanted to find activities that would complement his progression and passion in his martial arts training. It is then that he gave dancing another try. William then trained with various dance instructors throughout the years and was exposed to both Cuban and LA Salsa styles. He loved LA Salsa for its elegance and ballroom influence and Cuban Salsa for its playfulness visual appeals for both leader and follower.

During 2008 William met his current instructor, Yared Rodriguez. His interest for Salsa spiked again after seeing how his instructor danced Cuban Salsa. This flavor that was danced by Yared, was unique in many ways and was more technical and elegant than the conventional Cuban style that he had learned. He then developed a deeper interest for Cuban Salsa and his future dance goals were established.

He has developed a new point of view in the art of dance over the years. You will often hear William tell his students in classes, “there is nothing really truly advanced after the basics. There are just advanced basics”. He continues to spend his time at the Social Dance Spot teaching the Latin Dance Syllabus, developing and training new dance choreographies.

He now shares his dance passion with his students at Social Dance Spot.