**Cuban Salsa Intro & Beginner/Intermediate Levels immediately proceed this class. Please RSVP for each class you will be attending.**
When: Saturdays from 12pm-1pm
Pay structure: $15 per class
Description: Get ready to lift your spirit, learn, and sweat! An authentic Cuban dance experience.
This class is Kati's "dance stew" a tasty melting-pot of Afro-Cuban, Cuban rumba, traditional and contemporary Cuban rhythms with the delicious sound of timba. Exploding as a genre in the 90s, timba music is a multifaceted mix of Afro-Cuban, rumba, son, jazz, and funk, an electric expression of the struggles and every-day life of Cubans in the 90s. Blended together for a dose of fun, supported by a generous dose of information about Cuban music. You’ll expand your repertoire of Cuban dances and learn with some laughter while Kati occasionally decodes those double entendres and Cuban slang in the music!
What to expect: An all-levels salsa suelta style class. Learn, move, sweat, and have fun!
Accessibility note: Open to all. The space is located on the 2nd floor with one flight of stairs directly up from the entrance. Elevator access is available; please email pieterpasd@gmail.com prior to event if you will be using it. The elevator is spacious enough for any mobility device and the 2nd floor space is free of any steps or mobility barriers. There are no automated doors in the building.
There are two all-gender restrooms with three private stalls and a urinal. Each restroom has one stall accessible for mobility device users.
Free parking is available directly behind our building at 2412 Workman Street. There are two additional free city lots south of Broadway on Workman Street. There is also ample metered parking in the neighborhood.
Have questions or need additional accommodations? Email pieterpasd@gmail.com and we will do our best to assist you.
Bio: A native of Cuba, Kati Hernández grew up surrounded by the sounds of the drum and Afro-Cuban dance traditions. Her dance studies included Afro-Cuban and international folklore, popular, modern, ballet, choreography, composition, and staging. These shaped her into the electrifying choreographer, educator, and dancer of today. Her knowledge of dance and choreography reveals her intricate and versatile style, making her a highly sought-after performer nationally and internationally. She launched her international career at an early age, touring throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas with renowned Cuban productions, musicians, and visual artists.
In her hometown of Los Angeles, Kati is a central figure in a large dance community. She was recently presented with a Community Leader of Excellence 2023 award honoring her artistry, work, and leadership. She is dedicated to spreading the treasures of her Afro-Cuban roots in the US. Her nationally acclaimed signature program Oricha Dance Therapy, which she is currently touring with, is a language of expression through movements and rhythms of the rich Afro-Cuban Dance diaspora. Hernández is founder of a pioneering online dance, and music program that preserves and promotes Cuban culture worldwide to create vibrant cross-cultural communities. She is also founder and artistic director of Kimbambula Cuban Dance and Music Ensemble, and co-founder of Kimbambula Productions. The latter serves as a platform to promote Cuban culture in LA where she produces annual events such as “Essence of Cuba '' a paramount reunion of Afro-Cuban masters, Kati’s Cuban Ganga, and The Cuban Social.
Kati has led successful Afro-Cuban “Jam Sessions” at both Grand Park and the Ford Theater, where she served as lead choreographer for several of their programs and has also co-hosted dance workshops with the acclaimed Afro-Cuban rock band, Síntesis. More recently, Kati was artistic director for the joint production “Cuba Antes y Ahora,” at Grand Park and the Getty Museum, as well as the choreographer and cultural advisor of “Tentacion” a new production at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for LA Philharmonic’s Pan-American Youth Initiative. She has choreographed and performed in music videos including “Un Poquito de Amor Every Day” with world renowned Colin Hay and San Miguel Perez, and Iris Sandra Cepeda’s “Vete Por Donde Vinistes.”
She was featured in Spotify’s Latinx Heritage Month 2021 campaign “Aquí Siempre - Retratos de una comunidad en movimiento” spotlighted in Times Square, and is currently part of the American Heart Association’s worldwide P.S.A. “Get Down with your Blood Pressure” featured in the NY Times, national American and Spanish tv, and multiple print ad campaigns. She just finished shooting as one of the actors for short film “72” which centers around a search to belong, and the ways in which immigrants find sanctuary in community, breaking away from the pervasive limited narratives about Cubans, Latinx folks, and immigrants in general.
Kati also flows between public and academic venues, teaching dance classes, intensives and lectures at colleges, dance studios, and congresses around the country. She has worked with dance and music departments like CalArts, UC Irvine, University of Oregon, Pomona College, and is a yearly guest instructor at the top Cuban dance festivals in the nation. Kati’s work is a true illustration of her heritage and an endless celebration of Cuban Culture.