Untitled Document

Jeri Dembrak has been dancing salsa in the DC area for almost 10 years as of October, 1992 when she first walked into Leon Harris' & Ruth Kubishen's classes on Thursday nights at Eduardo Barada's original Habana Village that used to be on 18th street near the corner of Columbia Road across from Julia's Empanadas. She had a very stressful job as an Assistant Vice President at an Employee Benefits Consulting Brokerage Firm from 1987 through 1996. She fell in love with the dance as it really relieved all the stress from work--no one asked her her name, where she worked or lived or what car she drove or even where she was from, it was just hey you, blondie, you want to dance? It was so very unWashingtonian and totally different form the business social scene. She was hooked big time! All of her friends who didn't dance salsa thought she had really lost it as she would dance all night long and then still come to work in the morning so happy although often limping or practiced her turns in the elevators!

After several months, Leon & Ruth referred her to Miguel Dutary & Jeanette Ortiz who taught classes on Wednesdays. Jeanette began to travel a lot for her job and Jeri had learned a lot from her and caught on quickly from taking ballet, jazz, modern and afro-ethnic classes in school and college since she was 8 years old. Miguel started using Jeri to demonstrate and then they began teaching together around March of 1993. They also taught for about a year on Friday night--they would teach class and then Jeri would run to the Ladies' Room and change clothes to head to Chelseas of Georgetown to dance all night long and then later in the parking lot while waiting for the line to go down at the Bistro Francaise.

Unfortunately Habana Village caught fire the day before Thanksgiving in 1993 so then they taught at Pepe Lujano's Avignon Frere. Pepe is the current owner of the new Habana Village which opened Valentine's Day in 1994. We had a great time with birthday parties--I used to order the cakes from Pepe's bakery in Mount Pleasant. This is where we started the Habana Village Family--a group of people who all took classes and danced every Wednesday and sometimes Thursdays and even back in the days, we taught on Fridays for a while then Tuesdays--the Habana Village Family was made up of all those fun people who simply asked you to dance as we all got to know each other a little better and finally learn one anothers names and exchanged numbers to plan more dance outings! On Fridays, Jeri would take an extra set of clothes to Habana whether she was teaching or just hanging out and change in the ladies room to an evening dress before heading down to Chelseas of Georgetown at midnight to watch all the great dancers and hopefully have the honor and privilege of learning more by dancing with them. Saturday nights she always went to Chelseas.

Jeri also took classes with one of DC's greatest old salsa dancers and teachers, Jae Yoon. Later, as time went on we all got to know each other and party together and hung out at each others homes, when it snowed back in 1996, one of the guys Eric would drive around and pick up us suburbanites to come into DC to dance and stay at the Mayflower with a newsroom dispatcher who would let us stay with her so that we can dance at Habana and then head to Mr. Henry's after hours at like 3am to continue the party so while DC was covered in snow and everyone complained and offices were shut down, we were dancing salsa big time and partying all night long.

As time went by, Miguel became busier with work and Jeri learned to dance the lead or man's part as well as the follow or lady's part and began to teach classes until Miguel could arrive and then eventually after 5 years, Miguel decided to take a break from teaching. Jeri continued to teach and party at Chelseas.

In 1997, Jeri started her own translation firm translating employee benefits handbooks and manuals from English to Spanish and conducting employee meetings in Spanish for several employers as well as insurance companies in the area.

She also began teaching in Virginia at a club called Nick's in Alexandria in the front room on Tuesday and then later on Saturday nights thanks to a great promoter, Oscar Condezo and another great promoter who also used to be a former student and a great teacher in his own right, Wendell Robinson who taught beginner classes. Danny Roman and Sam Boone also taught at Nick's with Jeri. Several of her students became great teachers & performers including Sam, Ann, Ralph, Irene, Ty, Sunjha, Emilie, Gustavo, Rebecca, Tarrance, DJ, Luis and several others. Jeri has also run classes for the Ski Club of Washington DC for the past 4 years on Monday nights and just before that, she taught at Latin Jazz Alley for a summer with Miguel Dutary. She has also taught and run classes with several other instructors in the area at America Restaurant that was formerly located at Tysons Corner Mall for about a year and at America Restaurant at Union Station in DC. She has taught salsarobics at Gold's Gym, Results Gym and Washington Sports and Health Center in Ballston Mall.

