LA Dance Connection Co-Founder and Artistic Director Lionel Araya is an accomplished dancer, choreographer and teacher with more than 15 years of experience in Hip Hop/Funk, Street Jazz, Lyrical Jazz and Salsa. 

In the USA he was proclaimed Grand Champion of the 1997 International Street Dance Competition, Los Angeles.  Lionel’s choreography was voted among the best in the Annual West Coast Salsa Congress, Los Angeles (1999 - 2002) - the biggest and the most prestigious international salsa organizations in the world, with participants from more than 40 countries. He also performed and choreographed for CBS and Warner Bros, Hollywood (1991).

Lionel’s other international accomplishments include organizing dance conventions in his native country, Costa Rica, and conducting his popular dance workshops in Manila, Bali, Chennai, Maldives, Hong Kong as well as Singapore. In Singapore, he has showcased his works in the Asian Tourism Awards (1999), the Singapore Radio Hit Music Awards (2000),  Mediacorp’s Ren Ci Charity show (2005) and Chingay (1998 and 2005). 

In the past 7 years, he has trained young aspiring dancers through the Music and Drama Company (Singapore Armed Forces), Singapore American School, Singapore Management University, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, other individual talent groups as well as at his own studio LA Dance Connection which was opened in 2004.