2008 Woodie Awards
This weekend, put some spice into your step
Amy Farnsworth
Issue date: 11/9/06 Section: Lifestyle
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Red roses and chocolate kisses line rows of tables surrounding the worn, wooden dance floor and a disco ball lights up the room, casting tiny, glowing dots on dancers.
Instructors stand in front of 400 beginner dancers teaching the basic salsa steps as couples try to mimic the moves and dodge their partner's toes.
For almost two years, the Havana Club has been a haven for salsa, and the traditional Latin dance continues to entice those in search of a new hobby.
Havana Club owner and salsa instructor Jeff Robinson started hosting weekend salsa nights in 2004. The Massachusetts native has been salsa dancing for six years.
"What attracted me to salsa was I saw the way people were interacting, and it looked like a very real party. It looked like a real group of people who were getting high off each other's company opposed to alcohol or drugs," Robinson said. "To me that was a cool thing-sort of people connecting to each other with really great music and great dancing."
Robinson first discovered salsa outside of Boston. "I'm half Cuban, and I was on a business trip in San Diego and a colleague of mine said 'Man, you don't dance salsa, you have to learn from me!'" Robinson said.
After his first encounter, Robinson started taking private lessons, but once the lessons stopped he started hosting salsa nights on Mondays at the Havana Club. The event quickly expanded to Friday and Saturday nights offering lessons and free burritos in a beginner-friendly atmosphere for $12 per person.
Freshman broadcast journalism major Kim Dohner frequents the Havana Club almost every Friday. Dohner learned how to salsa in high school and took her skills to a club in her hometown of Houston, Texas, but when she moved to Boston to attend Emerson she had to find a new place to dance.
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