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!
Natalie Hidalgo
Assistant Instructor "Salsa"
DMSA Graduate
Salsa dancing is something that piqued Natalie’s interest as an adult. She had admired seeing salsa dancers get lost in a dance full of turns and patterns that highlighted musicality and technique. When she attended parties, she would be fine with the basic steps, but throwing turns and patterns in the mix would remind her she had some learning to do. This is when she added “Salsa Dancing” to her bucket list. She has completed graduation level classes at DMSA since then and now welcomes all the turns and patterns that come her way on the dance floor. She is in the process of training to Lead and looks forward to learning other genres offered at DMSA. Natalie is determined to continue to learn and enjoys it every 1,2,3…5,6,7 step of the way!
Advice: At the end of the day, we can all learn the same patterns that will make for an awesome dance experience…it’s up to you to sprinkle it with your own “SAZON” to make it uniquely yours.
Fun Fact: Natalie’s daughter first took the kids salsa classes offered at DMSA, which then inspired her to join the school herself.
Michael Hidalgo
Assistant Instructor "Salsa"
DMSA Graduate
Michael is Dominican and Puerto Rican from New York City raised by his Dominican mother, so one could say that his passion for music and dance is in his blood. From a very young age, he recalls his family had house parties going on each weekend where they would place him in the center of the living room to watch him dance. With so many cousins and family members around, they clearly saw something in him with dancing that was special, and the living room floor quickly became his dance stage and his family his audience. After years of dancing street salsa, bachata, merengue, reggaeton, hip hop, etc., he decided to join DMSA to take formal classes. Michael has completed the required classes for graduation at DMSA and looks forward to improving his dance skills.
Advice: Always look to take on more classes and practice, never quit or get frustrated, and more importantly, have FUN along the way!
Fun Fact: Michael loves to play and watch basketball as well as watching movies.
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.
