Salsa night brings the heat in Campus Activities event

Last Friday night, November 5, The Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Campus Activities Board (CAB) sponsored “Noche De Salsa,” UNCG’s Salsa Night in the EUC Cone Ballroom from 7 pm to 11 pm. 

Noche De Salsa, an event open to the general public, offered free salsa lessons from 7pm to 8:30pm to all participants.  They were taught a variety of dance moves from the basic steps to turns and spines with and without a dance partner.  Afterwards, the dance floor was open for everyone to put their new skills to work. The live house band, West End Mamba, played music perfect for salsa and the merengue, another style of Latin American music and dance with a two-step beat.  The lively, up tempo songs played continuously throughout the night.  Participant’s enjoyed the fresh fruit buffet and refreshments as well.  Many participates had no previous salsa dancing experience, yet they came out to engage in and to enjoy a different atmosphere.  Ryan Carlin decided to come to salsa night, “To do something new, I just wanted to give it a try.” 

The Cone Ballroom was full, with mostly students and faculty members eager to dance.  Long time member and concert chair of CAB, Vanessa Hunter said, “Campus Activities Board’s motto is ‘Your free ride to entertainment,’ so we try to make sure that all of our programs are free if possible.”  She continued to explain that, “We’re trying to work on our diversity since this is the most diverse school in the UNC system, so why not reflect it in our campus, so we’re trying to implement these kinds of programs.”  Also, many students go home on the weekends and hosting the event on a Friday night, instead of during the weekdays, will hopefully encourage more students to stay in town for the weekends to get a fuller college experience while engaging in an educational program. 

By the end of the evening, the dance floor was packed with dancers from all experience levels, from the experienced salsa dancer to the moderate dancer, to the many others who had just learned salsa techniques for the first time from the instructor.  Gerson Sanchez came to Noche de Salsa to support his Latin culture.  As an experienced salsa dancer, he came to dance and to listen to the live band.  Kamisha Smith said, “My friends and I were interested in coming out to try to learn how to do the salsa, but this dance is harder than I thought, it’s not as easy as it looks.”  Nevertheless, most dancers were more than willing to let loose and have fun, although they were new to the world of salsa dancing. 

Participant Alaina Carter explained, “I like to try to venture out and do new things.  I’ve been interested in salsa but never had the opportunity to take lessons.  This CAB event allowed me to not only learn the salsa basics, but enjoy the atmosphere of salsa.”  The event was a success. It offered the campus an exciting cultural experience.