Salsa Dancing in Portland

So I just reminded myself about my pressing need to go dancing. I adore dancing of all kinds, except perhaps jazz and modern, not that I've ever really learned (to be fair). In middle school through high school I took a hip hop class and a street jazz class and adored both. One of my schools also had a swing club where I learned swing and learned a bunch of the lifts despite my lack of knowledge about the style--this is where being really little is great fun. I also took a salsa class with a friend of mine. I loved salsa and still do, however that class was full of creeper older guys. In college, we were required to take P.E. (RUDE) so my freshman year I signed up for ballroom. Bad, bad choice. I love the dances in ballroom, don't get me wrong, but there were not enough kids in the class and twice as many girls to guys so you only danced every other dance. On the upside I know how to waltz. Ok, so I learned my lesson there. I signed up for tango after hearing how awesome it was from a friend and completely fell in love. Tango and salsa are tied hands down for my two favorite styles of dance. I love that you can dance them to music other than the music intended and I love that each person you're paired with has a slightly different way of dancing, which keeps it always interesting. The next quarter I had a conflict with tango, so I took bellydance. Now this I enjoyed, although the teacher was a little too friendly and oversharing talking about her breast cancer. Slightly awkward, but the class was cool. Bellydance is hard, but not as fun (or as hard) as some of the other dancing I've done. After that I chose tango again. I should also mention that this is argentinian tango, not the ballroom type. Big difference. Classical has fewer "steps and to do it, you mainly just have to understand that each step you shift you weight. This was second semester so the tango class had progressed from basic (first quarter), basic/intermediate (second quarter), and was now in "close embrace." This means you lean up against your partner which is slightly awkward although I quickly overcame my awkwardness upon realizing that a few of the guys in the class were a lot shorter than some of the girls, meaning their heads were at the girls' shoulders or chests. I'm short so no worries, no guys with their noses in my shirt. Yay! I'm not sure what it is about tango that I so enjoy. I think a big part of it is that when you begin to dance, you can automatically see that it's not american. I'm all for america, but latin dancing is just so much more fun. In tango you're hugging and essentially seducing your partner. Now obviously nothing is going to happen, and anyone who knows anything about tango is aware of this, but it just seems so much more exotic than tap dancing. It's steamy, but hard. Plus the shoes are fantastic and really high. And I do have a shoe problem. Tango dancing is apparently rather big in Portland, but I have not yet gotten to check this out. I DID however, go salsa dancing a few weekends ago. As I mentioned, I learned to salsa in a class, but I went to guatemala to visit relatives just before starting college and instead of going to language school (haha woops), my family sampled all of the salsa schools in the village of Antigua. Salsa schools are not nearly so fancy as they sound--they're generally just the front room of someone's house with no furniture and big mirrors. We tried a different one every day, and I got enough experience that I still remember a lot of the 'moves' and the tricks to moving your hips. I had mentioned wanting to go salsa-ing to two friends of mine, and they called me out of the blue to suggest we go one saturday night. I had to meet them there sine they'd gone a bit early for the class, so I got there in time for the end of the class. I remembered what I'd learned enough to be able to lead another friend who'd come too, although I must say, I prefer to follow. The lesson was fairly basic, but a small class so you could ask questions, which was nice for those learning for the first time. The salsa studio was in the basement/bottom floor of "The Grand Cafe" (I think--it's at Belmont and Grand) and there's a $5 cover if you come after the lesson starts, but then I think the lesson was $13 and included cover and a drink (good deal, but I'm not totally sure on the price since I came late). The lesson started around 9 pm, I believe and probably went til around 10. By 11 the place was getting busy and for three girls there without a guy, we got asked to dance almost every dance. Now I would not necesarily suggest this club as the place to meet guys if you're a 22 year old since the guys were generally about twice our age with the youngest ones in their thirties. They were nice, and fun to dance with, and not really creepy at all. One decided my friend was his soulmate, though, and bought her a drink and tried to convince her that he was better than her boyfriend. She didn't give in and he eventually got the hint. Another guy bought us all drinks and didn't even ask for our numbers (my favorite kind of older guy)! All in all, I would hands down suggest this place as a place to go with a bunch of your girl friends. I think 4 would be an ideal number because if you go to the lesson you need a partner and it's not so many people that generally everyone will be dancing or maybe two will sit out and chat for one dance. The drinks were decently priced (although I didn't get anything too exciting), and the bartenders were nice. I definately will go back and completely recommend it for anyone who likes to dance and wants something new to do.