DC Casineros & Dance Place: 2005–2026
Our company history · 2005–2026
A creative home for Cuban dance
For DC Casineros, Dance Place is a place to teach, rehearse, create and bring people together. Our longstanding relationship as a resident dance company connects the studio, the theater and the social dance floor.
Founded in 2005 by Amanda Gill and Adrian Valdivia, DC Casineros grew from Washington’s Cuban dance community. Around 2006, Dance Place became a home for our teaching and creative work. This page follows selected milestones through 2026: regular classes, original productions, collaborations with artists from Cuba, and opportunities to share Cuban dance with our neighbors.
What this creative home means
A sustained relationship makes room for more than a single performance. Students return to class, dancers develop choreography together, visiting artists exchange knowledge, and audiences encounter the same traditions both onstage and in participatory events. Dance Place’s own partnership description identifies DC Casineros’ classes, performances and rehearsals as part of its campus life.
Practice and creation
Weekly teaching and rehearsal connect the foundations of Son, Casino, Rueda de Casino and Afro-Cuban dance with the company’s developing stage work. Our dancers carry that shared practice into choreography, demonstrations and exchanges with guest artists.
Participation and belonging
Cuban dance socials invite people to move together. Theater productions, neighborhood programs and lecture-demonstrations offer other ways into the music, history and cultural context of the dances.
Milestones in the partnership
- 2005 · The company begins
Amanda Gill and Adrian Valdivia establish DC Casineros, building on the Cuban dance community around Havana Village. The company’s founding precedes its longstanding work at Dance Place.
- Approximately 2006 · A home for teaching
DC Casineros begins the Dance Place teaching relationship that grows into regular classes, rehearsals, productions and community programming.
- 2015 · Somos Cubanos
On March 6, DC Casineros and Compañía All Stars Santiago de Cuba share the Dance Place stage. The collaboration is part of All Stars’ first visit to the United States, organized with DC Casineros and Dance Place. Jorge Luna Roque also leads a Rueda de Casino master class at Dance Place on March 3.
- 2017 · Cuban Dance Week and All Stars residency
September 25–October 1 brings an exchange with All Stars artists Yuneidi Bejerano and Yurisnel Catellanos. Master classes and the September 29 Dance Place concert connect visiting artists, company dancers, video art and social dancing.
- 2018 · Juan Formell and Los Van Van
Bailando con Juan Formell y Los Van Van premieres at Dance Place on November 3–4. Conceived by Amanda Gill and Adrian Valdivia, the production brings choreography, recorded music, documentary interviews and narration together around the music and legacy of Juan Formell and Los Van Van.
- 2021 · Dance beyond the theater
On September 18, the company participates in Dance Place’s District Choreography (D.C.) Dance Festival at the National Sylvan Theater. The program names the company’s presentation Un nuevo capítulo, sharing Cuban social and popular dances during National Dance Day.
- 2024–2025 · Gathering on the social floor
Dance Place announces the return of the Cuban Dance Social for December 6, 2024. Photographs from the December 2025 social preserve the next chapter of that community: partners dancing, friends reconnecting and new encounters on the floor.
- 2026 · Classes and DanceAfrica
The partnership continues through adult dance classes and public cultural programming. DanceAfrica’s June 6 Arts Park schedule includes DC Casineros lecture-demonstrations, connecting dance practice with its history and context.
Original productions and artistic exchange
Somos Cubanos · 2015
Dancers from Washington and Santiago de Cuba meet through performance and Rueda de Casino. The joint production reflects an exchange that extends into master classes and shared community dancing.
Bailando con Juan Formell y Los Van Van · 2018
Amanda Gill and Adrian Valdivia’s production explores how music, memory and movement connect. Orielena López narrates, and company choreography joins contributions from collaborating artists, including Jonathan Burke.
The 2017 All Stars residency adds another dimension to this history: guest teachers and performers share their practice directly with Washington dancers. These exchanges keep the relationship between Cuban traditions and the company’s local work active and personal.
A place to learn together
Regular adult classes
Our Dance Place teaching includes beginning Rueda de Casino, intermediate and advanced Casino, and Afro-Cuban dance with Naomi. Students develop partnering, musicality, shared timing and confidence through regular practice.
See our Classes page and Dance Place’s adult class listing for the current schedule, session dates and registration.
Children, families and cultural learning
Cuban social dance has also been part of Dance Place’s youth education history. Our broader youth and family work combines movement, rhythm, cooperation and cultural context. Teaching artists Naomi, Amanda, Adrian, William and Paul bring different experience to that work.
Our Youth Programs page introduces family programs, school visits and interactive demonstrations. For current session schedules, families can check Dance Place’s children’s offerings.
Community is part of the work
Performing and social dancing belong to the same story. Our Cuban Dance Socials create space for experienced dancers, students and newcomers to meet through music and movement. DanceAfrica lecture-demonstrations and neighborhood programming offer opportunities to encounter Cuban dance beyond a formal concert.
Community programs · Art on 8th archive · Dance history and lecture-demonstrations
The next chapter
Dance Place Cuban Dance Social
Saturday, December 12, 2026 · 7 p.m.
Dance Place Theater
3225 8th Street NE, Washington, DC 20017
Program, admission and further details will be confirmed soon.
Cuban Dance Social updatesDC Casineros theater show
Friday, April 30, 2027
Dance Place Theater
Our next theater date looks beyond this 2005–2026 history. Show time, program and further details will be announced.
Dance Place’s production listingExplore the historical records
This page brings together company records, programs, photographs and Dance Place’s public archive. Historical listings document their own dates; use our Classes and Events pages for current information.
- Dance Place’s partnership and curatorial description, including DC Casineros’ classes, performances and rehearsals.
- Jorge Luna Roque’s March 3, 2015 Dance Place master class, recorded by District of Cuba; March 6, 2015 joint performance excerpt, shared by William Sánchez.
- Company press archive: the 2017 exchange announcement and contemporary coverage of the 2018 production.
- Dance Place’s Fall 2021 announcement and District Choreography festival program.
- Dance Place’s November 2024 Cuban Dance Social announcement.
- DanceAfrica 2026 program and Dance Place’s DC Casineros teaching artist page.
Early dates follow the company’s history: founded in 2005, with the Dance Place teaching relationship beginning approximately 2006.