Jeri cosponsored the first three DC salsa festivals at Diversite Night Club, UDC and Nick's Night Club with Wendell Robinson. She taught at his First European Salsa Festival in Amsterdam and promoted Salsa Cabarets at the Holiday Inn in Springfield and the VA Ballroom. Jeri also took over 30 people to the Calle Ocho Festival in Miami Florida, over 40 people to the Bacardi Puerto Rican Salsa Congress twice and over 50 people to the LA Salsa Congress. She taught at the Old Colony South in Maryland for a year.. Jeri has also taught and performed at the Taste of DC, Herndon Chamber of Commerce Fundraiser for Breast Cancer, James Madison University, Andrews Airforce Base, Bureau of Census, The Smithsonian, GW Lisner Auditorium and Ft. Bragg and has organized several Hispanic Heritage Events with classes, dancing with either DJ or live music and Christmas and Holiday parties for various Fortune 500 Corporations in the DC area and numerous government and nonprofit organizations.

Jeri has also written The SalsaNews E-mail Publication for the past 6 years in which at one time or another has advertised classes and club events for every salsa instructor and promoter in the DC area for which she has been honored by other promoters in the area. Jeri was also surprised that her students launched an e-mail campaign and had her nominated and voted for DC Salsa Instructor. She was even more shocked when one of her oldest students, Joe and her former first teacher, Leon Harris were the two people who presented her with the award when she won.

Jeri has been interviewed on Fox 5 and Channel 7 as well as in The Washington Post and the July 2000 issue of TheWashingtonian! She previously formed a performance group called Los Salseros Sabrosos that has since been disbanded. A new group has emerged to adopt Jeri's philosophy of salsa which is simply to have fun and dance and promote the love, beauty and joy she feels every time she steps on the dance floor!

This past year, Jeri has been studying for her Master's Degree in Education and plans to use much of what she has learned in her salsa classes on teaching and learning. She is also forming new classes for teenagers in the fall. If you are interested in enrolling your child, please e-mail her at salsanews@aol.com.

