All ages and experience levels are invited to salsa dance at One World Cafe Friday evening.
Hosted by Salsa on the Palouse, the event will provide a lesson for beginners from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and social dancing for all until 9 p.m.
Local instructors Annelise Neilson and Daniel Reiss will teach attendees the basics of club style, bachata and merengue dances over the course of the evening.
Nielson said the goal of the event is to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable and happy dancing.
“I am looking forward to having more people join the dance community and learn about it at a venue where I hope they feel comfortable coming in and joining, and also people who don’t have a partner feel comfortable coming,” Nielson said. “We don’t see it as something you have to do as a couple because it’s not necessarily romantic, it’s just something we do for fun.”
Salsa dance is an eight-count dance that can be performed solo or with a partner to Latin rhythms, Nielson said. There are many different styles under the umbrella of salsa dance — club style being one of the most well-known.
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She said she is excited to broaden community access to salsa dance and offer everyone an opportunity to meet new people.
Building a dance community on the Palouse has been a goal of Nielson’s over the last three years, starting off with very little audience members attending events and classes. Now, nearly 20 people consistently show up, she said.
“I love salsa dancing itself, but the thing I love the most is having a dance community and people that come together and socialize around dancing together,” Nielson said.
Nielson recommends wearing comfortable shoes that don’t have too much traction, as well as comfortable clothes that make you happy, whether that means dressing up or dressing down.
“Come as you want. If you want to be fancy be fancy, if you want to be cozy be cozy,” Nielson said.
Kelsey Stevenson, president of Salsa on the Palouse and a barista at One World Cafe, said the space offers a relaxing atmosphere that can hopefully get people who are a little scared by dancing to feel more comfortable.
Several other events hosted by Salsa on the Palouse have an age requirement and take place in Pullman, limiting who can attend. Stevenson said she is excited to open up the opportunity to more people in Moscow.
Salsa Night will be a great chance for people to try out dancing or at least get more involved in the community, Stevenson said.
Located in the heart of downtown, One World Cafe is a great central location for community members and University of Idaho students alike, she said.
Stevenson said salsa dancing is easy to learn and worth giving a try — at least once — especially since the evening offers free access to quality instruction, and learning something new is beneficial to one’s mental health.
“I am excited to connect community members and students because it’s nice to have a venue that everyone is familiar with,” Stevenson said. “We can all come together to do something fun on a Friday night as a fun way to be active and burn calories without realizing it.”
Allison Spain can be reached at [email protected].