RED & BLACK: The Ritmo Honors Breakfast · Inaugural Class

Prices and seats close November 10. Four categories, five honorees, a performance by Bri, and a beginner class that anyone can walk into.

Full details, room packages, and Saturday at the Red and Black website:

https://risesanantonio.org/red-and-black/

ALREADY HAVE A WEEKENDER + THE RITMO HONORS BREAKFAST PASS?

You are already in. Do not buy again. The $125 combo pass on the Weekender page covers this breakfast.

EVENT DETAILS

RISE, the Ritmo Institute for Salsa Education, presents the first class of the Ritmo Honors.

The Honors recognize the people who keep salsa, bachata, and the music and dance of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora alive. Not performers alone. The business owners, the administrators, the teachers, and the young artists whose work decides whether a tradition still has a home in thirty years.

Four categories. Five honorees. One morning.

THE MORNING

8:00 Doors

8:30 Seated breakfast and the Ritmo Honors, emceed by Chris Flores

9:00 Performance by Bri

10:00 Beginner salsa class taught by Blanca Flores

11:00 The class turns into a social

12:00 Close

The 10:00 class is a true beginner class. No partner, no experience, and work clothes are fine. If you came for the breakfast and have never danced, this is the part where that changes.

THE INAUGURAL HONORS CLASS

Cultural Enterprise

Jorge Canavati, Saltillo 1957 to San Antonio 2026. He founded J. Canavati & Co., an international trade and logistics firm. As a volunteer at KRTU 91.7, he built Jazz de México into a showcase for jazz from Mexico and kept it on the air for years. RISE is presenting this award posthumously and has invited his family and friends to accept on his behalf, among them his friend Ruben Linder.

Cultural Stewardship

Belinda Menchaca and Jeannette Chavez, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. Belinda has worked in that building since 1992 and built the Guadalupe Dance Academy from nothing. Jeannette joined as an original company member in 1991 and now directs the company those classes produced. RISE extends this invitation through Cristina Ballí, Executive Director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.

Teaching Legacy

Lee Rios, founder of Semeneya Dance Studio and creator of The BIG Salsa Fest. Twenty-seven years teaching in San Antonio. People in this city have called him the father of Latin dance here. Lee also serves as chair of the RISE board of directors.

Emerging Artist Fellowship

Kimberly Guanziroli, 20, of Cantù, Italy, dancing with Tropical Gem in Milan. She is traveling from Italy to accept.

THE REST OF THE WEEKEND

Saturday is RED & BLACK: The Weekender, Semeneya's 27th. Five classes, four artists, and the last song at 3 AM. Peiwei and James Cobo teach salsa in Peiwei's Texas debut. Brenda Rodriguez and Alejandro Benedetto teach bachata. DJ Plaziuz has the music all night.

The Weekender + The Ritmo Honors Breakfast pass at $125 puts you at both days. It is on the Weekender page.

SEATS

Breakfast Seat, $85. Fees added at checkout.

Seats close November 10, 2026, because the hotel needs a final breakfast headcount.

PARTNERSHIP

Honors Table, $1,100. Table of eight, six Saturday Weekender passes, signage.

Honors Champion, $2,500. Ten Saturday passes, two full weekends, stage recognition.

Honors Benefactor, $5,000. Two tables, sixteen passes, a room package.

Presenting Partner, $10,000. One available. RED & BLACK presented by you, twenty Saturday passes.

Nonprofit and public sector rates are available at every level. Email hello@risesanantonio.org and we will send the packet and the rate.

Fair market value acknowledged in writing.

Presented by RISE, Ritmo Institute for Salsa Education, with Semeneya Dance Studio.

Seats are not refundable but they are transferable. Email us and we will move it to whoever is taking your place.

Program and performances subject to change.

RISE is a 501(c)(3) public charity. EIN 81-1800086.

hello@risesanantonio.org · risesanantonio.org