Fort Langley's Cuban Jazz Dance Party

Each spring the Fort Langley Jazz Festival hosts a special fundraising event. In 2025 the Cuban Jazz Dance Party featured music, dancing and a silent auction.

The event this year happened on May 30th. It started with an hour of salsa dance lessons followed by a show and auction, with the proceeds from the night helping fund the Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival, which in 2025, happens from July 24 to 27.

Check out our Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival article to learn more about the festival that this event helps raise money for.

Julio Avila Cuban Band (at a concert at the PNE)

Cuban Jazz Dance Party in Fort Langley

The Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival is a great event that happens in July each year in the town of Fort Langley.

Before the main festival, there are some events in the late spring and early summer. One of them is the annual Fort Langley Jazz fundraising event. In 2025 it was the Cuban Jazz Dance Party on Friday, May 30th. Other pre-festival events are the Fort Langley Jazz Youth Concert Showcase Series which, in 2025, happen on July 13th and 20th (as well as during the festival on the weekend of July 26th and 27th).

Where and When

The Cuban Jazz Dance Party happened on Friday, May 30th, from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm at the Fort Langley Community Hall. The venue is located at 9167 Glover Road which is in downtown Fort Langley and just a few minutes away from the Fort Langley National Historic Site.

Tickets to the 2025 event cost $40 with 100% of proceeds benefitting the Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival. If you wanted to take part in the salsa dance lessons at the beginning of the night, that cost an extra $10.

There were a limited number of tickets available, which were sold out. Last year the festival’s fundraiser didn’t have any tickets left the night of the event.

Community Hall at Fort Langley — Fort Langley Community Hall

What to Expect at the Cuban Jazz Dance Party

The night started with salsa dance lessons from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. They were run by Anji Alvarez of Timba Cubana Dance School which is a local company based in Burnaby. The lessons weren’t too advanced, so they were good for those who had no experience salsa dancing or for those who did but wanted a refresher.

Those dancing skills came in handy the rest of the night when the Julio Avila Cuban Band took the stage. The 10-piece band featured plenty of percussion as well as trumpet, saxophone, clarinet and piano.

The final three hours of the event (from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm) featured a dance floor during the live music, as well as a silent auction where you could bid on various items and local experiences.

Visit to the Fort Langley Jazz website for full details about the event.

Julio Avila Cuban Band

Past Fort Langley Jazz Fundraisers

The annual Fort Langley Jazz fundraiser event is a bit different each year. In 2024 the event was titled Tribute to Motown and featured local band Big City Soul which covered hits from artists like James Brown and Aretha Franklin. The event that year took place on May 3rd, also at the Fort Langley Community Hall. It sold out before the night of the event and raised about $10,000. In a previous year, the event was with the Dal Richards Band.