Happy 2018! Changes At Hartford Ballroom

Happy New Year folks!

First, apologies that this blog post came so late.  It's been a busy kickoff to 2018.

We have some important changes here at Hartford Ballroom, as well as a new program!  So let's start with the changes:

Well, it's really just one big change.  We have officially decided that all of our monthly dance socials will now take place at our studio on Arbor St.  That's right, we have three dance socials (Milonga Mariposa, 3rd Friday, and Salsa Night) and they are all now at the same location!  While we loved using Lisa Matias' dance floor, we found we weren't making enough of a profit to make renting that floor worth it.  We will, however, continue to use the Lisa Matias Dance Center for our annual New Year's Eve Party and Springaling Dance.

Wondering where Hartford Ballroom is, exactly? Click here to go to our studio page, where you'll get our address, as well as directions and parking.

In other news, we have a new monthly workshop!  For the past year, Lisa has been teaching a small Salsa Rueda workshop on Sunday evenings twice a month.  Now, we have salsa teacher Luis coming in once a month to teach a very entertaining Salsa Rueda workshop!  That's right!  On every 1st Saturday of the month, from 3-6 p.m., Luis will be teaching us Rueda, with the beginner class starting at 3 p.m., and the intermediate class starting at approximately 4:30 p.m..  Each class is $10 per person.

Wondering what Salsa Rueda is?  Think of Cuban Salsa Rueda as square dancing....but for salsa dancers.  Couples dance Cuban Salsa in a circle, a caller calls out the name of a specific turn or pattern, and everyone does the pattern together at once, with that pattern sometimes involving changing partners.  It is a lot of fun to do, and Luis is a great teacher!

We do recommend that if you're planning on coming to the workshop, try attending both classes, or at least arriving 20 minutes early for the second class, so that you know what patterns have been covered in the beginner lesson.  And we definitely recommend the beginner lesson if you've never taken Luis' classes before!

For more information (or for videos of salsa rueda), check out our Facebook Page!


Final bit of news for our dance students: just a heads up that Quickstep is coming to our Thursday and Sunday classes next month!  If you have never done Quickstep before, or if you have but found it confusing last time, may I suggest trying our Level 2 class on Monday nights this month?  In our Level 2 class, we are introducing Quickstep by starting you out with the familiar Foxtrot, and then tweaking it bit by bit until you find yourself in the intricately fast dance from the big-band era.  We hope to see you then!

Well, that it's for now!  Please feel free to check out our Class Schedule for this month's dances!  And don't forget our salsa workshops on the weekends!