WesGrooves Social Dance Series: Salsa Dancing with Las Mariquitas and Latin and Ballroom Club
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 7:00pm
Fayerweather Beckham Hall, 55 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
Free and open to the public.
The second event in the new WesGrooves series of social dance events with a vision to create community connection through rigorous play and creative movement will feature a basic salsa dancing lesson from Wesleyan’s Latin and Ballroom Club from 7pm to 7:45pm, followed by a dance party with New York City's queer and trans salsa band Las Mariquitas from 8pm to 10pm.
Dive into the beauty and power of salsa, a style of Latin American dance and music practiced worldwide. Usually danced in pairs, salsa dance is a great chance to invite your friends and family for a night of joyful learning. Come as you are and dance how you want!
Each WesGrooves event will start with an introductory dance workshop led by a visiting instructor before moving into open dancing in a joyous and party-like atmosphere to live music. No previous dance experience is necessary. Students, faculty, staff, families, and community members are encouraged to take to the dance floor together. Participants can come and go as they please—but instruction will take place at the start of the event. Light refreshments will be offered. Bring your energy and your friends, get in the groove, and learn how different dances from across the world bring people together. Learn more about the WesGrooves series.
This event is co-sponsored by the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, Center for the Arts, Dance Department, Music Department, Resource Center, Pride @ Wes, and the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department.
Wesleyan's Latin and Ballroom Club is a student-led organization dedicated to fostering a vibrant dance community on campus. Offering student-led Latin and ballroom dance lessons and a performance team, the group provides a welcoming and supportive environment where students of all experience levels can learn a variety of techniques and grow, regardless of their prior dance background or commitment availability.
Las Mariquitas is New York’s queer and trans salsa band, a political liberation project. Las Mariquitas celebrates the community of LGBTQIA+ salseres by creating an affirming, safe space. Las Mariquitas shares the stage with queer and trans dance leaders, embracing a culture of consent on the dance floor. Las Mariquitas works to honor the legacy of salsa as liberation music by writing new queer and transfeminist songs for the canon.
Las Mariquitas es el grupo de salsa queer y trans de Nueva York, un proyecto de liberación política. Las Mariquitas sigue celebrando a la comunidad de salseres LGBTQIA+, creando un espacio seguro. Las Mariquitas comparte la escena con bailarines queer y trans, aprovechando una cultura de consentimiento en el piso de baile. Las Mariquitas honran la historia de la salsa como música de liberación, escribiendo nuevas canciones queer y transfeministas para el canon.