If you thought woke was dead, one look over at Good Morning America’s Monday show would quickly and regrettably snap you out of that fantasy. To “kick off” pride month, since the word ‘June’ has not been uttered by a single leftist media pundit for years now, ABC News hosted on-air Pride Salsa, a New York City dance troupe, which aims to create “a more inclusive approach” to the popular Latin American style.
GMA began the segment with a cringe-worthy showcase from garishly dressed Pride Salsa performers, though what they did could hardly be described as ‘dancing.’ Over half of the troupe’s members stood off to the side awkwardly waving mismatched pom-poms, at least sparing viewers from witnessing even more off-beat steps and clumsy turns.
Michael Strahan, the host of the segment, touted the performance as “shining light on the beauty of the LGBTQ+ community,” though he started shouting into the microphone far before the so-called dancing ended, as if he, like the rest of the audience, just wanted it to be over already.
Vimal Pradeep, the Indian national who founded Pride Salsa in 2023, described how the idea for the group came about:
Many of my friends in the queer scene came to know about my salsa dance experience. They were like, 'Oh, you should teach. We should do a very queer-centric salsa class.'
What is “queer-centric salsa?” According to Aubrie Salzman, one of Pride Salsa’s assistant directors, it goes against “the traditional salsa scene,” where “the gender roles are pretty strict - women follow, men lead.”
“Everybody dances with everybody,” Elie Rosales, another assistant director, explained.
In other words, salsa committed the great crime of having men dance with women, like every other style of partner dancing in history. But now these revolutionary dancers in New York want to change not only that, but also the requirements that salsa dancing must be rhythmic and generally enjoyable to watch.
And no one should be allowed to criticize their new kind of off-beat hip shaking, according to Pradeep: “If we can do it freely, without any judgment, that's the best feeling ever.”
But Pride Salsa’s own website promotes a different kind of discrimination. They charge 20 dollars per class, which screams elitism, as not every member of the queer community has enough money left over after dyeing their hair neon and getting a septum piercing to drop up to 80 dollars a month for gay dance classes.
In addition, the classes are separated based on levels, from zero to two. Shouldn’t the classes strive to have equal representation instead of judging people’s skills? What if a level zero dancer identifies as a level two, or three, or ten? Isn’t it horribly ableist and bigoted to limit them to level zero?
But for Pradeep and GMA, none of that matters. Pradeep explained what Pride Salsa was really about for him: “It's about building home far away from home... And also, dancing is a form of resistance and liberation, and especially as queer bodies dancing together, we all love it.”
You heard it here first - today in the United States of America, we live under the Footloose regime, where dancing is now “a form of resistance and liberation.” So, whatever you do, don’t go dancing, otherwise you might be arrested by our orange fascist overlord, who definitely is not famous for dancing at his rallies.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC's Good Morning America
June 1, 2026
8:39:40 a.m. EasternMICHAEL STRAHAN: All right, all right. Welcome back to GMA.
And that was an amazing performance by Pride Salsa helping us kick off pride month celebrations here at GMA, shining light on the beauty of the LGBTQ+ community. And this morning it's all about the dance floor. Let's take a look.
[cut to video]
[upbeat music]
STRAHAN, VOICEOVER: Salsa is not just music and dance. It's a feeling.
VIMAL PRADEEP: From the top! Let's go!
STRAHAN, VOICEOVER: Vimal Pradeep, originally from India, fell in love with that feeling before moving to New York City, eager to create a safe space for people like him to embrace salsa out loud.
PRADEEP: Many of my friends in the queer scene came to know about my salsa dance experience. They were like, 'Oh, you should teach. We should do a very queer-centric salsa class.'
STRAHAN, VOICEOVER: In 2023, Pradeep began instructing classes with the goal of creating a more inclusive approach to the dance.
AUBRIE SALZMAN: In the traditional salsa scene, the gender roles are pretty strict. Women follow, men lead.
ELIE ROSALES: It's man dance with a woman, woman dance with man. And it's pretty hard finding a spot where I would feel comfortable doing the woman's role.
And so when I found Vimal and his mission, everybody dances with everybody.
STRAHAN, VOICEOVER: Pride Salsa has now blossomed into a vibrant community.
PRADEEP: One, two, three.
To me, it's just not the dance alone. It's the people that I get to do that with.And if we can do it freely, without any judgment, that's the best feeling ever.
[cut back to live]
[applause]
STRAHAN: And yes, and we're joined now, we're here now with Vimal Pradeep. He is the founder and owner of Pride Salsa. And Vimal, thank you so much for being here with us.And how did it make you feel to - to grow this dance community?
PRADEEP: Thank you for having us.
STRAHAN: Of course.
PRADEEP: Uh, personally for me, it's about building home far away from home, which is India for me.And also dancing is a form of resistance and liberation, and especially as queer bodies dancing together, we all love it. It means a lot to us. Hopefully it's the same for all the folks that's watching us. Come dance with us!
STRAHAN: 'Come dance!' Dance is a universal language, my friend.
