Roberto Figueroa, Artistic Director/Founder

Roberto Figueroa was born and raised in El Salvador. As a young child he was strongly influenced by his mother's passion for Cumbia-a traditional El Salvadorian dance. Eventually Roberto's growing passion for dance led him to be involved with several folkloric dance teams in El Salvador. In April of 2002, Roberto moved to Boston to pursue his engineering career. He began to explore the Boston Salsa scene and soon fell in love with the world of salsa, as it reminds him of his life and culture back in El Salvador. Shortly after, he was offered a position of Latin Artistic Director for Jam'nastics, a position he held for several years. He has now taken his passion for dance one step further with the start of his own company founded in the spring of 2007. As Artistic Director of Rumba y Timbal Dance Company, Roberto has the opportunity and great pleasure of sharing his culture and love of dance with the communities of the greater Boston area. As a professional dancer and teacher, he enjoys performing in and teaching at workshops and congresses all over the United States, Canada, and El Salvador.

 

 

 

Vanessa Gutierrez, Assistant Director

Vanessa Gutiérrez trained in Ballet and Modern dance since the age of 3 with Portland School of Ballet in Maine as well as with Ram Island Dance, Boston Ballet, Walnut Hill, and other schools across the country. Dancing with Portland Ballet Company, she has performed numerous soloist roles in performances such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and in many world premieres. She has also been an extra for the movie The Boondock Saints, performed in the Musical FAME as the lead role; Iris Kelley, and was invited to perform with Prometheus Dance and American Ballet Theatre. Vanessa attended The Boston Conservatory for two years as a dance major training and performing before taking a break from dance and moving on to study Physical Therapy. Vanessa rediscovered her passion for dance and became more in touch with her Latin heritage while out salsa dancing in 2005. After a few months of classes here and there, she began training with Roberto. In September 2005, Vanessa was invited to train and perform with the semi-professional team where she quickly moved into the professional group by 2006. Vanessa was part of the original group that founded Rumba y Timbal with Roberto in 2007 and enjoys seeing the growth of the company over the years. She is happy to have been given the opportunity to perform and teach in many congresses including Boston, Connecticut, Dallas, Montreal, New York, Summer Salsa Festival, and Punta Cana to name a few. She is thankful to be given the opportunity to grow artistically as a dancer and performer as well as to share her love and passion for dance with others by teaching classes. Outside of the dance studio, Vanessa is a Doctor of Physical Therapy.

 

Sandra Santizo

Born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Sandra Santizo’s parents brought her to the United States looking for a better life. Her curiosity about the North American culture sparked her interest in dance. Growing up as a bilingual student in Boston Public Schools she first became fascinated of dance and the arts at age 11 when she began to explore a variety of styles of dance at her middle school dance company, “On the Move”, a dance program at the Robert Gould Shaw middle school. She later went on to audition and was accepted to Boston Arts Academy as a Dance major where she trained in Ballet, Modern, and Jazz among other things. While at Boston Arts Academy she had the pleasure of master classes and even dancing for some renowned choreographers and companies such as Bill T. Jones, Snappy Dance Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Sean Curran, Marlise Yearby, David Parsons, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Ronald K. Brown. While at Boston Arts Academy She Was invited to attend the Regional High school Dance Festival, in 2005, and the National High school Dance Festival in 2006. Aside from being an aspiring artist at the academy she received the U.C. Berkley Book Award, was inducted into National Honors Society, received Honors all four years, and received a partial scholarship to University of Massachusetts, Boston. In her third year at the Academy she joined the Salsa Club where she discovered her passion for salsa and salsa dancing. She currently dances with Rumba y Timbal where she has had the opportunity to professionally perform at multiple salsa congresses and festivals in Boston, Chicago, Connecticut, Montreal, New York, and Punta Cana.

