So excited that i will get to sit down and chat with my Latin Dance Events Mentor Eileen Torres .

She was the first Edutainmnent Promoter I had ever met . She would provide Education and entertainment to all who wanted to learn and be entertained .

The DC Salsa Scene is what it is today because of her as she set the Blueprint for all following promoters o how to have a real Salsa Party

She taught thousands of people in DC their ON 2 foundation and brought thousands of people together for unforgettable evens with live music and Kick ass djs

She created Platforms for The dancers to perform and kick started many Dancers and Dance teams careers .

To this day I never knew how she convinced the club owners to bring Major artists to her events but she did and i got to meet all of them because of her.

I shudder to think what the scene in DC would have been like without her .

BiO

EILEEN TORRES

Eileen Torres, a pioneer in the DC salsa community, built a career based on her knowledge of salsa music and dance.

She was responsible for creating the Tributes to Women, Men, and Choreographers in Salsa and an Old School Mambo Tribute that took place at Zanzibar over 10 years. She also brought the top salsa recording artists in the industry to Zanzibar Juste Lounge, and at VIP Club.

As a salsa historian she lectured at The Kennedy Center, National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Museums, Artishphere , Congresional Hispanic Caucus Institute, numerous federal government agencies , and Salsa Congress in Puerto Rico, The Netherlands, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, DC in addition to numerous colleges and universities.

In 1998 Starbucks Coffee Company contracted her to write the liner notes and assist in the selection of the music for the CD titled Mambo Mio. Recently she wrote the liner notes for Gary Sosias, a well-known percussionist in the DMV. She served as ethnic dance instructor at the Duke Ellington School for the Arts, directed and choreo- graphed for LPG comprised of Arlington County adolescents and teens. She also co-wrote and co-directed with Ted David the music and dance revue, Remembering the Palladium presented at Atlas Theater in Washington, DC in 2013.

She received Hollywood credits as Associate Producer for the short-film, MANO and Executive Producer for the feature film, SHINE.

After 28 years in Washington, DC Eileen relocated to Ohio to help care for her 90-year old mother. There she is involved in the Latino community. She has presented video lectures on salsa, traditional Mexican music, and Latinos in Rock n Roll at Mexican Mutual Society- an organization in existence for 91 years. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Roberto Ocasio Foundation that hosts a summer Latin Jazz music camp for teenage musicians. Its musical director is Bobby Sanabria. In January she will serve a two year term as president of the Hispanic Fund- an affiliate fund of the Community Foundation of Lorain County. Their mission is to improve and promote socioeconomic and educational opportunities within the Hispanic Community.

Eileen’s book dealing with gender inequality, female empowerment, politics and sex will be published in 2021.

Eileen co-founded the University of Colorado's first Ballet Folklorico, choreographed for two Ohio dance groups, Alma de Mexico and Salseros Unlimited in the late 70s and toured for two years with The National Chicano Dance Theater based in Denver, CO.

We have plenty to talk about !

DCBX 4th Annual Excellence Awards

The Life and times of a DC Salsero By Earl RushAug 22, 2019