La Conexión carries on salsa legacy in Sunset Park

Walking past the corner of 46th Street and Fifth Avenue, dance music often drifts from a second-floor studio where La Conexión hosts dance classes and salsa events.

Founded in 2024, La Conexión is run by dancer-teacher duo Tania Veloz and Mike Rodriguez, who have been teaching salsa in Sunset Park for close to a decade.

Salsa has been a passion for Veloz since she was young. She enrolled in her first salsa class when she was 18. “When I was 18 and got my first paycheck, that’s the first thing I did. I wanted to learn salsa,” she said. The music, she added, was the main draw. “I just felt it was always very moving.”

Rodriguez’s salsa journey began across the street. On the opposite side of the studio, also on the second floor, stood the now-closed salsa studio La Salsa de Hoy.

“In 2000, I went to a club on Fourth Avenue and 94th Street, and I saw some of my friends dancing,” Rodriguez said. “I was like, ‘Where did you guys learn how to dance salsa?’ They said La Salsa de Hoy.”

Within days, he signed up for classes at La Salsa de Hoy, then owned by Carlos Vasquez.

In 2016, Rodriguez and Veloz took over the studio from Vasquez, who was retiring. Over the years, they built relationships with students that extended beyond the dance floor.

When the pandemic hit, they closed the studio. After the pandemic, the couple decided to open a new space, but not under the old name.

“We didn’t want to continue using La Salsa de Hoy,” Rodriguez said. “That was Carlos’ studio and his legacy.”

Instead, they wanted a name that reflected what they felt bound them to their students: connection.

“Let’s call it La Conexión,” they decided.

They also hoped that the name would mark a continuation of what they had built across the street.

For Rodriguez, teaching is the most rewarding part of running La Conexión. A high school teacher for 34 years, he said teaching comes naturally.

“I like meeting new people,” he said. “I feel very good when I can share that passion for dance with the community.”

Students often become friends, and family. “We become — and even if we don’t dance, we see each other — it’s like family,” Rodriguez said. “This is a really good community that we have. That’s really special.”

Veloz described the past two years as deeply fulfilling. “It’s very inspiring to see when somebody gets a movement or a step,” she said.

Salsa as a dance form has attracted people not just from its birthplace but all over the world. Its global reach is evident at La Conexión, where dancers of different ages and backgrounds come to class.

“One of the things I really like about La Conexión and the salsa scene in general is that although it started off with like Afro-Cuban, Afro-Latin roots, it's spread around the world,” Rodriguez said. “You see salsa danced by everybody all around the world.”

JC, a student at the studio, said the school’s structured approach sets it apart.

“In this school, you have set patterns and routines,” JC said. “Most dance schools, they’ll teach a pattern, and next week you come back and you forget it.”

To keep classes fresh, Rodriguez and Veloz regularly develop new patterns. For Veloz, inspiration starts with the music.

“I like to listen to different music to see what I get inspired to teach,” she said. “I consider musicality, timing and the level my dancers are at.”

The pair also stay current by attending Latin dance festivals such as salsa congresses, where they take workshops, watch performances and social dance.

“We don’t just stay with what we have, because the scene is ever-evolving,” Rodriguez said. “Dancing is ever-evolving.”

Veloz said one of her favorite moments is teaching styling to women in her classes and watching them execute it.

Beyond classes, La Conexión regularly hosts salsa socials and workshops.

“At socials, I just love dancing,” Rodriguez said. “That’s why I got into it from the beginning. Socials are really where I feel alive.”

Socials are also Rodriguez’s place of choice to test new patterns. “If they work in the social, we can teach it here,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t like to create a pattern that is not followable.”

La Conexión offers salsa and bachata classes every Monday and Wednesday. The next salsa social is Jan. 3.