When Andre Gahrmann and Tonka Barrera met each other on the dance floor in 2001, they never could have expected to take over a dance school on a short period as a duo, organise parties and continue the world famous Haarlem salsa festival.
What started as a hobby, has now grown into a professional organisation where dance, fun and creativity are on the first place.

Tonka:’my fascination for dance and music has all to do with my youth. My parents (Chilean father and Dutch mother) were artists, who toured around the entire world with their mime company, on invitation of embassies and consulates. They made everything themselves in those days, from décor to costumes and operated the lightings too. What captures me is the creative spirit and process behind every artistic product.
After my education and work as a teacher at the Academy for Naturopathy, and 5 years of own practice, it was really time for something else. When I met Andre, we almost started teaching dancing lessons together. We founded Salsamotion and ever since we find ourselves in a continuous rapid, in which every year new developments have taken place’.

Andre:’As a police officer, dog trainer (e.g. searching for drugs) and Pentjak Silat (Indonesian Martial Arts), I have made a complete career switch to salsa dance teacher, artist intermediary and international salsa DJ. Yes, from tough guy to softie…
My first international performance as a salsa DJ was Monaco 2005, followed by Athens, Berlin, Tallinn, Riga, the tropical Lile de Reunion (Indian Ocean) and many other places. With pride I can say that I was the first European salsa DJ to play in Beijing and the first to dance on the Chinese wall during the Beijing Salsa Congress in 2007. In the meanwhile I have a huge collection of salsa classics from the sixties and seventies of musicians with the ‘blues in their soul’, for the ultimate salsa party.

Tonka and Andre are able to look back at a history of 10 years of the Haarlem Salsa Festival: 5 years as participants, and 5 years as organisers. 10 dynamic years with a still growing increase of visitors from and out of the country.

On to more salsa for lovely people who love salsa!

Haarlem Salsa Festival team 2008

Miranda, Barbara, Danninzia, Julia, Tonka & Kim (not on picture)