Millie was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. Her parents are immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She has always been very fond of Salsa and whenever possible found time to “shake her thing” in New York nightclubs.
In 1997, her job offered her a position in the Tidewater area and she decided to move to Virginia Beach in order to offer her children a better life. Once in the Tidewater area, the lack of a salsa scene was quickly noticeable. She did however frequent the old reliables, such as Tropicana’s, Willie’s, and, of course, Knickerbocker Sundays. There were a lot of merenguero’s and bachateros, but only a handful of true salsa dancers.
In 2003, she met “Scuba Steve”. Scuba was looking for a Salsa dance partner. After they met, Scuba was impressed by her talent and suggested that she offer salsa classes at a local dance studio. She was very hesitant at first because she felt she lacked the experience and credentials necessary to teach the art she so loved. She kept hearing about people in the area loving Salsa, but other than ballroom, having nowhere to go to learn.
After a lot of consideration and soul searching she realized that sometimes you have to make the difference and pioneer the change. Armed with the compliments she had received through the years and charging forward keeping in mind that “nothing beats a failure but a try” she decided to teach Salsa. With the help and support of her family and friends, Millie started SalsaVA in February of 2004.
It has been a groundbreaking journey and she has strived to learn and then share her talent with her friends and students. The goal of SalsaVA has been to attract the attention of those wanting to share their love of salsa and together to grow a salsa scene in the Tidewater area.
SalsaVA has recently decided to teach Salsa ON2, better known as Mambo in order to propel the local area into the Mambo movement so prevalent worldwide.
Millie’s accomplishments include placing 2nd in the 2004 Norfolk State University Salsa Contest and 1st Place in the 2004 Virginia Beach Latin Festival.
In 2005, SalsaVA promoted Manila’s Avenue’s first salsa contest and pioneered the first monthly Salsa Social in the Tidewater Area.
For more info call Leo at (757)515-0066 or Millie at (757)332-0953