Osbanis & Anneta
Osbanis Tejeda and Anneta Kepka are a Cuban-Polish couple and one of the most celebrated dance partnerships in Cuban popular dance — a duo whose performances in timba"> timba and casino have become reference points for what the tradition looks like at its highest level. Together they co-founded Deakocan Dance in London in 2009, taking the name from the Yoruba word deakokan — "from the heart."
Osbanis Tejeda
Born and raised in Havana, Osbanis is a dancer, musician, teacher, and choreographer now based in London. His movement grew from within the Cuban popular dance tradition — casino, timba"> timba, son, rumba, and the Afro-Cuban vocabulary that underlies all of them. As a musician himself, his relationship with rhythm is unusually direct: the music does not accompany his dancing, it generates it.
His style is defined by:
- Groundedness — low centre of gravity, deep connection to the floor rooted in Afro-Cuban tradition
- Musicality — precise, instinctive response to the layered rhythmic complexity of timba"> timba, particularly clave and tumbao
- Improvisation — spontaneous movement that follows the band in real time rather than performing over the music
- Power and control — sudden shifts between explosive energy and stillness within a single phrase
His dancing captures what distinguishes authentic Cuban popular dance: the music drives the body, the body does not perform over the music.
Anneta Kepka
Polish-born Anneta brings the feminine movement aesthetic of Cuban popular dance to their partnership — fluidity, responsiveness, and grounded Afro-Cuban body quality combined with the particular skill of partnering that listens simultaneously to the leader and the band.
Her movement is characterised by:
- Fluid isolation — the ability to move individual body parts independently within the flow of the phrase
- Reactive partnering — response to lead that feels musical rather than mechanical
- Presence — the quality of inhabiting the music rather than decorating it
As a Couple and Duo
Osbanis and Anneta are partners in life as well as on the dance floor. Together they represent Cuban popular dance partnering at its most complete — the interplay between masculine and feminine movement vocabularies, the dialogue between leader and follower, and above all the shared response to the music that makes Cuban dance different from its international derivatives.
Multiple World and UK champions in Cuban-style dance, they have performed and taught across more than 30 countries on five continents, becoming primary carriers of authentic timba"> timba and casino vocabulary to international dance communities.
