Destination Dance: Here’s why LA is the place to be for salsa

Destination Dance: Salsa Sana

A Travelogue, Dance Show, and Real-Life Dream Story Set to the Beat of Salsa on 1: LA Style

LOS ANGELES, CA – July 4, 2025 — Award-winning documentarian Frances Vine returns to the dance world with her boldest and most personal project yet: Destination Dance: Salsa Sana. Hosted by Vine, featuring some of the boldest and brightest LA has to offer. The series is part travelogue, part dance instruction show, and part real-time documentary of one woman’s journey back into rhythm—through the fierce, flavorful world of Salsa on 1: LA style.

A Dance Reclaimed

After retiring from formal dance at 21, Frances never expected to return. But when chronic illness struck at 30, she found her center again through dance.. Now she’s stepping into the spotlight not just to document the story as a dancer who is living it. Taking cues from her training in broadcast journalism she’s part dance historian, part enthusiastic student. She sews the narrative of LA’s dance diaspora, telling the story of how salsa dance morphed into its modern form.

Francisco Vazquez: Architect of Salsa on 1

You can’t tell the story of salsa in Los Angeles without the name Francisco Vazquez. A dancer, choreographer, and visionary, Vazquez didn’t just ride the wave of L.A.’s salsa boom—he built it.

Born in Mexico and raised in L.A., Vazquez rose from the club scene of the early ’90s and helped codify a style rooted in Afro-Caribbean rhythm, but tailored for performance: Salsa on 1: LA style. Alongside his younger brothers, he created a vocabulary of explosive tricks, precise footwork, and stage-ready finesse that reshaped salsa globally. Known collectively as the Vazquez Brothers, their work introduced salsa to competition circuits, training programs, and international stages.

Beyond choreography, Francisco became a global ambassador and teacher, mentoring countless dancers through DVDs, workshops, and studio instruction. His influence endures in every tight spin and crisp line that define L.A. salsa today.

Laura Canellias: The First Lady of Salsa

If Vazquez built the structure, Laura Canellias gave it soul. A trailblazer in her own right, Canellias is celebrated as the First Lady of Salsa—not only for her technical expertise, but cultural stewardship as well. She brought elegance and fire to the floor, teaching dancers to connect emotionally with the music – and each other.

Her work as a choreographer, performer, and instructor has spanned decades—always centered on honoring the dance’s Afro-Latin roots while guiding it toward its future. Canellias’s legacy lies not only in the steps she created, but in the thousands of dancers she empowered.

Zweli Barton and Alex Sierra: The New Vanguard

The future of Salsa on 1 races forward in the feet of Zweli Barton and Alex Sierra. With commanding musicality and fearless style, these two rising stars are shaping what’s next, fusing tradition with fresh swagger. As mentors in the series, they guide Vine while representing the form’s thrilling evolution.

Frances Takes the Floor

She has just four weeks to learn a professional Salsa on 1 routine under the guidance of legends and up-and-comers alike—culminating in a final, filmed performance.

Behind the Steps, the Culture—and the Chisme

Filmed across iconic Los Angeles venues like The Victorian, Stevens Steakhouse, and El Floridita, Destination Dance: Salsa Sana takes viewers inside the kitchens, dance halls, and lives that shaped the city’s signature salsa style. It’s a story told through sweat, laughter, and a bit of chisme—the inside gossip that makes the scene tick.

The Sights and Sounds of L.A.

Destination Dance: Salsa Sana features work by two award-winning artists: original music by L.A. native, composer and multi instrumentalist Gabriel D Vine and production design by visual artist Aldo Coronel.

Production Design by Aldo Coronel

From Guadalajara, Mexico, Aldo Coronel brings his singular vision to Salsa Sana as production designer. A former law student turned multidisciplinary artist, Coronel is known for creating immersive, emotionally charged spaces that blur the line between reality and myth.

Photo credit: Monica Del Saz

Frances & the Global Expansion of Bingewatch Media

With Destination Dance: Salsa Sana, Frances Vine steps forward not just as a dancer and documentarian—but as the founder of Bingewatch Media, a rising entertainment company built to spotlight underrepresented voices in arts and culture. The company has secured a 100-hour global distribution deal, positioning it for wide international reach.

Salsa Sana leads the slate, airing on 640 channels worldwide and reaching audiences across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The series sets the tone for the kind of intimate, culture-rich storytelling Bingewatch aims to deliver.