Rodney Lopez

Rodney Lopez’s [Class Schedule] [Event Calendar]

Rodney Lopez is an accomplished Latin dance instructor and a popular face on the New York Salsa scene. He is praised by colleagues and students alike for his entertaining and thoughtful teaching style.

Rodney has taught and performed at major venues such as New York City’s First Night – including the Museum of the City of New York and the U.S.S. Intrepid; the Children’s Aid Society Annual Spring Gala; Club Getaway; and Baruch College. He has appeared on the WB11 Morning News, Fox’s Good Day New York, The Queen Latifah Show and in the Off-Broadway smash, Latin Madness. His most unique gig: dancing in the Macy*s window as promotion for Lincoln Center's 2011 Midsummer Nite Swing series.

He was Team Captain of the Addie-Tude Dance Company, one of New York's most respected Salsa dance companies under the direction of Addie Diaz, through 2005. He has directed and choreographed Dance Manhattan's salsa performance teams for years. Rodney has also moved beyond his Latin dance roots to perform and compete with New York-area West Coast Swing and Carolina Shag teams.

Rodney's work has been featured in documentaries, news articles and other media. He was interviewed in the PBS documentary "Nuyoricans: Puerto Ricans in New York"; he is a featured salsa instructor in the DVD "Salsa for Peace: Orquesta de la Luz Live at the Copacabana".

The documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom" features his teaching work with the American Ballroom Theater's Dancing Classrooms program. His students from PS115 were highlighted in this documentary and were winners of the 2004 dance competition. Rodney continues to teach in this program and is currently also its Director.

His teaching approach, highlighted in Newsday in an article about the New York dance scene, can be seen in his instructional video on leading techniques which was released in December 2005.

He is a favorite at various private, corporate and non-profit events around the city for his ability to move a crowd. A devoted student of the history of Latin music and dance, Rodney has written about salsa history for various print and Internet news outlets.

Rodney began teaching in 1996 with Sanando Through the Arts, an arts non-profit organization based in New York City's Lower East Side. He currently teaches Latin music history and dance for the Bank Street College of Education's I-LEAD program and is the Coordinator of the Latin Program at Dance Manhattan, which received "Best Bet" honors from New York Magazine in 2002.

Here's Rodney and latin partner, Mariana Parma, dancing Salsa at Guest Night 2009