About The Company

My name is Carlo J. BERNARD and I am the man behind CLG. How did I get involved with Salsa. Well, one day, sometime around October 1996, I was suppose to meet up with my older brother and his girlfriend. Of course, my brother was still working and I was left alone with his girlfriend at the time. To waste some time, we went to a club called "Salsatheque" downtown Montreal. I fell in love with the place as soon that  I walked in. I don't know if it was the music, the beautiful women in the club or the chemistry between two people when they dance together on the dance floor. Well I was hooked. For almost two or three months, Me and the boyz that I used to hang out with from the Military used to stop by Salsatheque before going to the R&B club. As time went by, we noticed that we would spend more and more time at the Salsa club then the R&B club. The clincher for me was when a beautiful woman approached me and asked me to dance. When I told her that I couldn't dance, she said "I thought all black men knew how to dance". That was it. I was embarrassed. I decided right there and then I would start taking lessons. But from who. I looked around and noticed that the papers that I would push off the table when I sat down were dance lessons advertisement from San Tropez dance school.

I started taking private lessons with San Tropez in January 1997. The school is owned by Sonia Kyriacou.  My dance instructor at San Tropez was Anna, a mysterious attractive petite Asian woman.  From Anna, I learned how to dance Salsa, Merengue, ChaChaCha, Swing & Argentine Tango. I took private lessons with San Tropez for almost two or three years. My mistake was that I never took group lessons. The only person I knew was my dance instructor and (at the time) my girlfriend whom I dance with most of the time. In and around 1999, I decided to learn a new dance called Casino Rueda. I first took the group class from San Tropez. Then took more class of Casino Rueda with Gilles from Rueda de Montreal. Through those group lessons, I had the chance to meet several salseros and salseras. So then, it encouraged me to go out more and dance more. At one point, I was taking a private lesson with Anna; another private lesson with Francesco & Anna to prepare me for a performance for San Tropez Christmas ball and group lessons (twice a week) of Rueda with Gilles. That's not counting going out on Wednesday for salsa and on the weekend. Can you say ADDICTED. Weeepaaaaa ;-)

In March 2000, the unthinkable happened. Because of work, my girlfriend and I got sent to Prince Edward Island. Where??? Prince Edward Island (PEI). For those of you in the U.S. who don't know where it is. It is a small island on the east coast of Canada. However, only a couple of hours from MAINE. PEI is a beautiful place to visit however, for a black man from Montréal who loves to salsa.....it was worse than a death sentence.  First year was tough. Did nothing but watch TV., work and sleep.

During my stay in PEI, I decided that I need to continue learning. I realized it cost me as much to go to Montreal then to go to Cuba or Mexico. So....in 2002, I went to a land Cruise organized by SalsaCruise.com. I had the privilege to meet Joby Martinez (then Vasquez), Luis Vasquez, Renee Gueits, Dianna & Juan Calderon and several other dancers.

Then I decided to drive around. I found Salsa in Halifax. While visiting a dance school called "Michel & compagnie", I met Leslie Carvery who told me about her dance school and that I should go check it out. I went to a couple of her school party and met several people who later on became great friends. That's four hours of driving into the province of Nova Scotia. This means, because of the bridge, I had to pay almost $40 to leave the province, every time I wanted to go Salsa.

To keep the story short and to avoid mentioning the petty and sad soap opera that we find in a small salsa community....I'm just going to jump ahead a little. I started teaching Casino Salsa to a group of student whom I believe would be the future dancers in Halifax once I am gone. I believed by teaching them casino rueda, I would increased their confidence and give them more move to play with. For three years, I taught Salsa and Casino Rueda in Halifax. Some of them had the opportunity to go to Congresses with me in Puerto Rico, Montreal and Toronto. In 2004, with the support of Sonia & Moris (from San Tropez), I was able to create team for Salsa Team Canada to represent Halifax. Team Halifax performed with STC at the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress in 2004.

In June 2005, again because of my profession, I was sent to Ottawa. Once there, I emailed Roy from SalsaFanatics and introduced myself. I told him of my intentions with my dance company and would love to join his group and meet new people. I am now the new member of SalsaFanatics. I have been performing with them since 2005.

In 2006, Carlo the "SalsaThief" created his own dance team. As of now, they've had the opportunity to perform at severeal events such as the 2007 Montreal Salsa Convention, 2007 Canada Salsa Congress, Mango Madness and several local parties.

