By Raynah McIvor (Contributor) – Email
UFV’s newly restarted Latin American club is known for its weekly movie nights and informal Spanish lessons, and now they’ve added weekly salsa dancing classes. The classes are hosted every Friday afternoon in the Global Lounge from 4 to 6 p.m. The first of these weekly lessons occurred this past Friday — an amiable atmosphere encouraged by the 20 or so participants.
While the dance originated in its modern form in New York in the mid-’70s, it has always drawn on a variety of influences, such as the cha-cha-cha, mambo, and son cubano, and has also inherited other more intangible influences from Latin American nations such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Colombia. It was this vast variety that drew a decent-sized crowd to the Global Lounge — after all, it’s not every day that you get to learn salsa dancing from your classmates and peers.
The lesson began with the introduction of the basic side-step, before members from the Latin American club stepped in with some customized moves, varying their dancing according to different influences.
Renato Dioses Orozco’s Peruvian style included subtle kicks before each step, while Zaira Ramirez Luis’ Venezuelan offshoot was more sprightly. Monii Mendoza and Arturo Ortiz demonstrated their Mexican flair, and Manuel Castillo showcased the more relaxed, suave, Cuban style of salsa dancing.
After these basic moves had been mastered, the five teachers demonstrated some of the turns and steps that next week’s session will be introducing.
