Andres Echevarria leads his group of students during his salsa class in Melbourne. Echeverria is the manager and instructor at the Salsa Heat Dance Studio on Hall Road in Melbourne

MELBOURNE - Andres Echevarria loves teaching salsa more than doing the saucy dance routine.
“Watching people grow as dancers is the best feeling I have ever had the privilege to experience,” says Echevarria, manager and instructor at the Salsa Heat Dance Studio on Hall Road in Melbourne.
The original Salsa Heat studio opened in Orlando in 1999 and is still going. There are now five branches of the studio in Central Florida, but it is Echevarria’s charisma that makes the Melbourne branch a standout.
“For me, (teaching) is much more rewarding than dancing,” says Echevarria, who opened the local studio in 2004 after acquiring a rich experience dancing and teaching in Orlando.
“The reason we opened a branch in Melbourne was because of the increasing population growth in Brevard County. We figured this community has as much to offer in Latin dance as big cities, so we started offering the same type of classes we had in Orlando,” he says.
The salsa dance appeals to people from different backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities. In fact, the studio’s dancers range in age from 14 to 70.

According to Karen Brandon, an attorney who also is a co-instructor at the studio, meeting new people and socializing is a great part of the fun.
“Salsa has changed my life. I’ve met a lot of nice people, I’ve lost weight, my cardio fitness is better, and I feel alive,” she says.
And nothing, not even my demanding job as an attorney, can interfere with my salsa time. It is my time to decompress,” she adds.
Although the studio’s main emphasis is pure fun, some dancers turn the lessons into more than just a hobby.
Instructor Jacki Rozzo has been salsa dancing for three years. What started out of a “passion for the music” is now a way of life for her, she says.
Rozzo is part of the professional salsa dance team in Orlando; so aside from teaching the popular dance moves, she also performs at various events. Salsa Heat studios provide lessons for all dance levels – beginners, intermediate and advanced.

Each of those levels is divided into sub-levels, so that every dancer can find a suitable group.
Additionally, the club holds salsa “social” parties with the students and teachers once a month.
Brandon adds that the parties create a “real family atmosphere”.
Classes meet at 7 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays.

The price for a single lesson is $10. Ten lessons cost $80. There are no registration fees or contracts. Interested students should show up for the class 5 to 10 minutes early to sign up.