For more informations about CLG...Facebook me! or email me at info@caribbeanlatingroove.com

My dance Resume:

• Developed a taste for hip hop dancing at an early age
• Compete in several Break dancing events in and around Montreal as a teenager
• As a young teenager performed at several Haitian functions in Kompa and other Haitian folklore dance
• Began Salsa dancing in 1997 at San Tropez dance school in Montreal. I took both privates and group lessons. Graduated to different dance styles such as Argentine Tango, Swing, Cha cha cha, Rumba and Merengue.
• Began taking lessons in Casino Rueda with San Tropez
• Began dancing Salsa Rueda de Casino (Miami Style) with “Gilles” from dance school “Rueda de Montreal” 
• Performed (Salsa & Tango) at the San Tropez Dance Academy Christmas dinner in 1999
• Moved to the Province of Prince Edward Island in August 2000
• In 2001,traveled to Cuba to enrich my knowledge of Salsa and it's culture.
• Attended a Salsa Land Cruise in Cancun, Mexico in April 2002, with SalsaCruise.com, during the Salsa Extravaganza week. Followed lessons from professional Dancers. Took a Salsa Rueda Casino instructor seminar from Rene Gueits, the owner of Salsa Lovers in Miami
• Performed at the Delta Hotel in Charlottetown for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital fundraiser (2002)
• Performed at Benefit events to raise money for Cancer in O'Leary, PEI (2002)
• Performed at Wedding parties (2002)
• Taught many Islanders from Charlottetown, the art of Salsa Dancing and Casino Rueda (2002)
• Taught many Nova Scotians the art of Salsa Dancing and Casino Rueda (2002)
• Traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico in July 2003 to the 7th Annual World Salsa Congress and took lessons from World famous dancers
• Traveled to Toronto, Ontario for the 1st Canadian Salsa Congress in October of 2003. Took several classes from the best dance instructors in the world
• Auditioned for the 2004 Salsa Team Canada at the Canadian Salsa Congress (2003)
• Performed and taught Salsa at Club Copa Cobana in Halifax, NS (2003)
• Performed and choreographed several shows at Fiesta Latina events in Halifax, Nova Scotia (2003)
• Performed at the Empire Movie Theatre in Bayers Lake, Nova Scotia, for the premier of the movie: Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights (2004)
• Choreographer for Team Halifax from Salsa Team Canada. Team Halifax which is comprised of 2 dancers from Halifax and 2 dancers from Prince Edward Island (2004)
• Help plan and choreograph Team Halifax and the Halifax Salseros performances at the multicultural festival in Halifax on the 19th of June 2004
• Performed at the STC Fundraiser on the June 26th at Merrill’s Café & Lounge in Halifax (2004)
• Performed at the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress in San Juan, Puerto in July 2004 as part of Salsa Team Canada
• Founder / Director of Caribbean Latin Groove Dance Company in October 2004
• Teaching Salsa in O’Leary, Prince Edward Island (2004)
• Organized and instructed at the Salsa Bootcamp in Halifax (2005-05-29)
• Moved to Ottawa, Ontario sometime in June 2005
• Carlo joined the ranks of SalsaFanatics (July 2005)
• Carlo performed at the 3rd Canadian Salsa Congress with Salsa Fanatics. (Oct 2005)
• Carlo performed with SF at the Puerto Rico & Travel Tourism Seminar (March 2006)
• Carlo performed with SF at the 2nd Annual Montreal Salsa Convention (April 2006)
• Carlo Performed with SF at the Salsa Fanatics SalsaPalooza  at the Glebe Community Center (May 2006)
• Carlo performed with SF at Tropical Entertainment SalsaMania at Club Paraiso  (June 2006)
• Carlo created Amateur Dance troupe for Caribbean Latin Groove (CLG) (Sept 2006)
• Carlo performed Yumbawe routine with SF at the 4th Canadian Salsa Congress (Oct 2006)
• Carlo performed Big Spender routine with Salsa Fanatics Amateur team at Lorna's Party (Dec 2006)
• Organized Salsa Party & Workshops with Dave Paris & Zoe Klein from Paradizo Dance (Jan 2007)
• Organized & Peformed at Salsa Party & Workshops with Mambo Tribe (2007-03-10).
• Organized & Performed at Salsa Party & Workshops with Latin Energy (2007-04-14)
• CLG Amateur Team performed for the first time at the Latin Energy party hosted by CLG (April 2007)
• Carlo performed twice with SalsaFanatics at the Montreal Salsa Convention in Montreal (April 2007)
• CLG Amateur team performed at the Montreal Salsa Convention (April 2007)
• CLG Presents Comomango 100% Salsa Party & Workshop (August 25-26 2007)
• CLG performed at Canadian For Choice (Safe Sex) convention (2007-08-30)
• CLG Presents Cultural Explosion 100% Salsa Party & Workshop (Sept 22 2007)
• CLG Performed at Mango Madness hosted by Comomango party at club 6/49 (September 29, 2007)
• CLG performed twice at the Canada Salsa Congress (October 2007)
• Carlo performed the Saltimambo routine with salsafanatics at the Canada Salsa Congress (October 2007)
• Hosted "WE LOVE SALSA" party with San Tropez (March 2008)
• CLG performed at the Winter Salsa Carnival in Toronto (March 2008)
• Hosted "WE LOVE SALSA" party with Jorge Elizondo from BachataFusio (April 2008)
• Hosted "WE LOVE SALSA" party with Edson Vallon from Saltimambo (May 2008)
• Hosted "WE LOVE SALSA" party with Giovanni Torres from Los Salsomanos (June 2008)

Last Updated 2008-06-18