Spicing up your Saturday night could be as easy as adding a little salsa — but not the kind you put on chips.
This weekend you can move your hips to Latin music at a salsa dance class at Salsa-Baby.com, aka Salsa Baby dance studios, on 3901 Central Ave. NE.
Every Saturday night the studio hosts a dance party and offers a beginning salsa class for newbies.
Owner Avery Meizner said he used to dance in salsa clubs in New York, including the Copacabana.
“We have about 100 people every night. Obviously we have the beginner class and then, a little later, some people who’ve been dancing longer come in,” Meizner said. “People learn how to dance salsa, practice dancing salsa and then have parties and have a great social environment, with people meeting each other and enjoying each other’s company.”
Meizner said he was excited for UNM to begin classes again, because not all college students can go downtown to bars.
Learning how to salsa dance is a great alternative, he said.
“One thing I noticed was there are really not too many places that devote themselves to dancing,” Meizner said. “There are a few social establishments that do play salsa music, but they’re generally more drinking establishments. People just spend their nights sitting around a bar. We’re a dance studio, but we create a party environment so you can feel like you’re dancing salsa at a club all night.”
Salsa Baby also sets itself apart from other dance studios because on Saturday night, they bring in local DJ Quico.
“DJ Quico has been DJing around Albuquerque for a very long time,” Meizner said. “He really knows salsa, merengue, bachata — he knows all the classics. And because he’s in touch with the hip-hop and reggaeton crowd, too, whenever anything hot comes out he is one of the first to know about it and he puts that on there as well.”
Bri Mergenthaler is teaching at Salsa Baby while studying to be a physician’s assistant. She met Avery at a dance club one night and he asked her to be an instructor.
“I had a lot of really great opportunities to train around the country and compete and teach,” Mergenthaler said. “Salsa is a big aspect of my life, and it’s my big de-stressor.”
Mergenthaler said that salsa dancing is popular in all age groups. She even has students who bring their children to participate in the dancing.
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“I get a crowd that’s in their 20s and 30s, and then it jumps up to people who are in their 50s and 60s. It depends on the night,” Mergenthaler said. “Everybody seems to really enjoy it. The music is fun, it’s upbeat and it’s great exercise and stress relief. I try really hard to have people loosen up and let go of their daily grind.”
Sophomore Patricia Estrella said she moved from Washington and was glad to find a dance studio in Albuquerque she liked.
“It was fun and a little different from where I normally dance,” Estrella said. “I thought that the instructor that taught the beginning class was really good. She had lots of energy and she knew what she was talking about. The staff is pretty friendly and they’ll just talk to you if you need help.”
Meizner said the dance studio also works in the community to teach salsa to people in restaurants and at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
“Now that the college crowd is back to school, we’re going to get more of that crowd. That helps get a very eclectic and mixed crowd,” he said.
