About Us
Baila Latin Dance School By FrancescoyJulie
We’re a Belgian-Italian dance couple who started dancing together in 2020, brought together by our shared love for salsa and bachata. What began as a fun hobby quickly grew into a real passion for the music, the movement, and the joy of dancing together.
Based in Leuven and Brussels, we specialize in Cuban salsa and bachata, offering classes in both partnerwork and solo classes. Whether you're stepping onto the dance floor for the first time or looking to take your moves to the next level, our goal is to share the culture behind these Latin dances in a fun and authentic way to help you build a strong foundation and continue growing with confidence and a lot of fun.
We also love hitting the dance floor ourselves. On weekends, you’ll often find us dancing at socials or traveling to international salsa festivals, soaking up inspiration and sharing our love for dance wherever we go.
Our Classes
We teach weekly classes, where we not only explore partnerwork moves and combinations, but also dive into the roots of the dance. We love sharing the rich world of Cuban culture, including Afro-Cuban, rumba, son, and more.
Looking to bring this energy to your next event? You can book us for private workshops at weddings, birthdays, bachelor(ette) parties, anniversaries, or corporate events. We’ll get your guests dancing, laughing, and moving together — no experience needed!
Teachers
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​Francesco Pagliuca
Julie Laroche
Francesco is a dancer from Italy, born near Rome. He started dancing thanks to his parents, who convinced him to try a Cuban salsa class. From that first lesson, he fell in love with dance—and that passion has never stopped.
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At the beginning, Francesco focused on partner dancing. Later, he started to work on his body movement and control. With the help of great teachers in Italy, he began to learn more about the roots of Cuban dance. This led him to discover rumba cubana and other traditional Cuban styles.
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In Julie, he found the perfect dance partner. Together, they share a love for bachata and the beautiful style of salsa en línea (also called LA-style salsa).
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Francesco is now part of the ICCD (International Company of Cuban Dances). Through this group, he continues to study and grow in Cuban folklore and traditional Cuban dances. As a teacher, Francesco loves to share the culture, rhythm, and joy of Cuban dance with his students.
Julie is a Belgian dancer, born near Brussels, who has been moving to music for as long as she can remember. She began her dance journey in jazz ballet, later discovering hip hop, but everything changed when she was just 12 years old, that’s when she was introduced to salsa. With parents who danced salsa and kizomba, the rhythm and energy of Latin dance were always in the air at home. At the age of 18, she officially started taking salsa classes — and from that moment on, she was hooked.
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Julie danced Salsa LA and bachata intensively for the first four years. Not long after that, she met Francesco in a local pub where people can practice salsa and bachata. This meeting and her love for the roots of the dance led her to Cuban salsa, where she dove deeper into styles like rumba, son, and Afro-Cuban.
Today, Julie shares her passion through teaching. She gives partnerwork classes, solo lady styling classes and private classes, always with the goal of helping students grow, connect with the music, and feel confident on the dance floor.
Collaborations
Our love for salsa and bachata makes us want to share this passion with everyone!
We are always open to new collaborations with schools and events in Belgium and across Europe.
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If you have a school or you're planning an event, feel free to contact us using the details below.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact Us
​Tel: +32 491 59 15 48
Email: francescoyjulie@outlook.com
Instagram: Baila_FrancescoyJulie
Facebook: FrancescoyJulie​
