A man from my pickleball camp and sports club turns out to be a ballroom dancer, so he invited me…read moreto his Rocklin ballroom dance studio's Friday night open house with a salsa lesson and also told me about Elliott Genovia's $5 dance classes at the dance conservatory on Harding Blvd in Roseville. While I wasn't impressed with the ballroom dance studio, I do quite enjoy Genovia Dance.
Here is the dance schedule as of July 2024:
Wed 7 PM - Beginner Salsa
Wed 8 PM - Intermediate Salsa (progressive class)
Fri 7 PM - Beginner Salsa
Fri 8 PM - Beginning/Intermediate Bachata (progressive class)
Only $5 per class. What a bargain and a gift! Cash is preferred. No credit card transactions.
So close to home for me too. I don't have drive all the way to Sacramento.
I love Elliott's easy listening music selection, which include bachata cover versions of pop music in English, like Ed Sheeran's "Shivers", John Legend's "All of Me", and Sam Smith's "How Do You Sleep?" All my favorites!
I've only been to the Friday classes twice so far. So far, I've seen the beginner salsa class cover the Basic Step, Side Basic, Front Basic, Back Basic, and Right Turn. If he sees that you have had salsa classes before or you can follow and you're lucky enough to get to dance with him, he will lead you into other moves, like the Left Turn. He will give you tips on finetuning your technique, which I found super cool. He sometimes will lead two followers at the same time, one with each hand. Some students could feel insecure getting personally corrected, but you normally have to pay for private lessons for feedback like that. The beginner salsa class needs more leaders, so please show up, men! Women can lead too. I tried leading last week.
You are also allowed to bring and pair up with your own partner for the entire class if you prefer, so couples, come learn and dance! You can work on both your relationship and dance connection.
The intermediate bachata class is a progressive class that begins the first week of every month. I worry that I slowed class down joining the 2nd week, but I am following well enough according to some of the leaders. We haven't managed to cover new material the 2nd and 3rd weeks, but it is a somewhat tricky routine with the back-to-back Turkish towel move and grapevine ronde counts. It'll be a rush to the finish in Week 4, but hopefully, we learn and add on the new patterns first, instead of review. The dance routine and patterns we're learning are graceful and beautiful. I was always afraid bachata would be too sexy and romantic a dance for me, but I really like it. I think I confused it with lambada....I've watched "Dirty Dancing" too many times!
After class, Elliott offers private lessons. He can teach Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Rueda, Hustle, and Kizomba.
I've been taking dance lessons on and off throughout life. I get frustrated with the creepy leaders, poor instruction, or dance snobs, but for the first time in a long time and for the first time since moving to the Sacramento area, I am actually excited about going to dance class! Thanks so much, Elliott :-) I was so happy you smiled when I entered class last week.