Karel Flores is a dancer, choreographer, competition judge, instructor and the founder of Karel Flores World, a global dance franchise consisting of salsa dance teams across the United States, South America, Europe and Asia, aiming to empower women through dance.
Born into a family of artists in Mexico, Karel started her career acting in telenovelas, Spanish language soap operas. Since very young she had a strong calling for the arts and dancing, always participating in dance teams in school, from jazz to Hawaiian dancing to cheerleading. As a teenager Karel received a unique invitation to train with one of the best salsa companies in the world Yamuleé Dance Company. Without hesitation and all on her own, Karel packed her bags, moved to New York City and soon became their principal female dancer. After eight years of performing and teaching for Yamuleé Dance Company, Karel struck out on her own as a solo artist.
As a solo salsa artist, Karel has performed and taught in over 60 countries on 6 continents and has served as a judge for every major salsa competition globally.
In addition, Karel has been featured by the Lincoln Center in New York City, the New York Times and Cosmopolitan magazine.
Karel’s unique fusion of salsa NY Style on2, contemporary dancing, Afro-Cuban and Pachanga has led her to be one of the most sought after instructors globally.
Bruno Rodriguez was born and raised in Puerto Rico, Bruno began his salsa training at the age of 9 under the direction of Julie Mayoral, Nalliene Velez and Jayson Molina. He won his first junior world championship at the age of 11 and started training in jazz at the age of 14. After winning his first soloist professional world title in 2014, Bruno moved to Penn State University to pursue a Master’s in Forensic Chemistry, where he also choreographed and directed the Performance Team of the Penn State Ballet Club. He then moved to New York City in 2017 to pursue his academic and salsa dancing career. Bruno won his second soloist world title in 2018 at the La Negra International Championship in Spain and started his professional partnership with Karel Flores in 2018. In December 2022, Bruno earned his PhD in Microbiology from the NYU School of Medicine and while traveling and teaching alongside Karel Flores at multiple international salsa events.
