History
How They Got Started
When Marissa Serrano started college as a freshman at Cal State Northridge, she made sure to check if there were any salsa clubs. There weren't. So, the next semester in spring 2007, she took action. Serrano started Salsa Libre.
"I’ve always been interested in salsa and dance salsa, so wherever I go, I try to see if I can get plugged in anywhere, being a part of the community," Serrano said.
Salsa Libre started with up to about 12 students, but now it has attendance of up to 30, Serrano said.
This group is only one of the newer ones in the So Cal college campus scene. Another freshie among the campus groups is UCLA's Salsa Society, a club that started by students at the campus gym, the John Wooden Center.
A group of students in a salsa class there decided they wanted more, according to co-president Diana Yoon. Now they dance outside on campus each week, right next to the Bruin Bear, and they're usually joined by about a large groups of regulars and curious passersby.
Looking back over the past 10 to 15 years, it's evident that these two groups were not the only ones initiated by a few curious college students. Cal State Long Beach's Salsa Club started in 2006 by Kevin Ngo, who was introduced to salsa in a social dance class at school. After performing on a salsa team and getting hooked, he decided to start a salsa club at CSULB.
Cal State San Bernardino's LOBOS (Lovers Of Bachata Or Salsa) also started in 2006. It was established by Savan Prak, a student who had been involved in other salsa college clubs and wanted one for his own campus.
But some clubs started out of other forms of dance--particularly ballroom. The Salsa Club of UCR started with a group of dancers who broke off from the school's ballroom dance club in 2001 to do their own thing, according to the club's first president Allen Aguilar.
The small group, originally known as the "Salsa Sluts," went on to build an organization that later became known for its highly attended workshops and its openness to non-students.
The USC Dance Club also started through ballroom. The club is now split into two groups--salsa and swing--but it started with ballroom in 1994. However, the group's founder Natalie Masson said she soon realized people were more interested in the social dances, like salsa, west coast swing, the Lindy Hop and Argentine tango. She switched the focus to the two most popular ones at the time--salsa and the Lindy Hop.
"I hired the top salsa dancers in L.A. at the time to teach classes... and they were a total hit with the students," Masson said. "Before we knew it, we had to cap the club attendance at 100 members. We couldn't fit anymore than that in the room."
The club's current president, Lorenzo Rossi, said salsa now dominates the interest of the club members. He said about two-thirds of the club members go on salsa nights.
Other groups grew out of other Latino organizations, such as the UC Irvine Paleros and LASA Salsa Troupe at UCLA. The UCI Paleros dance team began in 1997 from the school's Pan-American Latino Society, which it still works in conjunction with, according to co-presidents Michael Gonzalez and Patricia Salgado.
Similarly, UCLA's salsa troupe functions as part of the Latin American Student Association.
While the groups began in different ways, they mostly started for the same reason. The clubs' first presidents wanted to share their love of salsa with their fellow students.
Yoon from Salsa Society at UCLA said she not only wanted to give students a cheap way to learn salsa, but also to offer them support group.
"It's a lot less intimidating," Yoon said. "You don't have people that have been doing salsa lessons for 20 years. There are beginners like you."
Serrano from CSUN said he also sees college salsa clubs as a support system for dancers.
"You don’t just go out by yourself. You don’t know where to go our who to go with, or how much it costs," she siad. "If you have a group who knows what their doing, you can just hop along."
When They Got Started
I took a look at some of the more well-known college groups in Southern California, though I'm sure there are some other pretty legitimate ones out there that I missed. However, from the ones that I did interview, this is what I found:
A couple of groups started back in the day in the mid-90s--the USC Dance Club and UCI Paleros. However, many of the groups came after the year 2000. The college salsa community started growing little-by-little as more campuses joined in over the years. Here's the line-up so far:
1994: USC Social Dance Club
1997: UC Irvine Paleros
2001: Salsa Club of UCR
2001: or 2002: Cal Tech Salcita
2004/ 2005: Break On 2 (at USC)
2004/2005: Occidental College
2006: Cal State Long Beach Salsa Club
2006: LOBOS (Lovers Of Bachata Or Salsa at Cal State San Bernardino)
2007: Salsa Society (at UCLA)
2007: Salsa Libre (at CSUN)
*The start dates for UCLA's LASA Salsa Troupe and RCC's Samemabacha coming soon!
So, salsa has been making its way into the higher education system. Who knows, maybe there will be some new groups by the end of 2008!