Adrian Valdivia

Co-founder and co-director of DC Casineros, Adrian has been dancing and performing Son, Casino, and other popular Cuban dances for 10 years. He has also been teaching classes infused with Afro-Cuban dance for the past four years. He won first place in the couple’s competition in Miami Rueda congress of 2009. Adrian has traveled nationally and internationally to participate and to teach in the major Rueda de Casino and Afro-Cuban dance conferences. Along with DC Casineros, he has performed and taught locally, nationally, and internationally at prestigious and popular venues, conferences, and congresses including: the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, DC Salsa Congress, San Francisco, New York, Miami and Atlanta Rueda Congresses, and the Nicaragua Salsa Congress.

MTV 3 Latino recently featured Adrian and his partner and Director Amanda Gill to talk about Casino as a Cuban Popular dance in the DC area.

Adrian and DC Casineros also brought the critically acclaimed All Stars Dance Company from Santiago de Cuba, and collaborated on a 1 and a half hour production in DC.

Born in Venezuela, Adrian grew up in a family of dancers and musicians, which heavily influenced his love for the arts. Adrian currently trains under the guidance of Afro-Cuban dance Masters Duane Wrenn, Kati Hernandez, Yudisleidy Valdes, Jorge Luna Roque, Yoel Marrero, Oscar Rousseaux and Aramis Pazos. He teaches Son, Casino and Rueda de Casino, rumba at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. His casino style emphasizes the power and intricacies of Son, Rumba, and at times Orisha dances.

Juan Campos Cárdenas "Chan"

Juan "Chan" Campos Cárdenas was born on February 19, 1938 in Havana, Cuba, in the tenement "El África" of the "Cayo Hueso" neighborhood. His mother gave him the nickname "Chan" because of his love for a popular radio program of the time called "Chan Li Po" (a kind of Chinese-Cuban vaudeville comedy). After living in "El África" for 20 years, he moved to the neighborhood of "Belén". He began performing rumba along with Rolando Rodriguez Oliva "Malanga" (not to be confused with the one from Union de Reyes, Matanzas). In "El África" he witnessed (legendary) rumberos like Manguín, Gancedo, and El Cojo Mojáo. Of the six brothers in his family, three dedicated themselves to rumba: Regalado (deceased), Ricardo (El Chiqui), and Chan. He participated in comparsas (carnaval groups) including El Brillante Negro, Los Guaracheros, La Sultana, La Mexicana, and Los Componedores de Batea de Cayo Hueso. With friends from "El África" he co-founded "La Estrella de Pueblo Nuevo" with Gilberto Sierra, Manguín, Malanga, Ricardo Carballo, Regalado and Roberto Maza.

In his youth he worked as a longshoreman to make ends meet. He also worked for a time at Radio Marianao (a local radio station). Chan was a member of Papín y sus Rumberos before the group changed it's name to (the famous) cuartet Los Papines, with Malanga, Fidel (who lived in Los Pocitos), and Fuico. He was also in the group Patakín. He is most famously associated with Grupo Maritimo Portuario which, in 1981, become Yoruba Andabo, with his co-founders Francisco Hernandez Mora "Pancho Quinto", Calixto Callavas, Justo Marino Garcia "El Marino", Geovani del Pino Rodriguez, Jacinto Scull Castillo "El Chori", Pedro Celestino Fariñas, Ricardo Campos Lastra "El Chiqui", and others

Chan holds the ceremonial rank of "Isué" of the fraternal Abakuá society "Muñanga Efó". In the Ocha (Orisha) community he is Omo Oshún, and also a "Bakonfula" in the Palo Congo tradition.

Daybert Linares

Born and raised in Cuba, Daybert Linares Díaz is a Ph.D. student of contemporary Latin American literature with a focus on the Caribbean at the University of Maryland, College Park. Daybert has been teaching Cuban dances such as son, son montuno, casino, rueda de casino, and chachachá for over seven years, focusing on the social aspect of these dancers—which is why you won’t see him perform. He is the editor of the popular Cuban dance and music blog, Son y Casino, and has taught workshops in Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore and the southern Maryland areas, New York, North Virginia, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Savannah, and Washington, D.C.

Roberto Borrell

Roberto Borrell learned traditional and popular Afro-Cuban dance, percussion, and song from master musicians and dancers while growing up in la Havana Vieja, Havana, Cuba. He is a respected dancer and percussionist of Afro-Cuban Yoruba, Abakua (Calabar), Rumba, Arará (Dahony), and Palo (Congo). He also a master dancer and teacher of Cuban popular dance styles such as son montuno, danzón, and cha cha cha.

Mr. Borrell led the Afro-Cuban folkloric group Kubata in Cuba for 10 years before coming to the United States in 1980, where he founded a new company under the same name. Kubata, then based in New York City, performed Roberto’s productions for 10 years in many major East Coast venues, such as the Smithsonian, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. He also was founder and musical director of the famous New York-based Son Grupo, part of Kubata productions. 

Borrell danced in the front line of the Folklorico Nacional de Cuba for several years and, in major United States venues, has performed and recorded both as a dancer and percussionist, with legends such as Tito Puente, the Machete Ensemble, Chocolate Armenteros, “Cachao” Lopez, and Richard Egües.

Mr. Borrell was the co-founder, percussionist and musical co-director of the 11-member Orquesta la Moderna Tradición, one of the only ensembles in the United States that is dedicated to the performance of classic Cuban dance music: son, guaracha, cha cha cha, and especially the lilting grooves of the danzón.