Bio

Ava Apple, a native of San Francisco, California, has been teaching and performing since her teens. She has studied and performed a variety of dance forms, including Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Hustle, Flamenco, and Puerto Rican and Italian Folk dances.

Ava has won many Dance competitions, including "The World's Largest Mambo Contest" in The Bronx, NY in 1999, and "Alberto's Pro Salsa Competition" in Mountain View, CA in 2000, both with former partner, Luis Rosa.

She has competed in Salsa, Hustle, West Coast Swing, Theater Arts, and American Rhythm, and has been honored for her contributions to the world of Salsa at the 2002 West Coast Salsa Congress, 2003 SF Salsa Congress, 2003 Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts 25th Anniversary Celebration.

Along with her dance company "The Latin Symbolics", and former partners - Dave Paris and Luis Rosa, she has performed and taught at various salsa congresses and festivals throughout the U.S., Ecuador, Italy, The Netherlands and Asia, and continues to travel and perform with her current partner, Rodolfo Guzman. Ava is known for her clear and detailed teaching methods, and many Bay Area salsa teachers started out in her classes or as members of her dance company.

Rodolfo Guzman grew up in Mexico, dancing and playing sports since his youth. He started taking salsa classes from Ava in 2002, joined The Latin Symbolics in 2004, and became Ava's dance partner in 2005. Their first performance together was at "Festival Borincano 2005" in Puerto Rico. They have taught workshops at various congresses throughout the U.S., including the West Coast Salsa Congress, and the Chicago Salsa Congress. Together, Ava and Rodolfo are directors of The Latin Symbolics, Symbolic Mambo and The Latin Symbolics Student Team.

Rodolfo is well known for being able to simplify the learning process, and has a talent for breaking things down. He especially enjoys introducing people to the world of salsa.

Ava's Partners

Ava has been lucky to have so many wonderful and varied dance partners over the course of her career. Her first long term dance partner was Andre Washington. Andre and Ava danced together for almost ten years. They met at a "Dance Fever" audition that Andre was judging at a nightclub in Emeryville. Andre had been on "Dance Fever" already with a previous partner, and was now living in the East Bay.

He later told Ava that the first thing he had noticed was her arm movements, and he wondered why she didn't currently have a partner? They exchanged phone numbers, chatted for a few weeks, then started practicing together in Ava's living room. Being a victorian house, the room had 14 ft. ceilings. Good for practicing the lifts, as Andre was 6'3".

Together they went on to perform and compete in Hustle, Theater Arts, and West Coast Swing at competitions throughout California and Nevada. Sadly, Andre passed away from AIDS over 15 years ago. You can see Andre and Ava competing in West Coast Swing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPmCVs7w7O

Arthur Calandrelli

Arthur and Ava danced together for two years and competed in the "American Rhythm" (Cha cha, Rumba, Bolero, Mambo, Swing) category at Ballroom competitions in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle. They also had the honor of dancing in a Linda Ronstadt video, directed by the late Michael Smuin.

Luis Rosa

Ava and Luis danced together for 5 years. They met in New York at "Hustle USA", and competed together for the first time that weekend in the "Just Dance" category placing 3rd out of 15 couples! Both coming from a background of hustle dancing, they were one of the first couples to incorporate lifts and aerials into salsa dance. Watch Luis and Ava at the 2001 "Sportsman's Lodge" competition in Los Angeles, C.A. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB7_C_qz6kk

Dave Paris

Ava and Dave had a very successful partnership, dancing together for 3 years. They were invited performers and instructors at several international events, including salsa congresses in Hong Kong, Hamburg, Rome, and Montreal. They also produced a series of 7 instructional dvd's titled "Salsa Lifts & Aerials - On 1 & On 2".

Dave resides in his hometown of Brooklyn, NY and continues to travel the world as a performer and instructor with his partner, Ms. Zoe Klein. www.paradizodance.com