Derek teaches his urban rhythm style of Salsa on 1 and Mambo on 2 beginner thru advanced classes at the Burke SouthRun RECenter, private parties and events, his home studio in Burke, and at local dance studios and club venues.

Derek aka SalsaApache, is a local Salsa/Mambo instructors who has been dancing salsa for 8 years and teaching for the last three.  Derek was born In NY, NY and grew up in Chicago, and has lived and worked for many years in Germany, Japan, the Middle East, and Hawaii. His music and dancing roots include of a lifetime of freestyle dancing to Hiphop, Soul, Reggae, Latin, etc.,  which garnered in him a deep love and appreciation for urban and world beat rhythms.  In 1999 Derek decided he wanted to change his style of dancing to a form that provided more of a connection with a partner.  Considering the urban and rhythmic music he loved and the styles available, Derek viewed Salsa as one of the most freestyle forms of partner dancing.  It also helped that there were some excellent local instructors in the VA/DC/MD area from whom to learn.   Starting with attending progressive classes and club events for a few years, (with/ Jeri Dembrak, Keith Givens, Ricardo, Shaka Brown, Jami Jones, Adbul, Manuel Martinez, Former VA state champions Dan & Ann Roman, etc.,) Derek finally decided to focus his time on performance level training exclusively with the best dancers/instructors he could find.  This lead to 2+ years of advanced training with Ceci Villalobos, founder of the Salsa Fuego Afro-Latin dance troop, and 3+ years with Psyon Mauricio, co-founder (w/Shaka Brown) of the innovative Clavekazi dance troop.  Working with these instructors helped Derek refine his own unique Urban Rhythm style to include afro-cuban body isolations and cutting edge partnering techniques, and become well versed in dancing and teaching Salsa on 1 or 2.  Now Derek enjoyes sharing his skills by teaching weekly group Mambo classes at the Burke SouthRun RECenter on Sunday’s, his home studio in Burke, and on occasion, does intermediate and advanced workshops at local studios, clubs, corporate functions, and private parties.  In early 2005 Derek also founded his website http://www.SalsaApache.com which specializes in helping you grow as a dancer by displaying streaming videos of local dancers, performers and events, as well as salsa instruction articles and music listings.  He also choreographed and debuted his "Urban Mambo Close Quarters Combat" performance and was honored in 2005, to be nominated as DC’s Salsero of the year as sponsored DC’s www.SalsaMetro.com website.  In 2006 he Won a www.StuckonSalsa.com, Community service award for video excellence.  In 2007 he choreographed and debuted his "Isolations and Rotations" performance routine.  In addition to teaching, Derek is developing and filming his Black Belt Mambo series of instructional dvds and offers video services to other salsa instructors and promoters.

Derek’s teaching schedule is as follows;

Group and Privates by appointment in his Home Studio at;

9688 Woodhenge Court,  Burke VA 22015  Ph#703-629-8457

Directions at http://www.SalsaApache.com