On the morning of his 38th birthday, Lenny Tavárez walked into The James Weldon Johnson School in East Harlem and taught a group of nine-to-eleven-year-olds how to salsa. No stage, no cameras rolling for a video shoot. Just the artist, his fiancee, and about three dozen kids learning to move.

The visit was the formal debut of Dale Ritmo Community Outreach, a program Tavárez built in partnership with Apple Music's distribution and artist services company Platoon. The initiative launched in collaboration with Ballroom Basix, a nonprofit that has operated in New York City's public schools since 2008. Headquartered in East Harlem and rooted in multicultural dance heritage, Ballroom Basix has reached students across all five boroughs, touching the lives of more than 35,000 children in over 200 schools citywide. The organization uses partner dance, from salsa to merengue to swing, to teach social skills, self-confidence, and what founder Sidney Grant describes as the art of making manners matter. BALLROOM BASIX USADance/NYC

Lenny Tavárez Leads the First Dale Ritmo Cohort in New York

Tavárez co-led the workshop alongside Natasha Nazario, his longtime partner and mother of their two children. Students worked through salsa basics, covering footwork, rhythm, partnering, and coordination in what the organizers described as an energetic and lighthearted session. The age range, nine to eleven, places the students at the beginning of an educational stretch when social dynamics inside a classroom can shift fast. Ballroom Basix has built its entire methodology around that window. Educators who have participated in the program generally report that students are more polite with one another and get along better, and both teachers and students agree that the program deters bullying. Manhattan Bride

For Tavárez, the choice to anchor the initiative's first event in East Harlem carries weight. The neighborhood has been a center of salsa culture in New York for decades, home to the Latin big band scene that shaped artists across generations. Choosing it as the starting point for a Latin artist-led education program is less a symbolic gesture and more a direct statement about whose culture the music belongs to.

Dale Ritmo Expansion Plans and the "Pa' Lo Bonito" Connection

The timing of the launch is not incidental. This week, Tavárez also released "Pa' Lo Bonito," a new single produced by Sergio George. Known for his signature blend of reggaeton infused with R&B, Tavárez has accumulated more than 11 billion streams and 16 million followers across social platforms, building a career that stretches from his early days in the duo Dyland & Lenny through a solo run that has included songwriting credits on Karol G's "Bichota" and Anitta's "Envolver." The new single signals a deliberate shift in register. George, a Grammy-winning producer, has long been one of the central architects of contemporary tropical and salsa music. Their collaboration on "Pa' Lo Bonito" represents Tavárez pushing further into that territory, presenting what the release describes as a more intimate and romantic side of his artistry. Billboard

Tavárez is a two-time SESAC Pop/Rhythm Songwriter of the Year, earning the honor in both 2023 and 2025, and was recognized with the La Musa Triunfador award at the 12th annual La Musa Awards. His signing with Platoon, announced earlier this year, was framed in part around that kind of trajectory, an artist with the catalog and the credibility to move in multiple directions at once. Billboard

Dale Ritmo is designed to move with him. Following the East Harlem launch, Tavárez and his team have confirmed future cohorts in Miami, Puerto Rico, Mexico City, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, with a Los Angeles activation scheduled for late July. The scope makes it one of the more geographically ambitious education initiatives tied to a Latin artist in recent years, connecting classrooms across communities that share the same musical roots the program is trying to teach.

What started as a birthday visit to a school in East Harlem is, according to Tavárez and Platoon, the beginning of a long-term investment. The first cohort of kids who learned their salsa steps this week will not be the last.

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