Raymond Armant was born the 8 of April 1984 in New Orleans, LA. Growing up in his adolescence Raymond picked up many interests and participated in a number of activities such as competing in Bowling Leagues, little league baseball teams, music lessons in Piano as well as Alto-Saxophone, different visual art mediums, academic games and High School Varsity Tack & Field. After High school he went on to pursue his higher education at Louisiana State University studying Architecture. Up until this point none of Raymond’s interests, activities, or goals had any kind of connection to dance at all. In December of 2004 his older sister asked him to attend a beginner’s salsa class taught by Tumbusi at a local lounge called “The Loft.”  Immediately Raymond took a great interest in Latin dance and music. He attended class there every week for the rest of his Winter break from school. From there Raymond meet other instructors at local Latin nights and decided it was time to step outside of the beginners class. He began attending class with world known instructors Troy and Jorjet when they were teaching in New Orleans. Raymond attended classes with them whenever he was able to return home from school and spent most of his time learning from them the summer of 2005. 

As it had such an impact on many things, Hurricane Katrina also had a great impact on the Salsa scene in the city of New Orleans and Raymond’s dance education. The effects of the storm drove a majority of instructors out of the state of LA, and for a short while Raymond found himself with out dance classes or any social dancing nights while in Baton Rouge. While at LSU, Raymond made himself acquainted with Juan “Chino” Fukuda, a fellow student who had also spent time training under Troy and Jorjet in New Orleans among many other well known instructors around the country. He began taking lessons from Chino and attending many social dancing nights that Chino would organize or dj for in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He spent the next couple years training with Chino until fall of 2007 when his instructor had to relocate to Houston. Chino’s influence on Raymond’s desire to learn and improve his dance skills allowed him to continue on after he had to leave. Raymond and a fellow classmate Nadia Douglas who became great friends while Chino’s classes decided to continue their education on their own through instructional dvds, attending workshops at salsa congresses with world renown instructors and lots and lots of practicing and social dancing. They continued this process while Raymond finished his Degree in Architecture in May of 2008 and returned home to New Orleans until Jan of 2009, when Nadia moved to Costa Rica.

Raymond was definitely saddened by the leaving of his friend and dance partner but that situation made him aware of the condition of the salsa scene in the city of New Orleans and the qualities and knowledge that he has and can share with others. So when the opportunity presented itself for him to assist Tumay Tunur in teaching her salsa classes in the summer of 2009 he graciously accepted the offer. Although fairly new to teaching Raymond has taken a great interest in sharing his knowledge with his students and encouraging them to get out and enjoy themselves while they dance. Raymond is known for his friendly nature and the joy and emotion that he displays while dancing to Latin music….whether it’s to Salsa, Bachata, Cha Cha or Merengue. Not long after he began teaching the idea came up to form a Performance group with Tumay and 3 other long time friends who are also products of Salsa in New Orleans…Oscar Ramirez, Jonte Thibodeaux, and Jana Blakes. Since it’s inception Mambo Orleans has been contributing all it can to raising the interest in Latin dancing in the city, educating it’s students, volunteering and participating with local community initiatives, organizing events that exposes our locals to instructors and dancers from and exposes visitors to our culture here in New Orleans, and performing as representatives of New Orleans at home as well as events in other states and countries.

contact info:    raymond@mamboorleans.com