 

 

 

Jose Vega

Jose started dancing with Rumba y Timbal in the student group in 2008. Although he had no experience dancing or performing, he quickly realized he was a natural. Jose quickly rose to the Semi-pro team performing in congresses in Boston, CT, New York and Summer Salsa Festival in Canada. He looks forward to improving further with the Professional company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apprentices to the Company

 

 

Angela Spignese

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ulrich Inge

Ulrich Inge was born in Suriname and moved to NYC when he was 4 years old. As a child he enjoyed playing Basketball. While attending Xavier high school Ulrich was involved in various theatre productions and musicals. He enjoyed the drama and the opportunity to express himself as different characters.

In 2006 Ulrich attended Boston University’s School of Management and took up ballroom dancing. During the four years at university he partook in all four categories of ballroom dancing (i.e. Latin, Rhythm, Smooth, and Standard). Towards the end of his junior year, Ulrich began dancing salsa with Boston Salsa University; a club affiliated with Boston University. He was involved with the weekly club as well as the performance team. Through the club Ulrich was introduced to Rumba Y Timbal and has continued dancing there ever since. He has performed with Rumba Y Timbal at various venues in Boston and Connecticut.

Ulrich loves to dance and sees it as a way inspire people and bring joy to the lives of others. Dancing has helped him to better understand the values of patience, respect, and humility. Through hours of practice and consistent work on refining a single move there is a certain peace about salsa dancing. It allows you to connect with another individual within three minutes that are not possible in many other ways. Salsa dancing has become the main focus for Ulrich, and he has dedicated himself to the steadfast path of mastery. Throughout this ongoing journey of mastery, Rumba Y Timbal has become a family for Ulrich and through various trials, tribulations, and tears we all have become stronger. Whenever Ulrich dances, he dances for love and for God. It is this devotion that keeps him steadfast on the path to being a better person and a better dancer.

 

Jossie Mar Diaz

Jossie Mar Diaz is trained in Ballet, Jazz and Tap dance. She started out at the young age of 3 at Tanya’s Dance Center (TDC) in Dedham Ma. After dancing at TDC for 15 years she later went onto attend the Boston Arts Academy (BAA) as a Dance major. While at BAA, she had the pleasure of attending master classes with Bill T. Jones, Snappy Dance Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Sean Curran, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Ronald K. Brown. In her third year at BAA she joined the Salsa Club directed by Roberto Figueroa & Vera Rowe. After graduating from BAA, she went onto college, but longed for the salsa community. She formed her own dance company, Paraíso Latino, where she co-directed a group of students in a variety of forms of Latin dance with a focus on Salsa. Post graduation, Jossie has decided to go back to where she started dancing Salsa by dancing and teaching for Rumba y Timbal.

 

Jorge Valdez

Jorge was born and raised in Mexico. He moved to Arizona to pursue a bachelor’s degree in bioengineering. While in Arizona, he encountered salsa and the realm of social dancing . After moving to Boston to continue his graduate studies, Jorge’s efforts to expand his understanding of latin dancing led him to find Rumba y Timbal. He started taking classes in the training group where his talents in dance were noticed by Roberto. He is now training with the performance team, as one of its newest members. When not in lab, he can be found at the studio practicing diligently or at the salsa clubs around Boston dancing the night away.

 

 

Julian De Las Nieves

Julian started learning from Roberto in an after school program at the age of 8. He recently returned to Rumba y Timbal after a couple of years away from dancing to join the Teen Salsa performance Group. His dedication and passion for dance is evident in all that he does. Julian has already performed for Boston Salsa Congress, Connecticut Salsa Fest, Boston Mini-Congress, Massacote's Black and White Ball, Fiesta Navidena at the Cuban Cultural Center, for News Channel 7, and many other local performances in Boston and Cambridge. He recently was invited to train with the Professional level and has dedicated himself to continuing to improve and perform with the company. Outside of Rumba y Timbal, he also enjoys many other activities including playing for a local baseball team.

 

 

 

 

 

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