Painting the Town Rojo

Much like the condiment of the same name, salsa music and dancing -- in all their different forms -- are experiencing unprecedented popularity in the United States, with Chapel Hill no exception.

The rhythmically inclined can choose from at least four places in town that regularly offer Latin beats (more than ever before), and more in Durham and Raleigh. And the rhythmically challenged can choose from even more places to learn the moves they need to get out on the floor.

"I think (Latin dancing) is real energetic," Hideaway manager D. Samuel said. "I like it a lot. People come from even Raleigh and Durham and the surrounding areas (to dance at the Hideaway)."

The Hideaway, a restaurant and bar in the Bank of America Building on Franklin Street, has hosted Latin dancing every Friday night for more than a year. The club had actually been a haven for salsa and merengue enthusiasts for some time before, when it was the Havana Cafe.

Right across Rosemary Street, Alley Oops TreeHouse offers a mix of Latin styles every Wednesday night. The club's answering machine proudly proclaims, "If you're into salsa, merengue, cumbia, bachata, Wednesday night, TreeHouse is the place to be!"

Perhaps, but the clubs now have competition from some area Mexican restaurants offering what they say is a more intimate dancing atmosphere. Within the past year both Patio Loco, on West Franklin Street, and El Chilango, on Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro, have started holding their own Latin dance nights.

"Atmosphere is a major factor," Patio Loco owner Jorge Diaz said about his restaurant's dance nights. "Big groups come over here and out of the blue they start dancing by themselves."

Lisa Domby, part-owner of El Chilango, said her restaurant's Friday night salsa lessons and dancing had grown impressively over the past year. "Since the summertime it's been a regular thing," she said. "We don't even consider discontinuing it because it's been so successful for us." But it hasn't always been that way.

"When I came here five years ago there was no place to dance,"said Diaz, a native of Venezuela. At that time the closest thing to a Latin club in town was Salsa Carolina, a salsa-promotion group that sets up salsa parties at various venues around the area, but has never had its own building.

Gradually, as more Latinos moved into the area and people became more familiar with Latin music, places like TreeHouse and Havana Cafe began offering salsa and merengue dance nights. But it has been mostly in the past year that Latin entertainment has taken off in Chapel Hill.

Que Rico is a Latin dance troupe sponsored by the Carolina Hispanic Association. Although the group has been around for several years, this year the group has seen more community interest than ever before.

"Last year we had to beg people (to join Que Rico)," said CHispA President Pamela D'Empaire. "This year we had to have tryouts because there were too many people. We had to tell some girls no, which we hate doing."

D'Empaire said she had also seen an increase in the number of students attending her weekly salsa lessons since last spring. "Last year I had, max, 10 to 12 couples. Then in the spring, after Ricky Martin, I had about 40 couples per class."

Jon Paul McClellan, a dance teacher at the Carrboro ArtsCenter, said he had just started offering a special swing and salsa class because of increased demand. He said one of the most impressive things about the current salsa craze is the diversity of the people in his classes and out on the dance floors.

"We have people from junior high schoolers to senior citizens, the whole gamut," he said.

His explanation for the exploding interest in Latin dances? "They're fun!"

D'Empaire said that while Latin dancing is definitely fun, there are more cultural dynamics at work that are feeding the frenzy.

"I think it's just the commercialization of Latin culture in general," she said. "As Americans start listening to music that introduces them to Latin rhythms, they like the rhythms and want more."

In a lot of cases it's bubble gum acts like Ricky Martin or Jennifer Lopez who are the ones turning American audiences on to "Latin rhythms," D'Empaire said. But even though they aren't necessarily authentic representations of Latino culture, they have stoked the fire of public interest and opened the door for more traditional forms like salsa, merengue and cumbia.

Kate Rhodes, a UNC senior and self-proclaimed salsa addict, said the cultural interchanges that come from diverse groups of people dancing together at salsa events are one of the things she likes best about Latin dancing.

"I think in some ways (salsa) is a catalyst," she said. "It gives people an in."

Diaz said the mix of people that showed up to dance at Patio Loco was helping to break down some barriers between people from different cultures and different social backgrounds. "It's giving more people the chance to become integrated. It's a great thing," he said. "We all need to start dancing."

The Arts & Entertainment Editor

can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.