Thomas teaches his unique brand of mambo dancing at his own studio; The Santo Rico Dance School is located at 2403 2nd Avenue (between 123rd & 124th Streets), 2^nd floor, in Manhattan's Harlem. Upon visiting his Saturday class, I could tell that he is a no non-sense, direct, firm, shoot straight-from-the-hip type of guy. He is an instructor who communicates well and speaks his mind. He doesn’t beat around the bush and gets straight to the point. His classes are taught in a bi-lingual format (English-Spanish). Counting is done in English while instructions are offered in both English and Spanish. He is assisted by two other instructors who help him divide the class into three different learning levels (beginner, intermediate and advance).

Thomas usually begins his class with open floor shines (solo dancing). Each shine is reviewed one at a time. If a student is not familiar with a shine, he will pull the student to one side and break it down to them personally while the rest of the group continues to practice the same step to music. Many of Santo Rico’s intermediate shines are complex and long. That’s why Thomas breaks these down into segments (much like some instructors do with complex turn patterns). He’ll move onto a new segment only when his group has been able to comprehend the previous one. These shines are tackled by thoroughly breaking them down to the count of the clave first, then performed to a slow tune and finally to a faster song. The number of shines covered in class depend on how quickly students are absorbing material on that day. Thomas usually doesn’t like to move on until everyone in his group understands every step covered by him so far.

Whenever possible pointers are provided to help enhance a student’s styling or corrections are made to help avoid accidents when dancing. Concepts are reviewed and drilled into students like Thomas’s 4 rules of dancing (1.Head up; 2. Shoulders move to music & tempo; 3. Knees bent & 4. Weight on Ball of foot). The four items together result in balance when dancing

The second half of the class focuses on partner dancing. Thomas, like his two other Dominican counterparts, is known for his innovative turn patterns. I’ve nicknamed him the "Spin-miester" because of the routine he choreographed for Santo Rico during the 1999 Congreso Mundial de la Salsa in Puerto Rico (which was a non-stop performance of complex turn patterns and spins). His partnering style consists of multiple turns, spins & counter-turns for both men and women. Thomas usually leads by counting out loud. He drills the hell out of a turn pattern to make sure that students get it. Each pattern is demonstrated, verbally broken down and then practiced to music. He’ll offer valuable partnering tips on styling, balance and footwork with emphasis on safety (i.e. elbow placement so not to hit the girl during a turn pattern). After a pattern has been absorbed, Thomas will ask couples to execute the sequence one at a time. This is when he’ll catch individual mistakes and make additional corrections. At the end, the group is left to practice to music on their own, while Thomas supervises.

Thomas's Style in a nutshell:
If I were to describe Thomas Guerrero’s style of dancing mambo to other instructors, I would say he has a very energetic Dominican Street Style of dancing. He is a human metaphor of multiple turns, spins, turn combos, counter turns and sudden stops with change of directions. He has a very strong and aggressive lead. Many women become multiple spinning experts under his style of mambo dancing out of sheer necessity and practice. So if your looking for interesting turn patterns and got energy to burn on the dance floor then Thomas Guerrero may be the instructor for you.

SalsaNewYork Magazine’s Best Partnering Class Pick
The art of teaching mambo dancing has grown significantly within the last couple of years. If you have any doubts just look at our instructor directory homepage. From a mere few instructors teaching the art in the mid-1990’s the list has grown to over 50 names in 2002. Yet from this list, several of these instructors have managed to surpassed the rest of the pack because they’ become known for something. Well it just so happens that Thomas Guerrero (Head Instructor of the Santo Rico Dance Studio & Director of the Santo Rico Dance Company) is one of those instructors. Since taking over the Santo Rico Dance Studio in the late 90’s, Thomas has developed a well deserved reputation for partnerwork. With this in mind, I’ll say that Thomas’s Saturday Partnerwork Class is NY’s least known resource. Take it from me, as someone who’s been to a good number of classes and none of them compare to a typical Thomas partnerwork class. Pound for pound, I would say that he offers the most challenging; exciting, innovative and creative turn pattern class currently available in NYC. With the assistance of two other qualified instructors, he breaks up his class into beginner, intermediate and advance. Students can expect to go through a whirlwind of mini-turns, spins, stops, counter-stops hand-checks, and whips, which eventually evolve into one heck of a monster marathon, turn pattern. It’s for this reason that I’ve nicknamed Thomas as the “Spinmiester” of NY Mambo. In just a few years his dance studio has cranked out many top level NY dancers. The Santo Rico men are known for being effectively strong leaders, while the women have developed a reputation for being dance floor “Spinning Queens”. It’s for this reason that SalsaNewYork Magazine has given Thomas Guerrero’s Saturday Partnerwork Class the title of BEST PARTNERWORK CLASS IN NYC.

• Click here to read SalsaNewYork’s review of Thomas Guerrero
• Click here to find out more about Thomas Guerrero’s Santo Rico Class Schedule