Master Teachers & Collaborators
CUBAN DANCE · CULTURAL EXCHANGE · SHARED LEARNING
Meet Our Master Teachers & Collaborators
DJ Azúcar · Cuban Music and Community
DJ Azúcar, Alberto Machado, is a longtime community collaborator whose story connects Havana Village with today’s Cuban Night, where DC Casineros currently teaches. Explore his musical contribution and our work together.
DJ Timba Titan · Cedric Teamer
Cedric Teamer, known as DJ Timba Titan, is a Baltimore DJ, dancer and teacher. As founder of Rueda de Casino Baltimore, he brings knowledge of Son, Rumba, Casino and Rueda de Casino to his community work. His relationship with DC Casineros includes training, teaching, performances and Cuban dance socials—connecting dancers through music and shared learning.
Our teaching relationships connect DC Casineros with artists whose knowledge deepens our understanding of Cuban music, dance and culture. Through workshops, company training and cultural exchange, these teachers contribute to our continuing growth.
Open a profile to explore each artist’s biography, performances and teaching work.
Our Sister Company: All Stars Santiago de Cuba
All Stars Santiago de Cuba and director Jorge Luna Roque are part of our extended artistic family. Shared study, rehearsals and performances connect our work in Casino, Rueda de Casino and Cuban popular dance.
During visits between 2015 and 2018, DC Casineros artists and students spent time with All Stars dancers in Santiago de Cuba. Our relationship also brought the companies together in Washington, D.C.—a continuing exchange of movement, music and friendship.
Explore our Santiago de Cuba visits · Read the 2015 Somos Cubanos chapter · Meet Jorge Luna Roque
Our Sister Company: Ballet Folklórico Cutumba
Our relationship with Folklórico Cutumba brings DC Casineros back to Santiago de Cuba as dancers, students and friends. During trips between 2012 and 2018, company members and students trained with Cutumba’s dancers, learning together in the city that is home to our sister company.
Explore our training visits in Santiago de Cuba · Explore Cutumba’s work
Master Teacher · Cuban Dance Educator · Director of Energetic Soul
Duane Wrenn is the founder and director of Energetic Soul, a Detroit-area dance and movement practice established in 2000. For more than 25 years, he has taught and performed, sharing an approach grounded in Cuban music, popular dance and Afro-Cuban traditions.
His teachers include Roberto Borrell, René Thompson and the late Félix “Pupy” Insua. His teaching has taken him across the United States, Canada, Europe and South America. He helps dancers develop musicality, body control and a responsive connection with their partners, approaching dance as a conversation.
Wrenn created the soUl°sa method and co-developed AFRO-tImBa with Kati Hernández. His work brings rhythm, movement awareness and adaptable partner dancing together for students from beginners to experienced performers.
Duane Wrenn: Movement and Musicality
Duane Wrenn · detroitaintlive. Video: Energetic Soul.
Watch Duane Dance
Duane appears alongside Kati Hernández and other dancers in Iris Sandra Cepeda’s music video Vete por donde viniste, choreographed by Hernández.
Explore His Work
Energetic Soul — biography · Teaching and dance programs
Ritmos y Raíces Athens · Photo via University Musical Society.
Master Teacher in Afro-Cuban Dance · Choreographer · Educator · Artistic Director of KimBambula Cuban Dance & Music Ensemble
Born and raised in Cuba and now based in Los Angeles, Kati Hernández is a dancer, choreographer, educator and cultural consultant whose work shares the richness of Afro-Cuban dance and music. Her practice draws on Cuban folkloric and popular traditions, alongside training in ballet, contemporary dance and choreography.
Hernández founded and directs KimBambula Cuban Dance & Music Ensemble. She teaches Afro-Cuban dance as Special Faculty at California Institute of the Arts and has shared her work at universities, festivals and cultural venues across the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean.
