Ladies Performance Team

Vanessa Gutierrez,

Assistant Director/ Director of Ladies

Tanya Duarte

Tanya was born in Boston to parents from Puerto Rico and Perú. She grew up too shy to ever try dancing herself, but always loved to watch. Her interest in salsa grew over the years until finally she went to a local salsa club for the first time. Still too afraid to dance, she was mesmerized and inspired by the confidence and style of many of the dancers, some of whom were students of Rumba y Timbal and recommended she take their classes. She came to the Company with no prior dance experience in July of 2009 when she joined a Training Group, never expecting to progress past the most basic beginner moves. Salsa quickly became one of her biggest passions. She began to build her skills through the training program and a few weeks later was recognized as the most improved dancer at the studio by the director. She was then invited to join the Advanced Student Group in the fall and performed for the first time at the 2010 Boston Salsa Congress. She is now a member of the Ladies Performance Team, and often helps with some of the classes. Tanya is very grateful to her teachers for their instruction and support and is excited to grow as a dancer with the Company.

Kristina Bechard

Kristina Bechard, best known as Tina, was born in Vermont and has always loved dance from a very young age although never taken any classes.It wasn't until she discovered Salsa around age 20 that she really started dedicating her time to dance. She left her mark on her University by creating a Salsa and Ballroom dance group called SASS which is now the second largest club on campus. With SASS, she taught beginner lessons in Ballroom and Latin dance, performed in Rueda routines as well as competed in Beginner Ballroom competitions. Tina moved to Boston in 2007 for a job and discovered a whole new world of Salsa. She joined Rumba y Timbal in 2008 and has been dancing and performing with them since then.

Angela Spignese

Liliana Jimenez

Liliana Jimenez was born in Cidra, Puerto Rico. Her family came to Boston, MA when she was 3. Her parents grew fond of the city and actually preferred the cold weather. Liliana has always been curious of the world of dancing, and at the age of 14 she discovered belly dancing. Her first performance with belly dancing was at her high school Boston Latin Academy’s talent show, and has since pursued it. After graduating high school, Liliana was swamped quickly with the Nursing curriculum at Northeastern University, and fell out of touch with the dance world until she discovered Northeastern University’s NU-Opps Instructional Recreational program, which included a Belly Dancing class. She tried the class and the instructor immediately discovered her abilities and invited her to co-teach the class. This opportunity helped her passion for dancing stay alive. In 2008 she joined a friend for a night of salsa dancing which sparked an interest to learn more. Due to the increasingly amount of work and class, Liliana decided to learn more about this new field by attending salsa clubs and events. In 2009 she participated in her school’s Latin Dance Competition, and to her surprise won first place. Excited and thrilled about the accomplishment, she realized salsa dancing needed to be a part of her life. Liliana finally joined the Rumba y Timbal Dance Company in January 2010 and has had the pleasure to begin her journey on the Student Team.

Jacquelyn Jankowski

Jacquelyn Jankowski was born and raised in Webster, Massachusetts. For a small rural town, she was exposed to many different cultures and music as a young child. Jackie loved to hear stories about how her mother's generation learned different dance moves through partner work. Unlike the current dance culture, she wished she could have those same experiences. As an adult, Jackie was introduced to salsa dancing through a friend in 2006. The music was a familiar friend as she remembered the Latin rhythms filling the homes from her childhood. The energy and style of dance was exactly what she had longed for. A friend recommended that she go to the Havana Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Salsa has been a driving force in her life ever since. Jackie started to take Salsa lessons at the Salsa Storm dance studio in Worcester where she learned the foundations of the dance and started to become acquainted with the Salsa community. Soon after, she became more involved with the Boston Salsa scene where she noticed a higher technical level and expression of the dance. Jackie's desire to learn more about the skill and art of Salsa eventually led her to the Rumba Y Timbal Dance Company in 2009 where she has continued to pursue her passion for Salsa. Jackie has performed as a member of the Student and Advanced student teams in Congresses such as Orlando, Boston, and Connecticut. She is furthering her passion for improving and dancing as a member of the Ladies Performance group of Rumba y Timbal.

Laura Perovich

Laura grew up in New Hampshire, where she enjoyed participating in many sports, especially gymnastics. Looking for a new athletic challenge, she took up Track and Field as a sophomore at Bowdoin College. Through her hard work, she qualified to compete at the DIII Indoor Track and Field National Championships her senior year. After college, she spent two years teaching high school math in a small village in Guinea, West Africa with the Peace Corps. Upon returning to New England, Laura started dancing salsa and rueda as a way to continue her passions for athletics and learning about other cultures. Laura has been training with Rumba y Timbal for over one year and looks forward to her dancing future with the company.

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.