about the founders
Welcome to the Queer Afro Latin Dance Festival — The Return of Something Revolutionary
As the co-founders of this powerful celebration of dance, identity, and community, we are overjoyed to welcome you with open hearts.
The Queer Afro Latin Dance Festival (QALDF) began in 2018 as a labor of love—a bold response to the lack of spaces that center and uplift queer and trans Afro Latinx dancers. Since our very first year, QALDF has grown into a transformative space where artistry, culture, and liberation meet. After taking a necessary pause in 2025 to reflect and reset, we’re proud to say: we’re back—rested, resilient, and more visionary than ever.
This is more than a dance festival. It's a movement, a community, and a radical celebration of queer creativity. While we continue to honor our Afro Latin dance roots, we’re also expanding our vision. QALDF is becoming a home for queer artistry in all its forms—dance, music, film, performance, visual arts, and beyond. We're building a space where queer and trans BIPOC creatives can express their full selves, tell their stories, and feel seen and celebrated.
Whether you’re here to dance, perform, learn, witness, or just be in joyful community—you belong here. This space is for all of us: the first-timers and the veterans, the allies and the dreamers, the healers and the rebels.
Thank you for walking with us, building with us, and believing in what’s possible when we come together.
With deep gratitude and love,
Angelica & Jahaira
Co-Founders, Queer Afro Latin Dance Festival
a welcome message from the co-founders
Hello!!!
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we believe in a life of freedom, joy, light and good dancing. we believe you deserve to dance and express yourself unapologetically!
In 2017, Angelica and Jahaira co-founded In Lak’ech Dance Academy, the first Salsa and Bachata school in the U.S. created specifically for Queer, Trans, and Ally dancers.
As their student community grew, so did the call for something more—a space where queer and trans dancers could be centered, celebrated, and uplifted on a broader stage.
In June 2018, that vision came to life with the launch of the Queer Afro Latin Dance Festival in Oakland, California—the first festival of its kind in the United States. It was created to disrupt the overwhelmingly heteronormative patterns of the Latin dance world and to carve out space for liberation, artistry, and joy.
Since then, QALDF has become a beloved gathering for dancers, artists, and allies across the globe. With every year, it grows more intentional, more inclusive, and more creative.
Today, QALDF is evolving beyond a dance festival. While movement remains central to our mission, we are expanding into a full celebration of queer arts—welcoming film, music, performance, and visual storytelling into the fold.
We’re building something that lasts. Something rooted in culture, expression, and queer brilliance.
We’re just getting started.
The Story
Every dollar helps us keep this festival thriving and accessible.
Your donation supports queer and trans artists, inclusive programming, and the continued expansion of QALDF into a home for queer arts. Be part of the legacy.
Donations are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, QCC: The Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Arts and Culture, which is a nonprofit organization based in the Bay Area. Thank you in advance for your invaluable support!
