Fábrica de Salsa - Who we are
Fábrica de Salsa was founded 25 years ago by Luis González. The enthusiasm and and love for this dance and its music motivated Luis, to cultivate Salsa in Basel. He wanted Basel to also fall in love with this charming, playful and elegant dance. The most important pillar of our philosophy is the strong believe, that absolutely everybody is able to learn how to dance Salsa, no matter his heritage, talent, age or nationality. We invest enough time for each student and accompany you on your way to become a Salsa dancer.
We offer a wide variety of classes and workshops for all levels (Beginner to Advanced) in various styles. We mainly teach linear style, Salsa On1, but also Bachata (dominican style), Lady Styling and Salsa On2 (New York Style/Mambo). During our regular workshop days we offer additional dance classes, to enhance your repertoire (i.e. ChaChaCha, Rueda de Casino, Musicality & History, Tango Argentino etc.).
We are experienced teachers since many years with a profound knowledge of dancing and teaching. It is important for us to have our classes well structured and thought through so that we have enough time to help and correct every student individually where needed. We teach in a clear, easy and humorous manner and we allow enough time for repetitions to tighten the freshly learned steps and patterns. Besides teaching classical turn patterns, we set a high value on technique, feeling for rhythm, musicailty and body movements.
Veronica Forter
Veronica, with filipino roots, entered the Salsa scene in 2008 in a class at Fabrica de Salsa. Fascinated by the music and the movements and the resulting connections of people with different cultures, Veronica started with Salsa Puertorriqueña. After a long stay abroad, where she attended regular workshops and festivals, she came back to Switzerland with a big dancing experience.
Since 2017 she is the head of Fabrica de Salsa. In her classes, she sets a great value on having enough time for every student, to support their development. She loves to share her passion for dancing with her students and enjoys the creativity and happiness of Salsa. For her, the love for Salsa is a matter of the heart, no matter where in the world you go dancing.
Besides dancing and teaching Salsa, Veronica is also a passionate Tango dancer (www.tangodancers.ch) and does not miss out on Yoga classes at YogaNow (www.yoganow-basel.ch) to form the basics of her dancing technique.
Luis González
Luis is from Santiago de Chile and grew up in a family of part time musicians. As a student he found hs way to dance through the caribbean music and got addicetd to Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia etc. His travels through Europe brought him to Switzerland in 1993 where he started studying again and taught spanish. 1998 he started teaching Salsa for Unisport students and at the Migros Klubschule. This helped him gather a lot of experience in teaching and allowed him to develop his own, unique, personal and humorous teaching style. Attending workshops nationally and internationally, i.e. with Franky Martinez, Eddie Tores, Leon Rose, Magna Copal or Melissa Rosado, gave him the opportunity to pick from all these teaching techniques the ones that fit his style the best.
Several longer stays in Nw York affected and formed his dance style the most. He started dancing and loving NewYork-Style 'On2'. On travels to Cuba he intensly learned 'Rueda de Casino'. His dance style is a mix of the cuban temper and the elegance of puertorican Salsa 'On1' and 'On2'.
Besides his dancing experiences worldwide that he passed on to his students with a lot of passion, he worked as a choreographer and did some shows. In 2015, Luis successfully finished his education as a Yoga teacher and opened up the Iyengar Yoga school YogaNow (www.yoganow-basel.ch) in Basel, right across the hall of the Fabrica de Salsa Studio. He is teaching and passionately dancing also Tango Argentino at www.tangodancers.ch.