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about us

Who are we? Meet the people behind CSA!

Copenhagen Salsa Academy is Copenhagen’s salsa and Latin dance school. We teach salsa and bachata, and run events, parties and workshops.

Our instructors are among the most respected and professional in Denmark, and we are proud to offer dance teaching focused on quality and good teaching practice, with our students’ learning always at the centre. CSA’s mission is to raise the standard of dancing in the Danish salsa scene and to inspire more people to dance. Here, ambition and talent are challenged, and everyone who wants to learn to dance at a higher level is welcome.

The instructors

Dennis-Bertolazza-Dennis

Dennis Bertolazza

Founder and owner, salsa instructor

Dennis is the founder and owner of Copenhagen Salsa Academy. He was born and raised in Italy with a mixed Danish/Italian background, and moved to Denmark in 2009 to find his Danish roots. The following year he started dancing, and salsa quickly became a way of life for him.

Dennis has taught salsa and bachata since 2012, first at Salsa Cubana CPH, where he was trained by his first mentor Jakob Garcia. He also became a popular salsa DJ.

In recent years he has travelled to countless events and festivals, spending many hours learning every form of salsa and studying under outstanding dancers such as Pablito Stellato, Liz Lira, Sergio Jasso, and Diego & Cristina Olorun.

For a long time Dennis’ greatest dream was to start his own dance school, and in August 2016 it became reality when he opened Copenhagen Salsa Academy. Today he is one of the most popular salsa instructors and choreographers in Copenhagen. His humour, dance style and infectious enthusiasm draw students not only from the Danish capital but from far afield.

He is known for his pedagogical and good-humoured teaching style, and works to create a happy and welcoming atmosphere on all his courses.

Ieva-Utakyte-Andersen

Ieva Utakyte

Salsa and bachata instructor

Ieva started dancing salsa by chance in 2009 in Aarhus. She was quickly drawn to the community and the social side of the dance, and carried on taking classes and dancing when she moved to Copenhagen the following year. There she worked as a bartender at Club Mambo and other clubs, where parties took place daily.

That experience gave her a better understanding of the organisational work behind events, so she founded her own concept: Urban Salsa Nights, and put on her first bachata and salsa parties at Generator Hostel, and later at Koncertkirken and Urban House. Today she is the brain behind all of CSA’s events and parties, and runs the school’s marketing.

In recent years Ieva has focused intensively on the dancing itself: she has been part of several Salsa Ladies’ Performance teams, travels abroad for festivals and classes, and has a broad knowledge of every style within salsa. As a teacher she focuses particularly on the social dancing side of salsa and on expressiveness, and with a relaxed, positive attitude she helps students connect with one another as they learn.

Camila Viancos, Camila Marietta Viancos Holst, Camila Salsa

Camila Viancos

Salsa instructor

Camila Viancos is half Chilean and half Danish, and has performed, taught and choreographed in Denmark and abroad for the past ten years. She has appeared on Danish television on several occasions, both as a teacher and as a performer. In 2005 she lived and studied in New York, specialising in salsa on 2 and New York style, and later became known as one of the first to introduce that style to the Danish salsa scene. Camila has studied and continues to study dance in Buenos Aires and in Cuba, and during her most recent stay in New York she trained intensively with Franklin Diaz.

Her style as a dancer is unique and creative: she draws on techniques from tango, modern dance, Afro-Cuban, pilates and yoga. Her way into dance is through the music, which for her is an endless source of inspiration: for many years she has performed as a salsa singer and taught musicality for dancers with live musicians from Suwalski’s Latin Quarter.

She teaches “on 1”, “on 2”, bachata, cha-cha-cha, pachanga, lady styling, musicality and Afro-Caribbean body movement. She currently also teaches and performs with the world-renowned dancer and performer Luis Vazquez. Beyond salsa, she teaches yoga, pilates and tango.

Berta-Soley-Berta

Berta Soley

Salsa instructor

Berta is from Barcelona in Spain, and dance has been her passion since childhood: she started at the age of six and spent many years dancing hip hop, funk, belly dance and much more. She took up salsa at eighteen and still loves it today: in her own words, salsa has “the joy, fire and sensuality that keeps me coming back”.

Berta is also a wonderful social dancer, with a magnetic smile, strong skills and a warm manner. She had already been assisting with salsa classes in Copenhagen for a couple of years when she joined CSA in the summer of 2021. She is always ready to help students, and we are sure you will love her energy and charisma.

Thomas-Nygaard-Thomas

Thomas Nygaard

Salsa and bachata instructor

Thomas is one of the pioneers of the Scandinavian Latin scene, with more than 15 years of experience as a teacher. As well as being a superb dancer, he is a professionally trained actor, director and energy coach.

He has been a major part of Copenhagen’s salsa and bachata scene for many years, not least through his school “The Academy of Street Salsa”, where Dennis took his first steps as a salsa dancer back in 2010. Today he teaches salsa at CSA, focusing on developing new dancers with the right tools from the start – you will love his patient, friendly approach to dance.

Christina Pangidou

Christina Pangidou

Salsa instructor

Christina began dancing as a little girl and has a unique background spanning classical ballet, modern dance and Latin. She has taught and choreographed in her home town in Greece as well as in Odense and Copenhagen, and has taken dance classes in London.

