Dance! At In Rhythm Fest 2026

By Camillo Cretara, The Paper. – This August the National Hispanic Community Center will host the second annual In Rhythm Fest. The music and dance festival happens at the NHCC campus, FUSION and the Albuquerque Museum for three nights and two days as a celebration of culture, community and connection.

The In Rhythm Festival was started when live music presenter Pancho Quinones reached out to local dancer, instructor, choreographer and performer Jessica Montoya. “Two years ago I’d been asked if I’d be interested in creating this ongoing music and dance festival for our community. So it’s really just offering to our community a place that we can enrich not only each other, but also our cultures, the Latin culture, through music and dance,” says Montoya, who now serves as organizer of In Rhythm Fest. 

Being hosted primarily at the National Hispanic Community Center, which also has a theatre and Spanish speaking classes, makes perfect sense, Montoya says. “We’ve had this partnership with them for many, many, many years. Ultimately, we have it at the center, everything.” 

The wide scope of the festival means it will also have events at FUSION and the Albuquerque Museum. Each night there will be different live music at each one, including a performance from the Grammy award-winning group the Spanish Harlem Orchestra on Friday evening at the Albuquerque Museum.

With different flavors of Latin music and dance every day and every night from Aug. 28 to the 30, the In Rhythm Festival will host some of the top local and international dance instructors to teach classes in the day. Bachata, salsa, cha cha cha, cumbia and rumba are just some of the styles on display this year. These classes are going to be taught by instructors like the world renowned Patti Smith, Elisa Devargas, Honey Villarreal and John Henry Moore.

“I’m doing a LA-style workshop,” says longtime local dance instructor John Henry Moore. “And that’s, like, my everything. I do a lot of slot-style dancing. I’m kind of an old-school technical guy. I know a lot of figures, and I know a lot of moves.” 

For an instructor like Moore this will be his second time doing the In Rhythm Fest. He’s also taught at other festivals such as the now dissolved Latin Dance Festival. “I’m the longest running teacher, dude. I’ve been doing that thing, the Latin Dance Festival since it first started in 2010.”

Jessica Montoya can be found teaching dance classes at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, and John Henry Moore can be found teaching classes most days of the week at his studio Double Time Dance Studio.

Full festival passes for In Rhythm Fest run $140. Single day passes are $104. Drop-in classes are $24 and social dances are $19. Tickets can be purchased at my.nmculture.org/56904/57029. To see a full schedule of classes and events, go to nhccnm.org/event/in-rhythm-fest-2026-a-new-mexico-community-event/.