In the past few years, shows featuring dancing celebrities and non-celebrities alike have taken over the airwaves. If you’re anything like me, you’ve seen these shows and want to learn some sweet moves yourself. Unfortunately, the prices of many ballroom dancing classes can damper anyone’s dancing spirit.
Thankfully, one dance studio offers prices a student can afford, and a class that will make your Fridays a little spicier.
The Satin & Latin Dance Studio on Northeast Broadway began as a way for the aging owners Remos & Sharon Reynosa to get a little exercise. They’d already closed one dance studio to focus on other business ventures when a friend asked Remos to teach at La Rumba restaurant to help build up a club crowd.
That short teaching job might have been the end of Remos’s involvement with the Portland salsa scene, if he hadn’t seen a movie called Baila Conmigo (“Dance with Me”), which featured Casino Rueda, a different kind of salsa danced in a circle.
It took only one week for the Reynosas to decide they wanted to bring Salsa Rueda to Portland.
After going to Miami to learn how to teach and promote Casino Rueda, the pair returned to Portland and assembled a team of dancers who performed at events and competitions all over Oregon.
On Aug. 4, 1998, the Friday night Casion Rueda lesson and dance party took off.
Friday night Casino Rueda lessons cost a mere $5. There are a few hours of free dancing afterward where you can practice your newly learned moves with other dancers or just freestyle it. Best of all, you need not fret if you can’t bring a partner because the idea of Casino Rueda is that the girls get passed around the inside of the circle to a different partner after each set of moves.
Casino Rueda night is also friendly to alternative lifestyles. The teachers don’t bat an eye if a girl wants to learn the traditionally male partner’s moves, or vice versa if a guy wants to learn the moves typically taught to the females. Remos generally takes the beginners circle, which helps give first-timers confidence and reminds them that dancing should be fun.
Although the place has an informal air, you learn professional moves from experienced teachers. Plus, the Reynosas have set up a system where they keep your name and level of skill in a database, so if you can’t go every week, or can’t remember what color circle you were in last week, they’ve got you covered.
From time to time, the Reynosas also give demonstrations, which can help you keep your dancing goals in focus because they are wicked at salsa dancing. For a couple in their 50s and 60s, they dance as if the years haven’t touched them.
Now, being a veteran of Casino Rueda nights, I’d like to offer some sage wisdom on the subject.
First, one of the hardest parts can be finding the entrance. This is because the dance studio is above a furniture store, with the only entrance to the stairs through a red door in between the furniture store and The New 715 bar.
Secondly, if you’re planning on doing the girl part, if at all possible, wear shoes with a low heel, otherwise your feet will be dying by the end of the night. A 2- to 3-inch heel makes the moves much easier to master.
Finally, bring water. Casino Rueda will make you sweat despite the open windows. It’s a room that fills with dancers, which means the drinking fountains in the hall often attract long lines.
If you’re looking to learn some dance moves in a great atmosphere, check out Casino Rueda nights at the Satin & Latin Dance Studio, and add a little Latin zest to your weekend.