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Rene Gueits Feels The Love Year Round. One Salsa Lover Shares His #MiamiStory

HistoryMiami
Rene Gueits shows off his Salsa Lovers dance studio

Rene Gueits was born and raised in Miami and grew up listening and dancing to salsa music at family parties. Much like his family, he is a gifted dancer. 

In 1992, when he was 24 years old, Gueits was looking for part-time work and saw a newspaper ad for a salsa instructor. He thought he would be perfect since he considered himself a great dancer, but he did not realize he would be working at a ballroom studio.

He was surprised to see that ballroom salsa instruction was much more structured than what he learned growing up. He refined his technique by taking classes and following the dancing syllabus.

"After I started taking classes in the ballroom studio, I learned that to teach dancing needs structure. It's not something you could just teach off the street," he said.

Credit HistoryMiami
A dance shoe on display at the Salsa Lovers dance studio.

As he worked, he learned about other kinds of dances, but he was primarily a salsa instructor. He had a loyal group of students who followed him as he taught at different studios. His base grew until eventually he opened his own. Knowing how enthusiastic people were to dance salsa, he came up with the name “Salsa Lovers." 

Gueits, who had opened three dance schools, consolidated them into one. The studio has been highly successful over the past 22 years. During this time, he developed the Salsa Lovers Authentic Dance Syllabus, which provides students with a faster way of learning to dance socially.

Gueits manages the studio, teaches and is also an active promoter who organizes salsa events across Miami-Dade.

"That's my new favorite role, but I do still love to teach when I can. My daughter is almost three years old and I've been teaching her how to salsa since she could walk," Gueits said.

He has competed in and been awarded at many national dance competitions, and he has also received the honors of City of Miami Proclamation and City of Miami Beach Proclamation.

"I think salsa is never going to die. My grandparents danced salsa, and I’m 50 now and it’s still going strong. It's in my Latin roots," Gueits said. 

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