About
DANCIN’ MOTION SCHOOL OF THE ARTS PROVIDES THE TAMPA BAY REGION GROUP AND PRIVATE CLASSES IN SALSA, BACHATA, MERENGUE, GUAJIRA, CHA CHA CHA, BELLYDANCE AND KIZOMBA FOR ADULTS AND CHILDREN.
​
Founded in November of 2010 by Maria Espinoza, DMSA is located in the heart of Tampa. We offer our students a non-intimidating, fun, value enriched environment for students to learn and improve their dance skills.
Our beautiful Tampa location is a very spacious 2300 square feet studio with wood flooring, fully mirrored walls, A/C, 2 bathrooms, water fountains, and a DJ booth. We are located in the Horizon Park Shopping Center with plenty of outside parking available. Socials are offered at this location every 1st & 3rd Friday of the month.
​
​
Maria Espinoza
Owner
Lead Instructor & Choreographer
​
Maria has been dancing for over 40 years and teaching for over 20 years. Born to a Puerto Rican mother and a Peruvian father in New York, she has always been intrigued with the arts. Dance has always been a part of her life - Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Freestyle, Hip Hop, Reggae, and more. In elementary school, she started taking Ballet and Tap Classes. As she got older, she began to use her talent in creating dance patterns and became captain of her dance team crew, who participated in many local events including the Puerto Rican Day Parade.
​
As the years passed by, "life" and it's many responsibilities forced Maria to put her love of dance aside, but she never lost her passion. In 2002, she relocated to Florida and decided to get back to what she loved doing. Maria began training with several local dance schools and later become an instructor.
​
After many years of being an instructor, Maria decided it was time to live out her own dream of opening a school of the arts. She opened Dancin' Motion School of the Arts in 2010 where she has taught over 5000 students of different ages, ethnicities, and walks of life!
​
Being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2003, Maria realized that dancing has saved her life! "The feeling inside of you when you are able to free yourself and be you is beyond words. It is a way of healing yourself in which I feel no other medicine can do for you." Maria wants to be able to share this passion with the rest of the world and make others aware of how important and beautiful it is for a person to find whatever it is that frees them!
​
dmsa staff & instructors
Rosario 'Rosie' Feal
Lead Assistant Instructor | Salsa & Bachata
DMSA Graduate
Maria's Sister
​
Rosie was born and raised in New York in a Hispanic household where every family gathering consisted of music and dancing. She started ballet and tap classes at 6 years old and later expanded her skills to also include hip-hop and freestyle, as well as acting and singing. As she got older, her focus turned more to her family, however once her children were grown she decided to start dancing again and hasn't looked back. Rosie has graduated as both a Salsa Follow and Lead at DMSA. She enjoys sharing her love and passion with both adults and children.
​
Advice from a Dancer: Be persistent and practice!
​
Fun Fact: Rosie loves roller coasters, and she is passionate about Broadway Musicals!
​
Ruel Forbes
Assistant Instructor "Salsa"
DMSA Graduate
I was born and raised in Brooklyn NY, to a Trinidadian family. I didn’t party or dance much when I was young, being raised in a churchy family, but I was encouraged to learn music and have been a pianist, and multi instrumentalist since age 6. I was always mesmerized by dancing. All us kids popped and locked and breakdanced back in my day but that was pretty much all I personally knew of dancing I got into salsa because of a Sean Combs and Jennifer Lopez dance scene in the middle of the 90’s “Been Around The World” hip hop music video. When I saw how beautiful she looked dancing “salsa” I was hooked. Back in 2008, I started out learning “ballroom salsa” On 2 in New York NY at Tony Meridith and Melanie LaPatin’s Dance Times Square school, but didn’t get very far until I moved from NYC to Tampa in June of 2014, and a coworker, also from NY, re-inspired me during the next 18 months, because she and her husband were so amazing at salsa. In early 2016, Groupon did the rest, and here we are! My graduation from DMSA was in the fall of 2017. After that I studied with other teachers but I always came back home to DMSA, the school that taught me “if I can walk, I can dance.”
Fun fact about me? I may be a smart grown up man, but I have the whimsical and curious mind of a child. (Think Gummy Bears and Adult animated TV shows)
Tips for new dancers: Become comfortable with difficulty and jump right into it. When you feel frustration over your dancing, do not run away from it. Take a breath, be grateful for what you have, and come back to the present moment. Those feelings of frustration simply let you know that you Care deeply about this. You will get better over time by always approaching and embracing that which is the most difficult.
Shamara Parker
Assistant Instructor "Salsa"
DMSA Graduate
After living in Texas for 25 years, I moved to Tampa in April of 2021. I wanted a place to meet some new friends and since music and dance has always been a huge part of my life, I decided on Salsa. I joined DMSA in 2021 and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Not only did I meet new friends, but I found new family and a love like no other for Latin Dance! DMSA Is my second home.
