Jessie Gutierrez introduces the basic footwork of Cuban salsa and expands upon the information as students progress and learn footwork, body isolations, musicality, and turns, as well as arm styling, to complement their dancing.

Here’s the good news: you don’t need a partner to learn or dance salsa. A great advantage of this dance is that you can dance salsa as an individual OR with a partner. It’s both.

Jessie Gutierrez is a Cuban-born dancer. She studied at the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Arte – National School of Art in Havana, during which time she participated in Holland’s Its International Theatre School Festival. In 2002, she performed with Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, touring to England, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Hong Kong, Mexico, Austria and Hungary. She became a principal dancer in 2006 and worked with internationally recognized choreographers Jan Linkens, Cathy Marston, Rafael Bonachela, Carlos Junior Acosta, Samir Akika, Luca Bruni and Kenneth Kvarnström. Upon moving to Chicago, Jesse started performing with Hedwig Dances.