Weekend workshops

Nina Rico Gomez was born in 1975 in Stockholm, Sweden. With a Swedish mother and Colombian father, she has her roots in two cultures but has always had a special passion for the Afro-Latin American dance and music. Nina is a very versatile dancer and has many years of education and a vast experiencein dancing in general. By the age of 5 her parents put her into dance school where she started to take ballet classes. Between 1983-1996 she studied ballet on a regular basis in some of the best dance schools in Stockholm, such as The Ballet Academy, Stockholm Ballet Studio and Laszlo Meszaros Ballet School. After graduating 1994 from high school in Stockholm she enrolled a trainee program at the renowned Joffrey Ballet School in New York. Nina has been dancing Cuban and afro Cuban dances since 1992, when she came in contact with it for the first time and then “It was love at first sight”. In 1996 Nina became a member of Niche Caché Dance Company with whom she performed Cuban and afro Cuban dances around Sweden. She also worked as an instructor teaching Cuban salsa around several studios and clubs in Stockholm. With her big passion for the Cuban music, culture and dance she also made several trips to Cuba between 1999-2002, where she enrolled classes in classical ballet for famous teachers such as Laura Alonso and Reynaldo Muñiz,in Centro Pro Danza in Havana and in 1999 she also became a member of the dance company Pinos Nuevos under direction of Lazaro Noriega. Later back in Europe she worked as a ballet dancer 2003-2004 at the Dance Company of Salzburg Theater, Austria under the direction of Peter Breuer In 2006 she enrolled pedagogical studies at The University College of Dance in Stockholm and took a Dance teacher's Degree in 2007. Nina has also appeared in numerous dance and various musical productions in Sweden as well as in Cuba and around Europe, for example: - "La Rumba del Siglo", Cuban dance and music show on tour (England, Wales and Scotland in 2002) - Operetta "Wiener Blut" (Salzburger Landes Theater, 2003) - "The Wall" by Pink Floyd (Ballet by. Peter Breuer, 2003) - Soloist dancer in "Night of the Dance" Performance (touring in Austria,Germany, Italy and Croatia 2004) - "A Midsummer Nights Dream" (Ballet at the Salzburg Theater, Peter Breuer, 2004) Due to Nina's background and training in classical ballet, she is a very technical, graceful and expressive dancer. She masters all main Cuban popular dances such as Salsa, Son, Danzon, Cha-Cha-Cha, Mambo, Pilón etc) but also the styles of cabaret, rumba and afro-cuban. As an instructor Nina is very experienced. She has taught ballet, salsa and Afro-Cuban dances since 1998 at different schools including Stockholm Ballet School, The Ballet Academy, Salzburg International Ballet Academy (Austria), Dance Compagniet, Lasse Khülers and Calle Flygare Theater School, Salsa Akademien. With her education as a Pilates instructor as well as in Yoga, she also applies this knowledge in her dance teaching, which allows the students to a deeper understanding of the different movements and posture. Nina is since 2013 and currently teaching at the Stockholm Salsa Dance school, mainly with classes in Cuban salsa, lady styling classes and High heels.