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.