The school · The story of the name

Aguanilé, Cuban salsa school in Nouméa In the beginning,
there was
a song.

In 1972, Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe recorded “Aguanilé”, inspired by Afro-Cuban chants. The school carries this name for the story it tells: salsa comes from somewhere, and we dance it with its roots.

In 1972, Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe recorded “Aguanilé”, a salsa track inspired by Afro-Cuban chants: a ritual call, percussion that keeps turning, a voice that purifies. The school carries this name for the story it tells: salsa comes from somewhere, and we dance it with its roots.

Founder, director, teacher

Mathilda Metanila

Founder, director and teacher. She keeps training, in Nouméa and abroad.

Mathilda founded Aguanilé to get Nouméa dancing the way Havana dances, passing on Cuban and Afro-Cuban salsa with all the history it carries. She runs the school, teaches the classes and keeps training, in Nouméa and abroad.

The rootsBorn in Indonesia, she grew up in Finland. From age 3 to 10, classical and modern dance, and already traditional Indonesian dances on stage.
2001 · Latin AmericaAt 17, full immersion: salsa, merengue, reggaeton, bachata and cumbia.At 17, full immersion: salsa, merengue, reggaeton, bachata and cumbia. In San Salvador, she performed Indonesian dances for the Alliance française and the city of San Salvador.
2008 · LuandaSemba and kizomba at the source, in Angola. That's where she taught her first Latin dance classes.
2013-2018 · LorraineSalsa On1 and On2, Lady Style, Rueda de Casino, Dominican bachata and samba, at Latin Sensation by Jack and École Elena Dance, with their performance troupes. And belly dance, on stage.
Since 2019 · NouméaShe teaches Cuban and Afro-Cuban dance and founded Aguanilé in 2024.She teaches Cuban and Afro-Cuban dance, first with an association, then at Aguanilé, which she founded in 2024. She keeps training with leading teachers: DRG Centre Valencia (Diana Rodriguez Garcia), Folklore Edition (Sheyla Colombe), Afrocuban Online (Alfredo Garcia), Avanza Dance (Ramsés Sariol), Ade Ori Afrocuban (Yorgenis Danger Garcia), Habarna Dance Studio (Kevin Cano and Geysa Martinez), NewStyle Academy PRO (Yoandy Villaurrutia), DY Salsa Dance Academy (Diego Rivera and Yaritza Arboleda), MamboLab Dance Academy (Elian Gomez), Women by Sayut (Mercedes Sayut), Ezgi Zaman Academy (Ezgi Zaman) and The Cuban Flow Company (Neilys Marrero del Rosario and Michael Labrada Dupuy).
2024-2025 · AsiaWorkshops in Kuala Lumpur (2024) and Singapore (2025).She also teaches abroad: workshops in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2024), then in Singapore (2025).
ODACAmbassador for New Caledonia and Oceania: Singapore, Japan, Bali.Ambassador for New Caledonia and Oceania at the Only Dance Afro Cuban festival: Singapore (2023, 2024), Japan (2025), Bali (2026).

“Cuban salsa isn't learned with your feet alone. You listen to it, you share it, you respect it.”

FR · EN · ES: classes can be taught in these languages.

The name

What Aguanilé means

The name Aguanilé has its roots in Yoruba culture, deeply tied to Afro-Caribbean traditions and to the birth of Afro-Cuban salsa.

Aguan

water

A universal symbol of purification and renewal.

Ilé

home

The place where people come together.

Together, Aguanilé expresses the idea of a spiritual cleansing, a call to the Orishas, the Yoruba deities, to put an end to war and misery.

The symbols of the logo

The logo, symbol by symbol

Mathilda Metanila, founder of Aguanilé NC

The waves
Water, Aguan, and the lagoon of New Caledonia.
The sun circle
Home, Ilé: a protective shelter, the community, and joy.
The Yoruba colours
Red and yellow for energy and fire, blue for water and serenity, white for purity.
The nautilus
The inner beauty of nature, life and harmony. Its chambers are the stages each of us goes through in life, and its spiral speaks of creation, movement, fluidity and evolution.
The flag and islands of Cuba
Where salsa comes from.

Values

What we stand for

01Passing it onWe explain the why behind the steps: the music, the context, the history. You leave with more than a routine.
02Respect for the rootsCuban salsa was born from an Afro-Cuban culture. We teach it with its rhythms, its rituals and its words.
03ConsistencyProgress comes with time. The session and year plans are designed for that, with teaching follow-up.
04TogethernessWe switch partners, we laugh, we meet up at socials. Nobody stays alone in a corner.
05Giving backThe school also dances for others, like at the Solidarity Dance Day in support of the Ligue contre le cancer.
06Buena onda positivaThe ingredient that can't be taught but is contagious. We laugh a lot, we get it wrong together, we start again.