Aetna’s 2011 Latino Calendar Celebrates Health and Wellness Through Dance

HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aetna (NYSE: AET) has released its 2011 Latino Calendar, featuring 13 individuals who are committed to improving their own health and the wellness of their communities through dance.

“This year’s Latino Calendar celebrates diverse dancing styles and rhythms while demonstrating how dancing motivates people to have fun and stay in good shape”

The 2011 Aetna Latino Calendar features some individuals who dance for a living and others who oversee dance and fitness programs. Many of them took their first dance steps as children, and have fulfilled their passions by exploring their craft and talent.

“This year’s Latino Calendar celebrates diverse dancing styles and rhythms while demonstrating how dancing motivates people to have fun and stay in good shape,” said Raymond Arroyo, Aetna’s chief diversity officer. “Aetna recognizes the role dance plays in Latin-American cultures, where people experience firsthand the therapeutic effects of dance on the body, mind and soul.”

Individuals featured in this year’s calendar include leaders in the fields of business; community involvement; academics; advocacy/grass-roots outreach; medicine; dietetics; nutrition; and athletics.

The calendar profilees are:

• Julia Avalos, director of family health services at Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Philadelphia;
• Vanessa Calderon-Rosado, CEO of Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion, Boston;
• Betsy Dopico, Zumba instructor and musician and co-founder of DAF Studio in Miami;
• Esther Gutierrez-Sloan, president and founder of SALSArobics® Inc. and Latin dance instructor in Chicago;
• Sergio Leal and Salud Leon, founders and directors of Latin Dance Pro and Latin Dance Fashions Inc., Pasadena, Calif.;
• Anita N. Martinez, founder of Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico Inc., Dallas;
• Luis Martinez, professional dancer and instructor, and associate professor of dance and artistic director of Kean Dance Theatre, Union, N.J.;
• Jorge L. Mercado, guidance counselor at Charles H. Milby High School and salsa dance instructor at the University of Houston;
• Jorge Alonso Perez, founder of “Dance Therapy” - Dance Your Depression Away! Inc., San Antonio, Tex.
• Lillian Rodriguez Lopez, president of the Hispanic Federation, which serves close to 100 Latino health and human services organizations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania;
• Luis Salgado, veteran stage performer and choreographer, founder and director of R.Evolucion Latina, New York City; and
• Dunia Sanchez, wellness instructor at the Miller School of Medicine’s Medical Wellness Center, University of Miami.

The fourth edition of the annual bilingual calendar runs through December 2011.

The 2011 Aetna Latino Calendar – Bailando: Al Ritmo de la Salud -- is available for purchase for $4 per copy by calling [phone]. The online version of the calendar is available at http://www.aetnalatinocalendar.com/2011/.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 35.3 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com. To learn more about Aetna's innovative online tools, visit www.aetnatools.com.