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About Us
Contact us by email at para_bailar_casino@yahoo.com or Steve Nachman at 760-436-7070.
Rueda de Casino started in San Diego in 1998 when master dancer Juan Carlos Blanco arrived from Cuba and started teaching Cuban popular dance to a small group of students. The Encinitas Friday Night Salsa class, now the largest ongoing salsa class on the West Coast, started in 1999 with Juan Carlos Blanco teaching. Eric Johnson took over for a year in 2000 and has been teaching casino and rueda de casino ever since. In 2002, Eric teamed up with “Despelote Queen ” Sarita Streng to teach rueda de casino at Dance North County in Encintas, which is still home base for rueda in San Diego. Our performance group dances rueda de casino around Southern California, Mexico, and wherever we're invited!
Our Timeline
- 1998-1999 Rueda de casino first hits San Diego with the arrival of Juan Carlos Blanco from Havana
- 2000-2001 Eric Johnson teaches Cuban popular dance for the Patricia Rincon Dance Collective
- 2002 Eric and Sarita Streng start the ongoing rueda de casino classes in Encinitas on Sundays at Dance North County in Encinitas. Eric and Sarita give demos and workshops at local universities and lecture about casino and its origins.
- 2003-2004 Sarita takes over teaching rueda while Eric spends a year in Cuba researching Cuban dance.
- 2004 La Rueda de Guanabacoa film project begins! Sarita teaches rueda de casino and establishes a performance group at Mira Costa College that includes future head instructor Thierry Pinguet.
- 2005 Sarita leaves to New Mexico after Eric returns from Cuba. Eric continues teaching rueda at Dance North County in Encinitas with Colin Khoury. Our performance group continues to perform around Southern California and Mexico.
- 2005 Ruedasandiego.com goes live with Jerri Nachman as webmaster. Eric Johnson, Mariana Oliva (UCSD grad student from Havana), and Colin Khoury found the Rueda de Casino recreational club at the UCSD, now with almost 100 members enjoying rueda every quarter!
- 2006 Cuban Jordaine Fernandez teaches rueda at Dance North County while Eric’s away. Current instructor Thierry Pinguet takes over mid-year and starts introducing rueda moves from Miami into the mix. Rueda San Diego performs at congress in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, to multiple standing ovations! Great choreography and direction by Colin Khoury.
- 2007 We’re still going strong with Thierry at the helm on Sundays and Erika assisting! Rueda San Diego performs at the West Coast Salsa Congress, Los Angeles, in May, and all over San Diego in June. Eric on hiatus August to October doing research in Cuba.
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