The Mission of Holy City Salsa is to Share the Joy of Music, Movement and Community Through Dance
We’re so grateful to be able to continue our mission in Charleston— we’ve been dancing since 2016 and thank everyone who has been part of this journey. Holy City Salsa Dance Studio was a brick and mortar in West Ashley from 2016-2020. With the uncertainty of the COVID epidemic, the physical studio closed in the summer of 2020 but the community stayed together. During COVID, Holy City Salsa hosted private lessons, small group classes and workshops at Dance Lab, eventually transitioning to our current home base at Amorous Dance. We offer group classes for adults of all levels, as well as periodic workshops and social dance events. Our instructors are passionate and enthusiastic about dance, especially the power of social dance to bring people together.
The Dance Floor is place where you see people of ALL walks of life, and Holy City Salsa is a community of varied individuals who all have one thing in common: dance.
Want to be part of the community? Join the Holy City Salsa Dance Fam on Facebook to connect with other dancers, instructors, and get updates on upcoming classes and events.
Meet our Staff
Kala Kannisto, Senior Instructor and Marketing Lead
Kala twirled into her first dance class in Columbia, SC, at the age of three and was hooked. Since then, she has studied, competed and performed various different styles of dance including tap, jazz, ballet, swing, Bachata, Cha Cha and her favorite, SALSA. She’s been training with and teaching alongside her bestie Georgia since 2015, first through Baila ConmiGA and then Holy City Salsa since its inception in 2016. She is a Holy City Salsa Certified Instructor and has introduced hundreds of people to the joys of Salsa dancing over her decade-plus long teaching career. With Holy City Salsa, she’s taught and performed at a variety of local and regional events, including the Charleston Latin American Festival, The Columbia Salsa Summit, The Charlotte Salsa and Bachata Festival and more.
Kala is an integral part of the Holy City Salsa team and her enthusiasm for teaching shines through in every class.
She believes strongly in the power of having strong dance fundamentals and creating an inclusive, joyful and encouraging environment in the classroom. Whether teaching a brand new beginner or a seasoned dancer, she focuses on making dance accessible for all.
Kala is also an in-demand makeup artist for film, TV, and editorial projects, working in the Carolinas and beyond on feature films, commercials and more. She specializes in special effects makeups and prosthetics and can be found on Instagram @ArtistryAveCHS. She can be contacted directly for private lesson bookings here.
Garin Viloria, Instructor and Studio Director
Hailing from Caracas, Venezuela, Garin is a lifelong salsa dancer and music lover who joined the Holy City Salsa Dance Fam in 2019 as a student and became a Holy City Salsa Certified Instructor in 2023. In addition to extensive training with Holy City Salsa Dance Studio, he has also completed online training through Fernando Sosa’s World Mastery Courses and V-Dance Academy Courses.
He’s taught and assisted hundreds of classes at Holy City Salsa and has also led dance classes and experiences all over Charleston, including the City of North Charleston’s Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration, the Medical University of South Carolina’s Fiesta Latina and Charleston County School District’s Education Leadership Summits.
His goal as an instructor is to create an enjoyable learning experience where students feel at ease and can experience a place to laugh, feel freedom, explore creativity, trust and grow.
Garin is a vital part of the Holy City Salsa Team, in addition to teaching and assisting group classes, he also serves as Studio Director where he runs the programming, day-to-day operations and coordination of events. He can be contacted directly for private lesson bookings here.
Val Fuqua, Office Manager and Dancer
Born and raised in Pereira, Colombia, Val grew up surrounded by music and dancing. She joined the Dance Fam in 2019 as part of the Holy City Salsa Performance Team and joined the staff as Office Manager in 2022.
She has extensive experience with client communications and brings her expertise and efficiency to the Office Manager role at Holy City Salsa.
She’s an integral part of the team, ensuring that students have a seamless experience in classes, from registration onward and managing the myriad behind-the-scenes details that create the magic for students and event attendees.
She finds joy in being part of the dance community in Charleston, reconnecting with her roots and helping spread the love of Latin dance and music.
Georgia Grace Schrubbe, Founder
Georgia fell in love with ballet at a young age in her hometown of Fairhope, AL, and has been dancing ever since. She’s been teaching various dance and fitness modalities since 2009 and got bit by the Salsa bug in 2010. Her passion for dance has taken her around the country and the world, including adventures studying at the Ballet Nacional de Cuba’s Catedra de Danza in Havana, attending the Paris International Salsa Congress, and training with instructors at congresses and festivals regionally and nationally.
She began teaching Salsa in 2013 as an apprentice with Yaenette Dixon at Charleston Latin Dance and started Baila ConmiGA in 2014. Baila ConmiGA rebranded to Holy City Salsa Dance Studio in 2016 and since its inception has shared the love of Salsa and Bachata to thousands of people in the Lowcountry and beyond.
Her intention with the studio is to lead with joy and create a positive, uplifting environment where students can not only be the best dancer possible but the best version of themselves
