Who we are
The perfect place to make new friends while learning how to dance!
How we grew from one girl’s dream to the largest Latin Dance Studio in the DVM…
At the Salsa With Dance Studio, we are extremely passionate about dance, our teaching method is structured and easy to understand and WE LOVE TO SEE YOU SMILE!
Read below to see how we grew from one girl’s dream to now the largest Latin dance studio in the DMV with two beautiful locations in the heart of DC and Bethesda.
It all started in the humble basement of Silvia’s house
Ever since Silvia was 6 years old, she knew dance will be her life journey. From ballroom dance to Salsa, from Bulgaria to the US, throughout her career as a NASA TV producer, before during and after having two kids, Silvia always found a way to have dance in her life. So much so, that she started her teaching career with a handful of students and quickly grew her classes to a point where her basement studio wasn’t enough anymore.
Photos above: Silvia and her husband remodeled each of the studios from scratch, starting with their very first studio in the basement of their house. Slide the handle left and right to see the before and after photos.
Video above: watch this super cool story about how Silvia started dancing at 6 and later on into her first basement studio.
The basement classes got so packed that it was time to move into our first commercial space.
A dream come true: from a basement to our first commercial space in dc
With a quickly expanding network of students on YouTube and in the basement studio, it was becoming hard to fit everyone in the small space. After an extensive search for the perfect space, In November of 2015, Silvia signed a lease for Salsa With Silvia’s new home. Salsa With Silvia was awarded a grant in the amount of $85,000 by the DC Mayor’s Great Streets Program to go towards the build out of its new studio. The total cost of the new studio build out was $325,000. The DC location opened doors in April of 2016 and officially became the Largest Latin Dance Studio in the DC area, serving students of all ages.
Photo above: Salsa With Silvia owner Silvia Alexiev signing a lease for her first commercial space in 2015. The 3232 Georgia Ave. NW location became the largest Latin Dance Studio in the DMV when it opened in 2016.
Above: a video down memory lane, showing what our first commercial space looked like before the build out.
Slide the handle left and right to see the before and after photos.
Opening our second location in Bethesda, MD in the midst of a pandemic
With her husband by her side every step of the way and a rapidly expanding community of students and corporate clients, Silvia decided to open her second location in the heart of Bethesda. After a complete gut renovation, the Bethesda studio opened doors on January 6th of 2020. If only she knew that two months later the studio would have to close doors because of a pandemic. Having to pay rent and expenses for two locations with nearly no revenue was the most difficult time that we had to go through. Luckily, Silvia’s creative mind turned the studio into a school helping kids with their virtual classes and teaching them dance. Read more about how we survived the pandemic below.
Photo above: Salsa With Silvia owner Silvia Alexiev cutting the ribbon for the official opening of our second location.
Above: a video showing our journey from the first to the second commercial space.
Slide the handle left and right to see the before and after photos.
Thinking outside the box…how we stayed afloat throughout the pandemic
The pandemic hit us in the hardest moments when we had just spent loads of money and had taken yet another loan to build out our second location. Neither of our landlords forgave us rent so we had to continue paying $20K each month while barely having any revenue from online classes. Placed in front of the possibility of closing the studios for good, owner Silvia responded to a need in the community. As a parent herself, having to monitor two very young children during their virtual classes while saving her business was nearly impossible. So, she put together an amazing team of Salsa With Silvia teachers and created a mini school with a pod of 20-25 kids who spent an entire year learning, creating and dancing at the studio. The parents expressed their gratitude continuously and some of them even said that the studio was saving their marriages.
Photo above: Salsa With Silvia dance instructor Amber teaching school classes at the studio during the pandemic.
Above: an ABC 7 segment on how Silvia managed to turn the studio into a school to survive the pandemic.
The studio survived the first three months of the pandemic thanks to the school and some virtual classes and opened door for very small classes in June of 2020. We are extremely thankful to our team who stuck with us throughout those difficult times as well as for the support to our students helped us with donations or attending classes. We could not have made it on our own!
Photo above: Kids dance classes during the pandemic.
Photo above: Instructor Mario teaching a salsa class during the pandemic.
Our Studio In Images
From kids classes starting as early as babies, to dance & learning bilingual camp programs for kids, teaching and performing for private and corporate clients, speed dating events, date night classes to group and private lessons, Salsa With Silvia has it all. We are known as the most beginner friendly and community oriented dance studio in the DMV.
