Josué Joseph

Founder and Artistic Director of La Época

     Josué has dedicated much of his life to the pursuit of living art. He was born and raised in the metropolitan area of New York City and was often surrounded by his father’s famous musician and dancer friends. His father – Alfonso Panamá, is a legendary bassist and pioneer of Afro-Cuban music and Jazz of the famous Palladium Ballroom in New York City – and he is from the Buena Vista Social Club generation of musicians.

     As a professional musician and producer, Josué is a Salsa-Grammy Award-winning composer, among other prestigious awards including the Outstanding Contribution to the International Arts Award for his precious composition “Verás” by National University of Music Bucharest, Song of the Year Award for his beloved composition “Vale Más” by Global Vybz, plus Best Original Song by the ESA for his gorgeous masterpiece “Adorada Mía“, and Best Theatrical Presentation by the President of Gdynia (in Poland), among many other awards.

     He has recorded some of his popular Salsa arrangements with Fania All-Stars musicians Charlie Rodriguez and Luis Mangual, and most recently with international Bachatero Joan Soriano in Santo Domingo on his popular Bachata songs “Dime, Dime” and “Baila Conmigo” and “Supermodelo” – all of which can be downloaded here, or on iTunes, Spotify, and GooglePlay. He has composed and produced across multiple genres (Afro-Cuban, Bachata, Classical, Ballads). Continuing in his dedicated, serious work-ethic of collaborating with other masters of music, he is currently composing and producing music in the Kizomba and Semba genres – traveling to Angola and Cabo Verde to record with some of the highest levels of musicians there.

     As a professional dance teacher of 18 years, he has taught Salsa, Bachata, Kizomba, and Musicality in over 80 cities on five continents – and is the first Latin-American  to teach these forms of dance and music in some of those cities including Minsk, Belarus and Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, among them. Maestro and choreographer and pioneer of Mambo – Pedro “Cuban Pete” Aguilar – was his first dance teacher. Becoming well-versed while continuing to train in multiple techniques of dance genres including Mambo, Salsa, Bachata, and Kizomba-Tango, plus Rumba & Guaguancó, Cha-Cha-Chá, and Bolero, he has trained in Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, New York, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.

     To present, he has directed and produced six documentaries, five soundtracks, and two symphony-orchestra productions in eastern-Europe, and a critically-acclaimed acoustic dance-theater show. In 2011, he relocated to eastern Europe. Currently based on the Baltic Sea of Poland, this central European location provides him an arm’s reach to every major European city.