Well-Known Salsa Instructor Convicted on 2 Charges ~ Salsa Circuit latin news| salsa music| salsa dance

A popular dance instructor who lived in the Cahuenga Pass and choreographed and appeared on So You Think You Can Dance was convicted on two counts Friday, one of raping a woman, one of assaulting another woman.

The jury was deadlocked on four other counts against Da Silva, who has been in jail since his arrest at his home on Aug. 19, 2009.

A four-woman, eight-man jury convicted 43-year-old Da Silva of charges involving forcible rape on a 22-year-old woman in August 2002. He was also convicted of assault with intent to commit rape involving a March 28, 2009, attack on a 25-year-old woman. In that case he was acquitted of forcible rape.

The jury deliberated four days and deadlocked on four other charges and alleged rapes of two other women in 2004 and 2005.

A Studio City parent of a child who took classes from Da Silva both at a North Hollywood studio and at his home, which has a large private dance area, said she was surprised about the conviction.

"So many of us are stunned about these allegations and thought they would be dropped," said the mother who asked not to be identified. "It is very sad, he was a talented instructor and we never saw anything inappropriate in the years we've worked with him."

Da Silva will hear his sentencing on the two charges on Nov. 8, and that is whent he prosecutors will announce if they will try to get convictions on the four other counts that the jury could not decide.

Da Silva's attorney Patrick S. Smith said after the verdict, "I'm extremely disappointed, but this is the system."

In closing arguments at the trial, Deputy District Attorney Martha Carrillo told jurors that Da Silva was "a rapist disguised as a popular salsa instructor."

Judge Kathleen Kennedy queried the jurors about their decisions and said the panel was split 11-1 in favor of finding Da Silva guilty of sexual penetration by a foreign object and deadlocked 6-6 involving a rape charge stemming from the 2004 allegations. The jurors were also split 8-4 in favor of guilt on charges stemming from the alleged crimes in 2005 and 2009.

City News Service contributed to this report.