Men Who Dance Comes to Puerto Rico: Free Workshops and Scholarships for Boricua Dancers

Puerto Rico is joining the international Men Who Dance circuit, the largest all-male dance festival in the United States ¹. From August 7 to 9, the School for the Performing Arts in Guaynabo will open its doors for three days of completely free workshops in classical ballet, contemporary dance, jazz, and hip hop, aimed at male dancers ages 18 to 30 with intermediate, advanced, or professional-level training ¹. The initiative, organized by the Inter-American Choreographic Institute (ICI) under the direction of Rafi Maldonado López, goes beyond training: the top participants will earn a full scholarship to represent the island at the main festival in Fort Lauderdale this November ².

Men Who Dance launched in 2020 with just 15 dancers and one simple but powerful idea: normalize the fact that men dance too ¹. Since then, the movement has grown to bring together more than 50 artists from over 20 countries at its 2025 edition ¹. The program has already taken its global workshops to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Colombia, and now it is Puerto Rico's turn ¹.

Maldonado López's goal is straightforward: break the stigma that still follows male professional dancers on the island. "Normalizing that men also dance" is the project's core mission, and Puerto Rico is fertile ground for that message -- the island has a rich dance tradition, but male visibility in the art form remains a challenge ¹.

What It Means for You

If you are a dancer or know one, this is a rare opportunity. The workshops are entirely free and open to any male dancer between 18 and 30 years old with intermediate-level skills or above, regardless of which school or company they trained with ¹². Organizers expect between 70 and 80 Puerto Rican dancers at the event ¹.

What makes this opportunity truly special is the scholarship. After two days of intensive workshops, a panel will select the top 10 dancers. On Sunday, August 9, those finalists will perform a solo of up to three minutes showcasing their strongest work, and the winners will receive a scholarship covering airfare, lodging, local transportation, and stipends to compete at the Men Who Dance Festival in Fort Lauderdale on November 28-29, 2026 ¹².

In other words: three days of free classes with international instructors, plus a real shot at having everything paid to represent Puerto Rico on the biggest stage for male dance in the hemisphere.

How to Register

Registration is open through a form on the ICI website at ici-america.org ². The process is simple: fill out the online form and show up ready to dance. For questions, reach out to [email protected] ².

Here are the key dates:

• Thursday, August 6: Leaders meeting at 7:30 p.m. (location TBA) ¹
• Friday, August 7: Welcome session and first classes ²
• Saturday, August 8: Full day of instruction across multiple styles ²
• Sunday, August 9: Final auditions and scholarship selection ¹²

The venue is the School for the Performing Arts, located at 333 Suite 208, Caribbean Cinemas Plaza, Guaynabo, PR 00969 ². Finalists should come prepared with a piece of up to three minutes that demonstrates their best talent ².

What Comes Next

If the Puerto Rico edition follows the pattern set by previous Latin American workshops, this could become a recurring stop on the Men Who Dance circuit for the island. For the dancers selected, the road continues in November in Fort Lauderdale, where they will share the stage with artists from more than 20 countries ¹.

Beyond the workshops and scholarships, what Men Who Dance brings to Puerto Rico is a message that still needs repeating: the stage has no gender, and Boricua dancers deserve a space where that is the norm, not the exception.

Sources: ¹ El Nuevo Dia -- Report on Men Who Dance coming to Puerto Rico and interview with Rafi Maldonado Lopez ² ICI America (ici-america.org) -- Official page of the Inter-American Choreographic Institute with registration details and programming