THE INTERNATIONAL PEN

The club offers two main dance courses- Latin & Ballroom dancing as well as Salsa Dancing. These lessons are run by professional dance instructors who have years of expertise under their belt.

After checking out the club’s website at www.lbss.org.uk and their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/nottinghamlbss?sk=messages_inbox#!/nottinghamlbss, the club appeared fun and inviting, and I was excited to get my dancing heels out. However, what deterred me was that only courses were offered. No open classes were available to get a sense of what classes were like, or for a beginner, what the difference between Latin, ballroom and salsa was. As a result joining the club required a payment of £20 upfront and a commitment of 8 weeks without much idea of what the lessons entailed.

Although this made me reconsider joining the club at first, after weighing costs (it’s just £2.50 per lesson) and doing thorough research on the difference between Latin ballroom and salsa (refer to the guide at the end of this article!), I finally decided that I was really interested in learning salsa and was prepared to commit to lessons every week.

Beginner’s salsa class is on Tuesdays at 6pm, usually located at the Portland atrium or the ESLC atrium. Perfect for if you have just ended classes in the area! Having had a long day of classes, I dragged my tired body to salsa class, starting to regret making this weekly commitment. Expecting to join a merry band of women dressed to impress in gym wear, I was instead met with a group of girls in a similar position as me - curious and eager to unleash the woman in them, but at the same time awkward and wondering if they made the right decision joining the club. Not to mention the minority of men in the corner, filled with even more uncertainty and ridiculousness at the fact that they were about to attempt salsa dance.

The fact that almost all of us were completely new to salsa dancing and even partner dancing made the environment pretty relaxed and open to mistakes. Everyone was more than willing to help and guide each other since we were in a completely new environment. The instructor and experienced members of the society are also very patient and friendly. They are more than happy to ensure that any doubts you have in the dance steps are clarified so as to guarantee a strong technique in the dance.

Though I was dreading coming for salsa after such a long day, the class actually helped me to loosen up and relax after my string of classes that day! I actually felt refreshed, energized and excited to learn more even after the class ended! The best thing about class was how welcoming everyone in the class was. Being an international student, we are usually intimidated by the locals or are not sure how to go about integrating with them. In my opinion, the salsa class creates a perfect environment to get to know both the locals and internationals well since you have the opportunity to dance and interact with everyone of them every week. Also, the comfortable learning environment in the club somehow or another makes it conducive for comfortable, friendly friendships to be formed in the process as well.

Rather than being a dreaded additional weekly commitment for me, joining LSB turned out to be a blessing in disguise since it not only became a place of friendship for me but also ignited a passion within me to work at it until I am an impressive, competition-ready salsa dancer.