La danza es nuestra pasión

Sobre el Proyecto Pasión

Key West has long boasted dance centers - at least since the late 1800’s when a double-turreted, wooden dance pavilion called ‘La Brisa’ graced the Southernmost Point, attracting crowds of eager social dancers. Women in long, flouncy dresses mingled coquettishly with men in crisp white shirts as they lined up outside to buy tickets for the evening dance. Two hundred years later - in keeping with the mounting appetite among snowbirds visitors and certain locals for then-voguish movement classes such as aerobics, step classes, ballet and jazz - small commercial studios began to open. Key West’s Latino population demanded dance venues for Latin partner dancing (salsa, merengue bachata and cha cha cha), and created the popularity of bars and restaurants such as Virgilios (attached to La Trattoria on Duval Street) and El Meson de Pepe at Mallory Square. 

Pamela Stephenson Connolly arrived to live full time in Key West in 2016, and immediately searched for dance possibilities within the community. She decided to open a dance studio, first teaching upstairs at the Key West Theater and then a space on Southard Street. The COVID years delayed her plans for the development of the Pasión Project Dance Studio, but eventually she gathered excellent teachers such as Master Braz Dos Santos - the foremost lambada dancer in the world - and Romina Hidalgo -the undisputed Queen of Lambada- and began to build a thriving studio.

In 2024 Pamela opened Pasión Studios at 1202 Simonton Street. Lessons and dance parties were held there throughout 2024 and when Pamela launched the Key west International Dance Company, the Simonton Street studio also became the Company rehearsal space and costuming department. Major renovations began in 2025, so Pasión project lessons began to be held at 1204 White Street. Renovations will soon be completed and students, instructors and the KWIDC will enjoy a state-of-the-art dance space.