A real estate agent and a remodeling contractor by day, Reena and Abel Reyes are partners in life and in their shared business of teaching salsa in the evenings and on weekends.
They opened the Salsa Center in 2011 on Allendale Drive off Harrodsburg Road on Lexington’s south side, where they offer group classes and private instruction in Cuban salsa.
Reena Reyes comes by her love of dancing and the arts naturally. Her mother was a ballerina, her uncle has portrayed Michael Jackson in Lexington’s Halloween “Thriller” performances and her grandmother is a professional singer.
“My mom is from the Philippines; my father from Colombia. I do have Latin blood there, that’s why I love salsa so much,” she said. She was born in Kentucky and met her husband-to-be at a Cuban salsa party. He is from Havana.
“I came here eight years ago with $7 in my pocket,” Abel Reyes said. “I came chasing the American dream, being able to have your own business and succeed. It’s doable; most people just give up. I’m not stubborn, but I like to keep trying to achieve what I decided to do.”
He has a degree in literature and foreign languages, but uses his carpentry skills to make a living. Not long after settling in Kentucky he started a remodeling business called A Home Solutions (www.ahomesolutionsky.com).
Reena Reyes graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in business and finance. She has been a real estate agent with Legacy Real Estate Firm since 2007. When the lease was up on the building they were renting for the Salsa Center in 2014, the couple combined their professional skills and purchased a distressed building across the street.
“It was cement walls. It literally had been vacant for many years,” she said. “One day my husband walked by it and said, ‘That’s our studio.’ It had no electricity, no plumbing, no HVAC.”
It took him a year to rehab the building, and they shut down the Salsa Center during renovations. They reopened in September 2015.
“The people on the street were very thankful for taking that eyesore off the street,” Reena Reyes said. “When you purchase your own property, your mortgage is so much cheaper than your lease. We were able to cut our costs by three times.”
The Reyeses make a good team, running all aspects of their dance center.
“With my finance degree, I take care of a lot of the business’ books side,” Reena Reyes said. “He’s good at logistics and he is a visionary.”
Abel Reyes is a “one thing at a time” chaser of the American dream.
“I’m not there yet, but I’m trying every day,” he said.
He is planning to grow his remodeling business and open another entertainment venue within the next year or so.
In the meantime, the couple will continue to teach and promote Latin dancing for social situations, instead of competitive or performance-based dancing.
“It’s not about posing but learning how to lead and follow to the music and enjoy it how you’d like,” Reena Reyes said. “People are looking for something to do and have fun.”
One type of salsa is known as “rueda de casino,” a call-and-response style of dancing and one of the most popular classes offered at the Salsa Center on a weekly basis each fall and spring. Although the Reyeses have been hired out to entertain at parties and venues, their niche is instruction. Students from all over the world have wound up at their studio in Lexington. About 80 percent of the studio’s clients are people who have moved to Kentucky from other countries and other states.
Reena Reyes reached out to the new 21c Museum Hotel Lexington to offer a Salsa with Art workshop after seeing a Yoga with Art class on the hotel’s calendar of events.
“I look for opportunities that I think would fit the type of people who go there,” she said.
The hotel put the idea through its vetting and approval process, and Reyes taught her first salsa workshop in June. She is scheduled to teach at 21c the first Thursday evening of each month.
Through a partnership with the Downtown Lexington Corp., she also offers free “Salsa Lunch Breaks” during the summer every Wednesday at noon at the Fifth Third Bank Pavilion downtown.
“I’m happy in this city,” Abel Reyes said of Lexington. “I don’t think I’m going to move from here. I believe it is a good city for dreamers and entrepreneurs.”
To learn more about the Salsa Center, visit thesalsacenter.com.