Our Story

From the vibrant, growing Hispanic population of Dayton, the interest of

Daytonians in Latin-American culture, and a love of music that brings people

together, the Dayton Salsa Project (DSP) was born. Founded in August 2018 by

local musicians, half Dayton-born with the rest hailing from Puerto Rico, Colombia,

and Peru.

The mission of the Dayton Salsa Project is to use music as the means to break

barriers and promote inclusion by showcasing how musicians from diverse

traditions and cultural backgrounds can get together in one accord. We aim to

become ambassadors of Dayton’s diverse community, modeling the values of

cultural diversity and inclusion, and sharing the rich history of Salsa at local, state,

and national cultural events.

Many of us played in other bands that would perform in neighboring large

cities like Columbus and Cincinnati only to meet people from Dayton who traveled

in search of Salsa music and dancing. It only made sense to make Dayton our official

band hometown where we can celebrate the diversity and musicality of Salsa by

performing popular classics from the 1970’s and 80’s.