Clubs & Parties Review: Latin Street Dancing studio Parties ***

We will start here a new blog series reviewing the salsa scene in Chicago, with emphasis in places where UofC students would go to dance. Please feel free to comment and add as much as you wish. If you want to suggest places to review, please write to salsa at uchicago dot edu and we'll try to grant your wish as soon as we can. Enjoy and keep dancing!

Last night we went to the New Studios Inauguration Party at Latin Street Dancing (LSD), located now in 215 W Ontario, a few blocks from its former location. The new place is huge, with two floors and very big rooms. They are still settling in, so at the time of the party the floors weren't finished, there were no mirrors in the dance studios and no air conditioner, but they expect to have everything in a short time.

LSD throws a studio party approx. every 4 weeks. They are all-ages so they are one of the main ways to salsa for our students under 21. Usually the party coincides with the end of their lesson sequence for the month, so there are a lot of beginner dancers and usually the people is very friendly and patient with the newcomers, although for more experienced dancers this can be a bit annoying. But in general there is space for everyone, since they like to divide the dancing in several rooms: Two for salsa (one room tends to be old-fashion salsa/mambo, the other more contemporary/recent tunes), and one room for the rest of latin dances (mostly merengue, bachata & cumbia), which accounts for a good balance and flow of people.

Another nice thing is that they tend to start with a free lesson (that is actually fun to be around for the begginers) at 9:30pm, and around 11pm they have a number of performances by the LSD students and their dance groups (advanced student & company, and a new pro group), as well as invited performers. It is always good to see that even at such different levels everyone is having a good time.

The old studio used to get very crowed really fast and in summers unbearably hot; even the air conditioner could not hold, but we hope with the new location those problems are gone. As for the dancers, in general there is a good level, but as it happens in general, the good dancers tend to dance within themselves, even though there's good patience with the beginners (more than in other places, i.e. clubs). The illumination is bright, so that affects the temperature of the room and the general 'ambiance' of the room

So if you are new to Salsa here's the place to be a little bolder and ask people to dance: you learn much more with better dancers. Also it has to be pointed out that even Salsa is very social by nature, in these parties people are more business than talk, but since they end up relatively early, some of the dancers (or new friends that are made) go to other clubs or bars to continue dancing in a more conversational environment. Usually these parties (how much you dance, with whom you dance) are a good barometer of your salsa level.

In a nutshell: Latin Street Dancing studio Parties
- Location: 215 W Ontario, Chicago.
- Hours: 9pm-2am (it really dies down by 1pm)
- For all ages
- Ideal for beginners, OK for advanced.
- 3 of 4 stars: Good Overall.

Felipe Marin.

Legend:
* : Please don't go
**: If you really need to dance, you can go there...
***: Good overall
****: Excellent! Best salsa experience