Latin dance company
Our Instructors
If you have a 'Pasión' for PEOPLE...
If you have a 'Pasión' for LATIN DANCE...
If you are already in our classes...
...THEN ACADEMIA DE BAILA CON PASIÓN WANTS YOU!!!
We are looking for people who LOVE PEOPLE, who LOVE LATIN DANCE
and want to learn to teach with ACADEMIA DE BAILA CON PASIÓN!!
**NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!!**
WE WILL TRAIN THE RIGHT PEOPLE!
You can teach steps and patterns but you CANNOT teach people to
have PASIÓN!! If you fit the bill and love to love people and you love
Latin dance...WE WANT YOU!!
If you are interested in a WORLD CLASS CAREER with
ACADEMIA DE BAILA CON PASIÓN and would love to do
what you LOVE then please contact us for more information!!
~DO WHAT YOU LOVE and you will NEVER work a day in your life!~
Our Director
Latin Dance Instructor / Professional Dancer & Performer / Choreographer / Entrepreneur / Student of Life
Cassandra de Mercedes (formerly Parrish) is the Co-owner and Artistic Director of Baila con Pasión, the premier Latin dance company in Minneapolis, MN and in the Twin Cities area, previously in Stuart, FL, Charlotte, NC and Bavaro Dominican Republic. She is the choreographer & artistic director of Salsa con Pasión™, Bachata con Pasión™ and Las Bellas de Baila con Pasión™, her student & Professional performing teams as well as the Trainer for her World Team Project Minneapolis Teams. She is extremely proud to be one of the prestigious World Mastery Academies worldwide and is certified in the full curriculum of Multi Time World Champions, Adrian and Anita as well as Fernando Sosa's curriculum, SOSA Style Salsa. We also incorporate the Black Belt Salsa™ program and Cassandra was a part of the development team for Black Belt Bachata™ as well as a World Team Project Team Trainer, World Mastery Instructor and a World Mastery Ambassador!!
Cassandra began dancing professionally at the age of 13 and has spent nearly 3 decades in the entertainment industry working as both a professional dancer and a professional singer. She is classically trained in ballet, ballroom and Latin dance but upon discovering her love and passion for Latin dance specifically Salsa, Bachata, Bachatango and Cha-Cha, they became her sole career focus. After having a school in the Dominican Republic and enjoying the opportunity to train with various famous Bachateros, Cassandra and her husband who is from Santo Domingo, bring Bachata to wherever they are teaching, directly from the home of Bachata.
Cassandra has taught thousands of students from Minneapolis, MN to Washington DC to Charlotte, NC to the Dominican Republic and back again (and also everywhere in between) and has been a featured instructor at the largest and most prestigious Bachata Congress in the world, The Washington DC Bachata Congress. She is also one of the few International Instructors that has been invited to teach Bachata, in the very home and birthplace of Bachata. In demand to teach at Salsa and Bachata Congresses all over the world, she and her partner were one of few select couples from all over South, Central and North Americas that were invited to compete in the Americas Bachata Masters competition for an opportunity to represent the USA at the finals in Spain in February of 2013.
A skilled dancer, performer and choreographer, Cassandra brings a rare joy and insatiable passion to the dance floor along with her elegant and graceful style in Salsa and Bachata. As an instructor, Cassandra has a very strong technical emphasis in her teaching, which ensures that her students become extremely well rounded dancers. Her passion for life in general along with her passion for Salsa and Bachata is truly contagious!
She continues her own training with regular private instruction from World Champion salsa coaches such as Adrian and Anita, Fernando Sosa, Karen and Ricardo, Abel Pena and Zulmara Torres, Cristian Oviedo, Liz Lira and Edie the Salsa Freak so that she can bring all of that training back to her students and she trains weekly with multi time World Champion Anita Santo Rubin. She is coached for upcoming competitions with World Champion trainers Sonia Rivera and Ezgi Zaman.
Teaching at DCBX 2014
our apprentice instructors
"I started dancing in 2011: I went to a salsa club on a date, and even though I could not tell the difference between a merengue and a salsa, I was enchanted. I gave myself salsa lessons for my birthday, and fell in love. A philosopher by day, one reason I fell in love with dance is because it is a wonderful counter-balance to my day job (which heavily involves sitting, thinking, and writing). Latin dance has also brought me some of the most meaningful relationships in my life.
I'm excited to continue my dance journey with Baila con Pasión; not only have I grown as a dancer with them, but I'm thankful to have found a dance company that cares so much about developing a skilled and loving dance community."
-Dr. Amber Carlson
We are also so lucky to have Dr. Amber Carlson as our
Executive Grant Manager!
We are currently looking for people that are interested in participating in our World Class Apprentice Teaching Program.
If you have a passion for people and a passion for Latin Dance,
then we would love to hear from you.
This is a life changing opportunity to create a career doing what you love