About Us
Zafire Dance Project is born from well-known and recognized dancers, Carlos Hernandez & Arlette Guerra.
Carlos Hernandez and Arlette Guerra are two of the top established dancers in NYC. Both have careers as professional dancers, and have teamed up to become one of the most sought-after couples for performances and workshops, in congresses and events, world-wide.
Carlos Hernandez, born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic grew up dancing salsa in The Bronx, New York. Though he grew up dancing salsa as a little kid, it wasn’t until his early 20s that he began dancing New York style ON2 salsa with Yamulee. For half of a decade, Carlos traveled the world performing with Yamulee at international salsa congresses in Hamburg, London, Manchester, Miami, Acapulco, Los Angeles, Chicago and dozens more alongside legendary Osmar Perrones, former Santo Rico teammate. As Carlos developed his dance, he looked for a more classic style of New York salsa. That’s when Victor Karisma, former Director of Santo Rico asked him to join Karisma Dance Company. Carlos continued traveling and performing with Karisma at salsa congresses in Punta Cana, Boston and Dallas, as well as on T.V. including ColorVision, Telesistema, Univision and Teleantilla. After performing with Karisma for some time, Carlos along with his partner at Karisma, Arlette Guerra, who also began her salsa dance career with Osmar Perrones over 10 years ago, decided to break away and perform as a couple.
Arlette Guerra has been dancing salsa for over 10 years and has been internationally recognized for her talents and fierce passion on the dance floor. Arlette, born in the Dominican Republic, moved to New York City as a little girl where she grew up dancing amongst her family and friends. At the age of 18 she took her first on2 salsa dance class with Osmar Perrones, currently the Director of Yamulee and former member of Santo Rico. Like Carlos, as Arlette continued to dance, she looked to embrace a more seasoned style of salsa. That was when she and Victor Karisma, former Director of Santo Rico, decided to form Karisma Dance Company. For almost a decade, Arlette was fortune enough to travel the world performing and teaching with Karisma Dance Company. She has been to congresses worldwide including events in Italy, Japan, Mexico and Los Angeles, just to name a few. Arlette has also had the honor of performing for many renowned artists such as Gilberto Santa Rosa, Victor Manuelle, Grupo Niche, Oscar de Leon and others. Most recently, she performed in front of our current U.S. president, President Barack Obama.
Edwin Alvarez born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic began his dancing career shortly after moving to NYC in 2004. He started taking Mambo Salsa on 2 classes from Eddie Torres for about 3 years. In 2008 he joined Vitico La Magia dancers then in 2010 he joined Karisma Dance Company where in both he began performing at various events locally and internationally. In 2013 he joined Zafire Dance Company where he performed at various congresses such as NYC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Tampa, San Francisco, Houston, LA, DC, Boston, Toronto, Punta Cana and Santo Domingo. Over the years he was fortune to dance on stage for famous bands such as El Gran Combo, Eddy Palmieri, Jose Alberto El Canario, and Frankie Morales. He has also for over the course of 9 years been a salsa instructor at different locations and venues, including 2 years in CUNY in the Heights Community College, danced on stage at a weekly club venue in NJ named Bliss where his partners Jesenia Peralta and Candy Mena danced with him weekly. He has also danced in various TV shows in Dominican Republic as well as taken part of La India's video tribute to El Gran Combo in NYC. In addition, Edwin enjoys listening and playing Salsa. He is known to be a huge Salsa connoisseur and has been playing Salsa all over New York since 2005. He was DJ to various events including Iguana, Link on Tuesdays, Wish26 on Sundays, Club Cache on Thursdays and Las Chicas Locas on Sundays. He is also head DJ for Zafire socials and anniversaries as well as being guest DJ at the Tampa Salsa Congress and Bachatu.
In September 9, 2015 Zafire DC Project was founded by Edwin Alvarez, a performing and training team in the DMV area. Under his direction, he has been leading his team as well as offering weekly Salsa On2 classes to his dancers and the community. Edwin has also been guest instructor and DJ to different venues, socials and congresses taking along his team to perform. Zafire DC has been performing locally to different venues, socials, salsa and bachata congresses such as the Capital Congres, DCBX DC Bachata Congress, Interfusion Festival and DC Salsa and Bachata Festival, also performing for different non-profit organizations and in front of the Navy and congressmen Luis Gutierrez at the Pentagon and at the Mrs. DC America Pageant. For over the course of nearly three years his team has been performing in New York City at Zafire Dance Company socials and Las Chicas Locas socials, and performing at various international congresses such as the New York Salsa and Bachata Festival, Tampa Salsa and Bachata Festival, Punta Cana Salsa and Bachata Festival in Dominica Republic, and Aventura Dance Cruise in Los Angeles. Edwin has also hosted two Zafire DC anniversaries and started a bi monthly social in February, 2018 to continue to grow the salsa scene in the DMV, inviting local and international artists to perform and teach.