Salsa Dancing at Havana

In June, I spent a week at my friend’s dorm at Boston College. One night, she suggested that we go to a salsa dancing club in Boston called Havana. It had been a while since I had gone clubbing or dancing, so I agreed.

I came to realize that Havana is not like your regular club.

Normal clubs are dark with loud music and flashing lights…with a lot of sweaty bodies packed too closely together, swaying, grinding, or jumping (doesn’t sound very appealing when you put it like that!) The only similarity between regular clubs and Havana is the loud music.

As I drove us to the club, my friend explained to me how Havana worked. The dance floor was roped off in the middle. People not dancing stood on the outside, watching, chilling, hydrating. Women waited for men to ask them to dance. And then, they went onto the floor and danced together. Havana was exclusively partner dance—salsa and bachata.

Now, being a hip-hop dancer myself, I was completely unfamiliar with both salsa and bachata. But with ten years of dance training under my belt, I wasn’t too worried. And, as my friend explained, Havana welcomes dancers of all levels!

At first, I was a little worried that no one would ask me to dance. What a blow to the self-esteem if I went there and the whole night and no one asked me to dance. But soon enough I realized that I would be dancing virtually the whole night. One song after another, I was asked to dance.

And the thing was … it was never in a creepy or flirty way. Everyone here just wanted to dance. It was all about having fun, and I never got the vibes that someone was just trying to pick up women.

Some dance partners were more awkward than others. And I made sure to preface with each dance partner that this was my first time doing salsa and bachata, and most everyone was quite respectful. Thankfully, as the woman, I didn’t have to lead—the man leads, and I just follow along, so a good dance partner really relies on the leader. A few of my leaders were quite good, and I was salsa-ing like a pro! Some of my dance partners were … not good leaders and it was much more awkward. But if it was awkward, I knew that it would all be other by the end of the song.

There were so many great things about this club. 1.There were men and women of all ages, all dance levels, and all sizes. There were same-sex couple as well! Anyone could come and just have a fun time.

2. People were actually dancing. As a dancer myself, it’s a little disheartening to go to a club or party and find no dancing, and instead people just swaying or standing or bouncing or grinding. (That’s why I preferred the parties that my dance team threw in college, because we would all actually dance.) At Havana, everyone was dancing! It was refreshing and SO. MUCH. FUN.

3. It was all innocent. I cannot speak for every person and every interaction at Havana (in fact, my friend had a very creepy interaction that night with her dance partner). But from what I could see, most everyone had kind intentions, and no one was just trying to smash. Although I was dancing with lots of different men, it was all very platonic and there was no attraction (at least on my end, can’t speak for the guys because look at me, I’m a dime). In my opinion, people had good intentions; like I said, we all just wanted to have fun and dance! Not take a girl home or something. Ironically, even though I was dancing with men, it was the least predatory club I had been to.

For the past year, I’ve gotten weirdly addicted to going outside of my comfort zone. Not totally sure why, but I’ve come to love the excitement, the rush, and the personal growth from going out of my comfort zone—it makes me feel proud! Having never done salsa before (or even partner dances for that matter!) this was a sure way for me to go beyond my limits, and I’m so glad I did, because it was such fun.