Fernando Sosa is known worldwide as one of the most achieved and complete dancers in Salsa. Web videos about him or his dance teams collect millions of views by users from all over the world, and his influence can easily be seen on many other dancers around the world. Few people know anything more about him, where he came from, or what his accomplishments entail. This is an attempt at giving a short biography on him for anyone who is interested. 

Fernando Sosa was born on May 19, 1977 in the South American city of Monte Video, Uruguay. During his childhood he frequented an important athletic club in Monte Video where he learned Artistic Gymnastics. At the age of 15, he arrived in Italy and met his great dance teacher (Maestro) Alberto Valdes, who showed him the doors to Cuba in order to deepen his Afro-Cuban dance roots and skills. After having been to Cuba various times, he moved himself to Bologna, Italy where he joined his first performance group with two other professional dancers coming from the Tropicana of Cuba. Once he had gained matured experience in dance performance he began teaching his first course and began touring with his performance act throughout Italy.

In 1998, Alberto Valdes called him to become part of the famous performance group called "Otra Idea" where he met Rafael Gonzalez, a professional dancer in the group. Thanks to this group, Fernando was able to complete his formation in dance. The performance shows that they created touched various styles: from Jazz, to Hip Hop, to Afro, to Rumba, and obviously Salsa as well.

After some experience abroad, he came back to dance in Milan and from Milan he traveled to the Congresses in New York and Los Angeles. And in the year 2000, Fernando, along with Rafael Gonzalez, decided to give life to a new plan: to create a dance company composed of men and women that go by the name of Tropical Gem. In June of the same year, they debuted with their new group in the World Salsa Congress of Milan. Soon after, Fernando Sosa and his Tropical Gem danced in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, Los Angeles, New York, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Portugal, Athens, Berlin, Amburgo, London, and Sidney.

Presently, Fernando Sosa has over 1,000 students in his dance academies and has participated in the most famous Salsa Congresses of the world. Tropical Gem, as a salsa performance team, has long been considered, by the worldwide salsa dancing community, as one of the top dance dance groups in the World! Their style showcases precision and speed with talent, beauty of dance, and a smooth complex mix of Afro-Cuban, Hip Hop, Jazz, Salsa, and more. Their shows have captivated and amazed audiences wherever they have traveled to.

Other Important Achievements:

In late 2001, Fernando founded Sosa Style Dancers, a new dance company composed of professional dancers of which he is the director and choreographer. In December of 2002, he also created his third dance company composed of only women, with the name of Tn Tumbao. In September 2005, Fernando realizes another one of his dreams, when along with Rafael Gonzalez, opened his Tropical Gem Dance School. And in September 2008 the Sosa Academy (www.sosacademy.it) is born as the first academy of dance and fitness.

Certainly, the image of Fernando Sosa in the world of Salsa dance is one that gives life to the essence of what we know Salsa to be in this day and age. It has evolved from being a dance that only our parents or grandparents danced at family, town, or social parties; and which they did so often times in slow motion and with a style that interpreted their feeling for the music differently. In fact, many old-timers often refer to the new style of Salsa as "the Olympics" of the dance floor. But more than a sport-type of feeling given to the dance, to those who cherish the style, it is a passionate expression of the music and all its complexities. More than just expressing the melody, dancers of the newest styles of Salsa dancing want to interpret the musical instruments in the songs, hitting the trumpets, bongos, timbales, congas, and all the flavors of the music with dance movements.

Fernando Sosa, along with many other masters of dance in the world, have certainly given life to a new era of dance and one that has spread Salsa all over the world to countries where they may not understand the lyrics of many popular songs, but they feel the music and have a true passion for the dance! The dance in itself has been the side of Salsa that has brought the music to areas of the world where it would have been very unlikely to have people truly love Salsa. We hope to see much more of Fernando Sosa in the years to come, and to be able to enjoy the unique creativity, performance ability, and the expressive power of the shows that he has created with his dance teams. Good luck Fernando!