GDM Dance Instructors, Staff and Volunteers

Stephanie “SalsaSteph” Gurnon

Latin Dance Movement Specialist

Founder of Go Dance Mambo

Instructor / Choreographer / Performer / Event Planner

Considered one of the most influential instructors promoting New York-style mambo and Afro-Cuban roots on the Toronto salsa scene, Stephanie has created a wave of technical and stylistic development in the Latin dance community. Her specialties include teaching body awareness, music appreciation and musicality, leading and following skills, turn patterns, spins and turns, as well as creative movement. Always keeping up to date, SalsaSteph travels to New York City to take Eddie Torres classes, dance at the socials, as well as attend world salsa and bachata congresses.

Since 1989, Stephanie has studied salsa dance in several countries, training extensively with prominent dance instructors in a variety of styles, also including ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop and Latin. Having placed first in many high-profile Toronto salsa competitions in the professional category, she is now sought out as a judge. Stephanie has performed and taught salsa workshops around the world, including Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean, Western Europe and Japan. In addition, she has produced instructional videos and DVDs for worldwide distribution. 

In 2003, she co-created the Mambo Tribe Salsa Dance Co. and the popular Sunday Salsa Social, modelled after the 17 year Jimmy Anton social in NYC, the annual Winter Salsa Carnival, the Annual Chocolate Salsa Pleasure Party, Vavoom Valentine's Ball. 

In 2006 she went solo and formed Go Dance Mambo!

In 2009 Stephanie revived bachata by integrating it at the Sunday Salsa Social with Bowie Romero. By bringing inpsiriational bachata instructors to her two past Toronto Bachata Festivals, and starting the Toronto Bachata Competition, bachata is back on its feet. Brazilian Zouk was also featured at the Festival, and now Stephanie is working with the other local and international zoukers to grow the community. We have a new event called ZoukFest in the fall, a weekly Sunday Zouk Social, monthly zouk technique workshops, and are bringing a popular Zouk couple teach at GDM for 4 months Feb-June 2012!

Stephanie's new muse is Rio-style Zouk. She has taken private lessons from (in order) K-yo Victor (Brasilia/Rio), Kim Rottier (NYC), Karina Carvalho and Rodrigo Oliveira (Sao Paulo), Leo Neves (Rio), China and Luciana Guinle (Rio), Mari Hodges (Argentina), Darius Zi (Toronto) and more K-yo Victor!

Go Dance Mambo is now focused on building community and fundraising for Windfall Basics, a charity that provides clothing and other basic needs to over 60 thousand people in the GTA yearly. 

SalsaSteph believes that movement and music are highly healing and it is the driving force behind everything she does. Bringing people together and creating an atmosphere where one can breathe joy and remove physical and mental blockages is the most rewarding experience. Sharing Salsa, Bachata, Cha Cha and now Zouk dances with others, are the vehicles through which she experiences her joie de vivre!

Bowie Romero

Instructor / DJ Mr. B

Bowie has been with the Go Dance Mambo team since 2006. Having finished the GDM program, including the on2 performance group and the 6-monthTraining Program, he is GDM's first original volunteer and been teaching since early 2008. You'll love his balance between wit and technical savvy. He really cares about students' learning so you can have the best experience in the salsa world.

Bowie has performed an on2 mambo at the NYC Salsa Congress and the Canada Salsa Congress 2008 .Bowie actively goes to NYC to take Eddie Torres mambo classes. He is Mr. Salsa/Mambo Turn Pattern, and Mr Bachata Rhythm, and has been the star attraction, as a super DJ, for the past 2 years at GDM's Sunday Salsa Social and the Toronto Bachata Festival. He is now being invited to DJ international salsa and bachata events such as Montreal's SalsaGlam & Montreal Salsa Convention, Canada Salsa Congress, NJ;s salsa congress, DC's Bachata Festival and more!

Thanks to the synergy between teaching, promoting events, travelling and Dj skills, Stephanie and Bowie make a great team to get Toronto moving and grooving to Vintage salsa, bachata and zouk!

Iona Frost