Samantha, born and raised in North Carolina to a Chilean/Peruvian family, has been dancing for as long as she can remember.  What started out as frantic shaking in her living room at age 2 soon turned into 12 years of intensive training in ballet, modern, and jazz.  Samantha’s first foray into partner dancing came at age 14 when she began training as a Latin ballroom dancer with her father, a professional instructor.  After four years of intense competition and daily practice, she gave up ballroom dance altogether when she started attending The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and never expected to dance seriously again.  Then she found salsa and mambo.

Since being introduced to “Mambo on 2” in early 2003, she has rediscovered her inspiration and love of dance through this art form.  She has been able to develop a strong salsa foundation in North Carolina due to the help and guidance of many wonderful dancers on the scene, but particularly Betto Herrera, Omar Clinton, and Joy Manning of Mambo Dinamico.  Samantha joined Masacote Dance Company in June 2005.  She now hopes to take her dancing to the next level with the company and within the Northeastern salsa scene.

Unbeknownst to most who know her in the salsa scene, Samantha is also an extremely dedicated public servant and student of the world.  During college, she studied and volunteered in Africa and Latin America for extended periods of time and has been active in promoting immigrant education, worker rights, and cultural diversity programs domestically.  Her ultimate goal is to combine her two passions into a daytime career focusing on non-profit administration, economic development, and philanthropy while moonlighting as a dancer on the side.

Following her graduation from UNC-Chapel Hill in North Carolina with degrees in Economics and Latin American Studies in May 2005, Samantha moved to Boston to work with a non-profit management consulting firm and joined Masacote Dance Company in July 2005.  She is very excited to develop her dancing with the company and looks forward to sharing her life-long love of dance with others.