Her projects include Oricha Dance Therapy, the AFRO-tImBa program developed with Duane Wrenn, and choreography and cultural advising for Tentación at Walt Disney Concert Hall. In 2024, she served as an Alliance for California Traditional Arts apprenticeship mentor in Orisha dance, continuing her commitment to teaching and transmitting these traditions.
Watch Kati Dance
Hernández choreographed Iris Sandra Cepeda’s music video Vete por donde viniste and performs in it alongside Duane Wrenn and other dancers.
Explore Her Work
Kati Cuban Dance — biography and projects · CalArts faculty profile · ACTA artist profile
Photo via LA Philharmonic artist profile.
Master Teacher and Teaching Collaborator · Director of CubaSon
Ramsés Sariol is a Cuban social dance teacher born in Havana and based in Mallorca, Spain. His work centers on Son Cubano, Casino and Rueda de Casino, connecting technique and musicality with the cultural knowledge that gives these dances their meaning.
With more than a decade of study and teaching, Ramsés has led workshops across the Americas, Europe and beyond, including Mexico, the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan and Canada. Through CubaSon, he brings dance communities together around Cuban social dance, cultural exchange and shared learning.
Our Connection
Ramsés and Artistic Director Adrian Valdivia share a longstanding teaching and production partnership. Adrian co-directed CubaSon in Mexico with Ramsés and helped organize its New Orleans edition. Ramsés has also taught Cuban Son and Casino workshops for DC Casineros at Glen Echo Park, strengthening the exchange between our local community and the wider Cuban dance world.
Explore His Work
Ramsés on Cuban social dance and CubaSon · Festival artist biography
Our March 2025 Glen Echo workshops with Ramsés · Explore our international work
Meet our Master Teachers & Collaborators
Photo via Son y Casino.
Artistic Board Member and Master Teacher · Cuban Son Dancer, Choreographer and Cultural Educator
Eric Turro Martínez is a Cuban dancer, choreographer and master teacher based in Australia. Born in Havana and rooted in Guanabacoa’s musical and social dance traditions, he has built an international career sharing the elegance, musicality and cultural depth of Cuban Son.
His performance history includes work alongside Compay Segundo and Buena Vista Social Club musicians. He has served as choreographer, lead dancer and presenter for The Bar at Buena Vista, and directs Dance Buena Vista, bringing Cuban music and social dance to the stage through performances and storytelling.
Through his teaching in Australia and his international work, Eric shares Son, Casino and other Cuban social dances with a strong emphasis on their musical foundations, partner connection and cultural history.
Our Connection
Eric is a friend, master teacher and collaborator within DC Casineros’ wider artistic community. His knowledge of Cuban Son and his commitment to transmitting its traditions enrich our company’s ongoing learning and cultural exchange.
Explore His Work
Buena Vista Turro Martinez — official biography and classes · Eric on the history and practice of Son and Casino
Meet our Master Teachers & Collaborators
Photo via Buena Vista Turro Martinez.
Dance Educator, Choreographer and Collaborator
Jonathan “JB” Burke is a dance educator, choreographer and longtime collaborator of DC Casineros whose work centers on Cuban popular and folkloric dance. Of Jamaican heritage, he began his Cuban dance training in Boston with MetaMovements and later became a Masacote coach and performer. His study includes Afro-Cuban and Cuban modern dance, with training from Cuban instructors in Cuba and abroad. He teaches Son, Casino, rumba and Orisha dance.
In Washington, D.C., Jonathan contributed as a performer, workshop instructor and choreographer with DC Casineros, including a featured appearance in the company’s 2018 Los Van Van production. His teaching and collaborations connect communities in Boston, New Orleans and Nashville, with international work at CubaSon in Mexico.
Shared Performance
Watch on YouTube · Follow JB’s work · Explore Casa Ilú Odara
Jonathan at Masacote · Listen to Jonathan’s artist interview · Photo via Dile Que NOLA.
Meet our master teachers and collaborators · Explore the music history behind the production
Meet our Artistic Board · Explore our international relationships · Meet the company