INSTRUCTOR BIOS
JOHN HENRY
John Henry was introduced to partner dancing at 7 years old and has been dancing consistently since the age of 16. He started as a professional skater at age 13, and he has always been interested in movement. One of his first performances was at Hillcrest Dance Company at 16, and he competed throughout San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. When he turned 18, he followed an art career and moved to Taos, NM and became an artist’s assistant for several artists, such as Jim Wagner and Frank Seckler, while continuing to dance in his free time. He moved to San Francisco, where he started teaching full-time at AMA Dance Studio, Broadway Studios, as well as other studios. He has taught in Albuquerque and Taos for the past 13 years, and he currently owns and teaches at Double Time Dance Studio in Albuquerque.
John Henry
- has studied swing with Jean Veloz, Frankie Manning, and Norma Miller, and tango with Carlos Gavito, Nestor Ray, Nora Dinzelbacher, as well as many others
- has been on American and European television
- won first place at the Greasers Ball in Bimbo’s San Francisco in 1998
- won first place swing at Lucky’s Belvedere Lounge in 1999
- was the 2006 Cowboys Country Champion
- performed at Kids Unleashed for three years
- performed for the New York Dance Company
- has taught for the University of San Francisco and various universities in New Mexico, including UNM, where he still teaches tango, swing, and salsa
- has judged many dance competitions
- choreographed the dance sequences in Husband for Hire with Mario Lopez, Mark Consuelos, and Nadine Vasquez
- was a mentor in Juilliard’s dance program
- co-created the Taos Two-Step
- was the first lindy instructor in New Mexico
- has taught at Michael Martin Murphy’s Country Christmas, Casa de Corazon, Taos Public Schools, a New Mexico mayors’ convention, the Albuquerque Hispanic Cultural Center, the Albuquerque Latin Dance Festival, and the Palm Springs Salsa Mambo Festival for the last four years
- traveled to Argentina for tango
- choreographed and performed at dance events including Albuquerque’s Shop & Stroll and Keshet Dance Company
- created Double Time’s tango team and the Duke City Salseros
- started one of the biggest tango, swing, and salsa nights in New Mexico
- won 1st place in the Summer 2009 Salsa Mambo Festival Professional Jack & Jill competition
CORY ALLISON LEONARD
Originally from Southern California, Cory grew up with her creative family of musicians, actors, painters, and sketch artists. After starting piano lessons at four years old, she was hooked on music and performing, and she dreamed of becoming a professional musician. However, during her college years, she drifted toward the sciences and graduated from UNM with a degree in psychology. Just after finishing college, Cory decided to return to her roots in the performing arts by learning to dance. She immediately fell in love with Double Time Dance Studio, where John Henry taught her nearly every social-style partner dance. Once she began working at Double Time (on the business side) and attending classes up to seven days a week, her dancing skyrocketed, and she became an instructor. She performed with John Henry and assisted with his tango bootcamp at the Winter 2009-2010, Summer 2010, Winter 2010-2011, & Summer 2011 Salsa Mambo Festivals; she also taught and performed at the 2010 & 2011 Albuquerque Latin Dance Festivals. Cory continues to perform and teach tango, salsa, swing, country two-step, bachata, and more.
TONY ESPINOZA
Tony started dancing at Double Time in 2008, studying salsa and tango with John Henry. Shortly thereafter, John asked Tony to consider training to become an instructor at the studio. After a year of constant instruction and training, Tony began his second career as a dance instructor. He continues to study as well as teach at Double Time. “I will always be a student first, then a teacher.”