Afro-Cuban Dance Classes
with Judith Justiz

For the past 35 years I have been a performer, teacher, and choreographer for traditional Afro-Cuban dance. My backround in Cuban includes performing with the Santiago-based company "Folklorico de Oriente", of which I was a founding member, co-director of the University Dance and Drama Folklore Ensemble", and member of the "Cabildo Teatral Santigo", regarded as one of the most important theatrical organizations in the country because of our field research into regional dance and music. Among the numerous national awards I have received are those from the Panorama Nacional de Teatro y Danza, Festival de Guignol, Festival Nacional de la Universidad, and Festival Campesino de Teatro y Danza. Although I have studied ballet, modern dance, folk and popular dances at the National School of Art in Havana, my first love has always been the Afro-Cuban Lucumi traditional form.
Since 1980, I have continued to promote Cuban folkloric dance by teaching classes throughout the Bay Area and through participation in many artistic events including the Bay Area Dance Series, the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, and the World Drum Festival. I initiated the very popular "Rumba Sunday", a monthly dance and food workshop. For five years I conducted workshops at Buena Vista School in San Francisco where I taught children, parents and teachers. Special workshops at Mills College, the Santa Cruz Dance Studio, Mission Cultural Center and the California Dance Collective in Berkeley affirm the increasing public interest in this authentic dance.