Our Team
We’re Bailalo, an International space focused on bringing the joy of dance to you.
Bailalo was born in 2012 as a joint effort between members from different cultures and we’re proud to say that we have students and dancers from all over the world and from literally every continent (except Antarctica) who share one common trait: the love of dancing and joy of salsa.
Our Team
Bailalo was founded by Polish-Canadian Magdalena “Maggie” Zieba who, together with her partner Yi-Wen Sun, have created a team with local as well as international dancers.
Magdalena Zieba
Yi-Wen Sun
Rebecca Wong
Ricky Lee
Karen Shen
Chinwei Hsu
Magdalena “Maggie” Zieba
Founder and Director of Bailalo, Maggie was born in Poland and raised in Canada. She moved to Taipei in 2004, where she studied and performed with Korean teacher Sol Hwang. Maggie has continuously traveled to Cuba, New York, and Hong Kong to learn salsa as well as other dances. She has performed in various international events including China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia.
Maggie is an active member in the Taipei salsa scene and her passion is teaching dance and her goal is to create dancers and bring the love of dance to ordinary people. Her teaching philosophy is that anybody from any age or background can learn and enjoy salsa.
Yi-Wen Sun
Yi-Wen is Maggie’s partner and the main instructor at Bailalo. He was born in Taiwan but had spent a considerable amount of time living in Belize and the United States. Since 2008 Yi-Wen studied salsa intensively under instructors Manny Gutierrez and Cory Thomas of Tropical Vibes Dance in Phoenix, Arizona. Soon after he came back to Taiwan he continued his study of salsa under Sol Hwang before he finally joined Bailalo.
Yi-Wen’s philosophy is that we don’t teach fancy moves and tricks, we train dancers.
Karen Shen
Karen was born and raised in Taiwan. At a young age, she learned ballet and traditional dance. During her University years she learned Street dance and Flamenco and went to Spain to take more advanced training in Flamenco. She was introduced to salsa by coincidence on a business trip to Miami. After the trip, she started to learn salsa at Bailalo Dance Studio in 2013.
Besides continuously learning and taking classes, Karen also joined several performance projects locally and abroad to gain more experience. Her day job allows her to travel often, giving her opportunities to attend events and meet dancers from all over the world. In 2020, she found a new passion and began learning how to DJ, quickly becoming one of the favorite salsa DJ’s in Taipei.
Ricky Lee
Ricky was born and raised in Taiwan. In 2018, he came to Bailalo Dance Studio with his friend and quickly fell in love with social dancing. Under the guidance of Bailalo senior teachers, he obsessively dances and studies Salsa, Bachata and Brazilian Zouk, the latter being his favorite dance.
As he took dance classes almost every day of the week for the past 3 years, he quickly progressed to Teacher Assistant level, and now is teaching both Brazilian Zouk and Bachata. He joined Bailalo’s Pro Dance team in early 2020, only 3 years after he began his dance journey. His work ethic and passion for the dance are contagious and impressive and he loves sharing this passion with his students.
Chinwei Hsu
Chinwei started his dance journey in high school with Locking (part of funk dance, which is today also associated with hip hop) in 2008. In 2016, he discovered the beauty of partner dance in Salsa and Lindy Hop (swing dance) and began learning Salsa from Magdalena Zieba (aka Maggie) and Yiwen Sun at Bailalo Dance Studio.
To explore the knowledge and accumulate experience, Chinwei participated in competitions, performances, workshops, and events abroad, in Europe, North America, and Asia (with Naughty Swing and Bailalo performance team). To share his passion for dancing, Chinwei has been teaching Lindy Hop and Salsa since 2016. He thinks partner dancing is not just about skills and fancy moves, but also about a solid foundation and genuine connection between two dancers.
Our Students
Our students create a warm, friendly environment at Bailalo, where we focus on the social aspects of dance: to be around people and care for each other, as if this is their second home.
We always encourage our students to work hard and dance hard. That way we can all live our lives to the fullest! To learn more about us, follow us on our Bailalo Facebook page.