About us — Bachata Dominicana RD

BACHATA Dominicana RD project

We are a team of professionals with extensive experience in teaching, performing, and organizing dance events. We are all educators of bachata, merengue and other areas of the Dominican culture. Our vision and goal is to elevate the quality of teachers around the world, and prepare them with the tools to continue spreading this beautiful dance of bachata, that we love and care about, while maintaining the essence and roots of the culture.

The Bachata Dominicana certification is a program prepared to educate teachers to teach bachata in the most resourceful way. We are the creators of the first teaching pedagogy of Dominican bachata acknowledged by top cultural organizations, and the authors of the first collection containing all the most used bachata steps around the world with their names and descriptions, including our very own original steps and movements. With this certification you will learn our methodology and vocabulary, structure of dance and music, as well as its history and development of Bachata and other important related Dominican rhythms. In the two certificate courses - beginner/intermediate & intermediate/advanced - we will work not only on the structure and technique of bachata, but also on the methodology, structure and focus in the class.

JUNIOR AQUINO

Junior Aquino was born in the Dominican Republic in 1987 and took his first dance steps as a child.

At the age of fifteen, Junior began studying bachata, salsa and other traditional dance styles at Plaza de la Cultura in Bonao, after which he continued his dance career at several dance schools in the Dominican Republic. At nineteen years of age, he became an important representative of the bachata in his hometown of Bonao when he began organizing competitions, socials and other events.

Junior has been teaching bachata and salsa since 2008 in the Dominican Republic and has also participated in national competitions and acted as a dancer in film and television productions. Since 2014, Junior has taught and performed at congresses, festivals and other events all over the world together with his dance partner Carolina Bustamante and their pro and student teams.

He is the founder and owner of Keloke Dance Company who organizes Keloke Bachata Festival, the first all Dominican festival in Scandinavia, and Keloke Bachata Adventures, a dance tour in the Dominican Republic. Since 2021 he runs his own dance school in Stockholm together with his dance partner Carolina Bustamante, Keloke Dance Studio, which specializes in the dance styles originated from the Dominican Republic. He is seen as one of the most renowned artists and instructors in the world in his genre and one of the biggest promotors of the Dominican culture, dance and music.

ALEJANDRO GIL LINDSTRÖM

Alejandro Luís Gil Lindström (a.k.a. Sueco) was born in 1988 in Gothenburg, Sweden, but moved to Spain at the age of 4. He loved dance from a very young age and at age 13 he started a breakdance group along with five Dominican friends. Sueco became more and more involved in the Dominican culture and started to go to Dominican parties and clubs where he took his first bachata steps. He fell in love with the music and to this day he still has no favorite among the bachata artists as he thinks they all have their own essence and style.

In 2013 he became part of a group of salsa Caleña where he met his current life and dance partner Johanna who inspired him to learn even more about bachata and bring his dancing to a professional level. He loves all Latin and Caribbean rhythms but his favorite styles are bachata and merengue.

Sueco & Johanna have been dancing together since 2013 and have won several bachata competitions. Since 2016 they are teaching and traveling on a professional level while residing in Madrid where they also have their own group of students. Their goal is to share their work with the world and to spread the Dominican culture.

EDWIN FERRERAS

International Ambassador of Dominican Arts, Edwin M Ferreras, is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic educator of music, dance, and ethnomusicology.

Born in 1984 in San Pedro De Macoris, he moved to Washington Heights at a young age. While in New York City, he earned his BA in Music Education with a secondary concentration in Music at City College.

After graduating, Edwin began an international dance and teaching career. Today he works as an international teaching artist with partner Dakhóta Romero and their company Areíto Arts. As a world-class educator, he has taught and trained dancers from all over the world; his professional credits as educator and curator include HBO Max Romeo Santos “King of Bachata,” Facebook Global, Youtube Studios, Curriculum development and teacher training for NYC Department of Education, City College Dominican Studies Institute, NYU Afro Caribbean studies, Dream Project Bachata Academy in the Dominican Republic and New York.

His trajectory has reached 65+ million video views for cultural dance videos on social media, including his work with his partner at Areíto Arts.

CAROLINA BUSTAMANTE

Carolina Bustamante was born in Quindío, Colombia in 1991 and from a very young age she started to fall in love with dance.

In 2007 Carolina left Colombia and moved to the north of Sweden but continued learning and taking dance classes by regularly traveling to the capital Stockholm. In 2012 Carolina decided to move to Stockholm permanently to dedicate herself fully to the dance. Starting from zero with only a desire to dance and evolve she was soon a highly skilled dancer teaching both salsa, bachata and kizomba. She started traveling to congresses and festivals all over the world to learn more and has during the last couple of years dedicated herself fully to bachata, merengue and the most popular dance styles in the Dominican Republic.

In October 2015 Carolina spent a month in the Dominican Republic taking classes and dancing while falling even more in love with the Dominican culture. She has since then developed her own style and enchants dancers and students all over the world with her femininity and sensualness.

With her dance partner, Junior Aquino, and their pro and student teams, Carolina has taught and performed at congresses, festivals and other events all over the world. During the last couple of years Carolina is also leading her very own team of ladies, BachaQueens, with some of the best female bachata dancers in Stockholm and Sweden.

Since 2021 she runs her own dance school in Stockholm together with her dance partner Junior Aquino, Keloke Dance Studio, which specializes in the dance styles originated from the Dominican Republic.

JOHANNA NOVAS

Johanna Rosanna Novas Pérez, born in 1988 in Santo Domingo, DR, moved to Spain at only 5 years of age. She kept traveling to DR every year keeping her Dominican roots and at the same time learning about the Spanish culture.

Even as a little girl she loved dancing and started to dance the different styles of the island, taking her first steps in family. She considers herself a lover of both bachata, merengue and salsa and was between 2010-2016 part of a group of salsa Caleña.

In 2013 she met her life and dance partner, Sueco, and with his love and passion for the Dominican culture she was inspired to take the first step to dedicate herself professionally to the bachata. Johanna is not only a creative and passionate dancer but also a most talented fashion designer as you can see in their amazing stage outfits.

DAKHÔTA ROMERO

Dakhóta Romero was born in Santa Monica, California on the Summer Solstice of 1987.

Following in the footsteps of her grandmother and great-grandmother, both professional dancers, Dakhóta began studying dance at the tender age of 4. She distinctly remembers the moment her passion for Afro-Caribbean dance emerged, when her grandmother taught her Chachachá. While earning her degree in Music at Loyola Marymount University, Dakhóta was introduced to Bachata and completely fell in love.

In 2017, along with dance partner Edwin Ferreras, she founded Areíto Arts, an Afro-Caribbean Dance company specializing in history, music, and culture. Together they have worked at dance festivals across 5 continents and 13 countries, teaching many world class international artists along the way, and have been featured educators at teacher trainings, which have professionally developed over 40 dance instructors around the world.

Dakhóta’s professional credits include Insider, Telemundo, News Stations in the US, Canada and Dominican Republic, Bachata Academy (DR), Lincoln Center (NYC), Museum of New York, and Guinness World Records.

As an Indigenous person, her passion for culture, history, and recognition translates into her creative work and love for Dominican arts.