In 2007 a friend took her along to a Latin American dance class, and she was blown away by the style, the energy and the speed of the dance. She started going to lots of social parties: “People were always happy! That motivated me to learn more and later to start teaching, because I believe everyone should be as happy as salsa dancers are.”

Christina can dance both as a follower and as a leader, so she knows how to help everyone improve. She is always smiling and ready to bring good energy to class, so good vibes are guaranteed.

Vishal-Vj-Vj Vishal Jethwa

VJ

Salsa and bachata instructor, DJ

VJ is originally from India and has danced salsa, bachata and kizomba since 2008. Today he is one of Copenhagen’s best dancers and teachers, with a deep passion for the dance and the music, and he is a fine DJ besides.

He spent several years mastering his dancing around Europe, mainly in the UK, Spain and Denmark, and often travels to Asia to DJ, teach and compete – in 2015 he won the 1st Asian Kizomba Championship, among other titles.

Simone Jack

Salsa instructor

Simone started dancing salsa at CSA at seventeen and was quickly taken by the dance, the music and the wonderful community around salsa. Her curiosity and appetite for developing have driven her dance journey ever since.

To strengthen her technique Simone began training in ballet and modern dance, which led her to complete the Stepz dance training programme in 2023. There she had a year of intensive training in modern and contemporary dance among others, plus valuable experience of both stage performance and choreography.

Over the past year Simone has thrown herself wholeheartedly back into salsa and is more passionate about the dance than ever. She loves challenging herself through festivals, countless socials and classes with talented dancers from all over the world. In early 2026 she joined the CSA team as an instructor, where she is looking forward to sharing her passion for the dance.

Aya Joy

Salsa instructor, DJ

Aya has a Danish/Palestinian background and grew up with music, culture and dance as a natural and central part of her life. She trained in dance at Hotstepper in urban styles such as hip hop, house, popping and dancehall, and has also worked with freestyle across those styles.

In the summer of 2023 Aya started dancing salsa and fell in love straight away with the music, the energy, the language and the culture. For her, salsa is not only about connecting with the music and with her own expression, but about connecting with another person and creating something together – and that is exactly what she loves about the dance. She is passionate about how much salsa is about expressing yourself and truly feeling what you dance, and for her it has also been a wonderful way to come closer to her own femininity and sensuality.

Beyond dancing, Aya has played music since she was nine – first piano, later guitar and saxophone – and she draws on that musical background in both her dancing and her teaching.

Anna Katrine Hvingel

Salsa instructor

Anna grew up in Norway and began dancing at the age of nine in hip hop, modern, ballet and jazz. She moved to Denmark in 2012 to train at Flow Dance Academy in Copenhagen, specialising in urban styles such as hip hop, house and dancehall.

She has since worked on her dancing through events and shows with the dance companies UpComing and ProFound. In 2023 dance led her on to salsa, where she was quickly hooked by the music, the joy and the high energy. She has since worked intensively on her dancing through festivals and performances around Europe, and joined the CSA team in 2024.

Signe Larsen

Salsa instructor

– Info about Signe coming soon! –

June Karre

Salsa and bachata instructor

June started dancing at the age of ten and has broad experience across many styles, from elegant Latin and ballroom to the more urban hip hop, funky jazz, dancehall and reggaeton.

Salsa came to her by chance at twelve, at a family party where people were dancing to Latin music, and she fell in love with Latin American dance culture on the spot.

From 2015 to 2019 she was part of the Peruvian dance group Caporales Dk and performed in both Copenhagen and Sweden. In 2019 she began learning bachata and salsa, and has taught in Copenhagen and Malmö since 2020. June has also been part of several bachata performance groups and dance competitions, and has performed on stage in Denmark, Sweden and Spain.

Her dance style can be described as a combination of Latin and urban – with plenty of girly attitude and joy!

Fie Larsen

Salsa instructor

– Info about Fie coming soon! –

Kristina Buchvald Schouw

CSA Kids instructor

Kristina started dancing jazz ballet at the age of three and stayed at the same dance school for a full fifteen years. After secondary school she spent her gap year at a day college, among other things, where she was taught many different dance styles. She taught children and teenagers for several years at Funkykidz and Bliss Dance Academy in Sweden from 2014 to 2018. In 2014 she qualified in children’s dance (ages 2–10) as well as disco and street/hip hop for older children and teenagers. In early 2019 she also trained as a Zumba instructor, and later that year with Fitness World, where she taught between 2019 and 2021.

“After dancing salsa for a while at another school I started at CSA in 2019, where I became part of their performance team. Since then CSA has come to mean more and more to me, and I am looking forward to introducing new young dancers to salsa!”

At present she teaches fitness and dance classes for both children and adults in her work as a host at a housing community, and also runs toddler movement and ballet classes for very young children (ages 1–5) at a small dance school in Valby.

The CSA Team

Bas Van Mackelenbergh

Logistics & support

Bas hosts the Practica practice sessions and helps out at various CSA activities and events. He is happy to answer any practical questions you may have, and is always up for a dance (or several).

Chris Bustamante

DJ & host

Chris is a talented dancer and DJ with a huge passion for Latin music in his Mexican blood. With his fresh take on salsa and bachata he will keep you dancing all night at CSA’s parties.