THE MUSIC OF NANCY ALONSO    

Nancy Alonso was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York of Puerto Rican parents. Nancy grew up in the New York City during the height of the Salsa era and witnessed history in the making.   She saw all the famous singers and musicians, danced to their music and even danced with Tito Puente when she was 12 years old. 

She moved to the Washington D.C. area in the 1980's.  Nancy co-owned and operated a mobile DJ service known as "The Dynamic Duo DJ's".  Her skills and expertise as a music programmer allowed her to crack into the professional DJ boys club.  Nancy was given the stage name DJ ISIS (I Spin In Style) and made dance club history in DC.  As DJ ISIS, Nancy played in some of the DC area’s  popular and exclusive clubs including Numbers, Chicago, The Georgetown Library, Anastasia's and The Pisces Club among others. 

Nancy and and her husband Henry are The Champions of WAVA's Disco Dance Contest.  This $1000 prize dance contest was the highlight of the largest holloween party (1988) ever held in DC.  It was held at the Post Office Pavilion and attended by over 1000 attendees.  Nancy and Henry hustled their way into the history books as this was the last disco\hustle dance event of its kind in the DC area.  WAVA was later sold and the format changed.  (bye bye disco station!)


In the late 80’s she turned her attention to Salsa.   Nancy brought her knowledge of classic salsa and blended it with contemporary music.  Nancy pioneered spinning Salsa Dura at several area clubs including South Beach and Chelsea's and gained popularity among musicians and latin music lovers for her music programming talent. In 1992 she made her mark at “Havana Café” in Clarendon,  where she was given artistic license to play hard core Salsa and Cuban music.  Havana Café became the first hot spot for Salsa in the DC area and was the inspiration for today’s salsa scene in the Washington metropolitan area.
 
Nancy's music programing skills and expert knowledge of Salsa led her to becoming the host of the Monday night "Latin Flavor" show on WPFW 89.3 FM (www.wpfw.org) in May of 1999. Nancy's format concentrates on classic salsa as well as Latin jazz and contemporary groups whose repertoire of music more closely represents Afro-Cuban rhythms and New York-style Salsa. She also features local musicians and conducts interviews whenever musicians come to the Washington area from New York, Puerto Rico, Los Angeles, Miami and elsewhere.

Nancy is active as a club and mobile DJ,  a speaker at Hispanic Heritage Month events and as an MC for special events throughout the DC metropolitan area including the Smithsonian Institute's Jazz Cafe.

Nancy has received many thanks and is the recipient of many awards for her dedication and devotion to the music.  Most recently, Nancy was voted SalsaMetro.com’s “2006 Best Salsa DJ Of The Year”. 

Nancy was recently given the title "The First Lady of Salsa in Washington, DC" by her peers.