Juan and Samantha

Name: Bachateros Juan and Samantha

Area / School: Sydney / Bachateros

Specialty: Bachata Moderna, Bachata Traditional

Juan is responsible for the Bachata craze in Australia & New Zealand as 2004 saw him in a new country & culture when he arrived in Sydney, only to find the dance he was most passionate about was a taboo, never played in nightclubs or taught at dance studios. Inspired as no one else can be with Bachata, Juan started running classes & workshops, as well as promoting Bachata music to various influential DJ’s, Nightclubs & Latin Events. It was from there his fame as ‘El Bachatero’ grew quickly making him the best know Bachata Instructor in Australia & New Zealand. Juan is also one of the organizers of the successful ‘Sydney Bachata Festival’.

Juan’s unique Bachata style is known as Bachata Moderna, which is a mixed flavor of Zouk, Kizomba, Tango, Hip Hop, R&B and many other. He has an incredible talent of fusing the passion these dance styles have & yet remains true to Bachata form, maintaining the feeling & emotional elements that makes Bachata what it is.

Samantha Cilia is one of Sydney’s most recognized Latin Dancers. Samantha has been dancing since the age of 5 yrs and has been formally trained in ballet, tap and jazz. Over the past 2+years she has focused all her energy on various Latin styles mainly Salsa, Zouk and Bachata. You will find her and her bubbly personality out nearly every night of the week dancing up a storm on the Sydney dance floors.

Together, Juan and Samantha have taught hundreds of Bachata workshops throughout Australia as well as the USA, and currently runs monthly boot camps/workshops in some of the most prestigious Latin dance schools in Sydney.