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	Jeri Dembrak
	Jeri Dembrak has been dancing salsa in the DC area for almost 10 years as of October, 1992 when she first walked into Leon Harris' & Ruth Kubishen's classes on Thursday nights at Eduardo Barada's original Habana Village that used to be on 18th street near the corner of Columbia Road across from Julia's Empanadas. She had a very stressful job as an Assistant Vice President at an Employee Benefits Consulting Brokerage Firm from 1987 through 1996. She fell in love with the dance as it really relieved all the stress from work--no one asked her her name, where she worked or lived or what car she drove or even where she was from, it was just hey you, blondie, you want to dance? It was so very unWashingtonian and totally different form the business social scene. She was hooked big time! All of her friends who didn't dance salsa thought she had really lost it as she would dance all night long and then still come to work in the morning so happy although often limping or practiced her turns in the elevators! After several months, Leon & Ruth referred her to Miguel Dutary & Jeanette Ortiz who taught classes on Wednesdays. Jeanette began to travel a lot for her job and Jeri had learned a lot from her and caught on quickly from taking ballet, jazz, modern and afro-ethnic classes in school and college since she was 8 years old. Miguel started using Jeri to demonstrate and then they began teaching together around March of 1993. They also taught for about a year on Friday night--they would teach class and then Jeri would run to the Ladies' Room and change clothes to head to Chelseas of Georgetown to dance all night long and then later in the parking lot while waiting for the line to go down at the Bistro Francaise. Unfortunately Habana Village caught fire the day before Thanksgiving in 1993 so then they taught at Pepe Lujano's Avignon Frere. Pepe is the current owner of the new Habana Village which opened Valentine's Day in 1994. We had a great time with birthday parties--I used to order the cakes from Pepe's bakery in Mount Pleasant. This is where we started the Habana Village Family--a group of people who all took classes and danced every Wednesday and sometimes Thursdays and even back in the days, we taught on Fridays for a while then Tuesdays--the Habana Village Family was made up of all those fun people who simply asked you to dance as we all got to know each other a little better and finally learn one anothers names and exchanged numbers to plan more dance outings! On Fridays, Jeri would take an extra set of clothes to Habana whether she was teaching or just hanging out and change in the ladies room to an evening dress before heading down to Chelseas of Georgetown at midnight to watch all the great dancers and hopefully have the honor and privilege of learning more by dancing with them. Saturday nights she always went to Chelseas. Jeri also took classes with one of DC's greatest old salsa dancers and teachers, Jae Yoon. Later, as time went on we all got to know each other and party together and hung out at each others homes, when it snowed back in 1996, one of the guys Eric would drive around and pick up us suburbanites to come into DC to dance and stay at the Mayflower with a newsroom dispatcher who would let us stay with her so that we can dance at Habana and then head to Mr. Henry's after hours at like 3am to continue the party so while DC was covered in snow and everyone complained and offices were shut down, we were dancing salsa big time and partying all night long. As time went by, Miguel became busier with work and Jeri learned to dance the lead or man's part as well as the follow or lady's part and began to teach classes until Miguel could arrive and then eventually after 5 years, Miguel decided to take a break from teaching. Jeri continued to teach and party at Chelseas. In 1997, Jeri started her own translation firm translating employee benefits handbooks and manuals from English to Spanish and conducting employee meetings in Spanish for several employers as well as insurance companies in the area. She also began teaching in Virginia at a club called Nick's in Alexandria in the front room on Tuesday and then later on Saturday nights thanks to a great promoter, Oscar Condezo and another great promoter who also used to be a former student and a great teacher in his own right, Wendell Robinson who taught beginner classes. Danny Roman and Sam Boone also taught at Nick's with Jeri. Several of her students became great teachers & performers including Sam, Ann, Ralph, Irene, Ty, Sunjha, Emilie, Gustavo, Rebecca, Tarrance, DJ, Luis and several others. Jeri has also run classes for the Ski Club of Washington DC for the past 4 years on Monday nights and just before that, she taught at Latin Jazz Alley for a summer with Miguel Dutary. She has also taught and run classes with several other instructors in the area at America Restaurant that was formerly located at Tysons Corner Mall for about a year and at America Restaurant at Union Station in DC. She has taught salsarobics at Gold's Gym, Results Gym and Washington Sports and Health Center in Ballston Mall. Jeri cosponsored the first three DC salsa festivals at Diversite Night Club, UDC and Nick's Night Club with Wendell Robinson. She taught at his First European Salsa Festival in Amsterdam and promoted Salsa Cabarets at the Holiday Inn in Springfield and the VA Ballroom. Jeri also took over 30 people to the Calle Ocho Festival in Miami Florida, over 40 people to the Bacardi Puerto Rican Salsa Congress twice and over 50 people to the LA Salsa Congress. She taught at the Old Colony South in Maryland for a year.. Jeri has also taught and performed at the Taste of DC, Herndon Chamber of Commerce Fundraiser for Breast Cancer, James Madison University, Andrews Airforce Base, Bureau of Census, The Smithsonian, GW Lisner Auditorium and Ft. Bragg and has organized several Hispanic Heritage Events with classes, dancing with either DJ or live music and Christmas and Holiday parties for various Fortune 500 Corporations in the DC area and numerous government and nonprofit organizations. Jeri has also written The SalsaNews E-mail Publication for the past 6 years in which at one time or another has advertised classes and club events for every salsa instructor and promoter in the DC area for which she has been honored by other promoters in the area. Jeri was also surprised that her students launched an e-mail campaign and had her nominated and voted for DC Salsa Instructor. She was even more shocked when one of her oldest students, Joe and her former first teacher, Leon Harris were the two people who presented her with the award when she won. Jeri has been interviewed on Fox 5 and Channel 7 as well as in The Washington Post and the July 2000 issue of TheWashingtonian! She previously formed a performance group called Los Salseros Sabrosos that has since been disbanded. A new group has emerged to adopt Jeri's philosophy of salsa which is simply to have fun and dance and promote the love, beauty and joy she feels every time she steps on the dance floor! This past year, Jeri has been studying for her Master's Degree in Education and plans to use much of what she has learned in her salsa classes on teaching and learning. She is also forming new classes for teenagers in the fall. If you are interested in enrolling your child, please e-mail her at salsanews@aol.com. ----------------------------------------------- Get a chance to win this tv by attending a workshop.