FINDING YOUR SALSA FAMILIA
It takes two to tango, and several to salsa. At least that’s the case for members of Ritmo y Pasión, a dance club on campus where Fresno State students come together to salsa.
Every Friday night, salsa lovers head to the Peter’s building basement where they dance the night away.
Club members choose between the beginner and intermediate classes and then spend the first hour or so learning routines.
Each class allows dancers the opportunity to make connections with other club members and break out of their comfort zones.
One of the club’s dance instructors, Joey Bink, has changed significantly since joining the club less than a year ago, sidestepping away from his formerly introverted self and embracing his new outgoing persona.
“It’s an experience that breaks people out of their shell, you know, fairly easily, without you even realizing what’s happening. It happens to a lot of people,” Bink said.
It even happened to Club President Marbella Nunes, who said becoming more extroverted was one of the reasons she fell in love with salsa club.
“It was freeing. Just the fact that you got to meet new people. That you got to dance with them. Got to interact with them. Like it wasn’t just keeping to yourself. It was getting out there and actually doing something,” Nunes said.
It’s those warm exchanges between officers, members, and partners, that transform the club into a family.
Sara Essary, the club’s founder, explains exactly what gives the club its familial atmosphere.
“We get the early set-up and the hangout late. And we go travel dancing together. So the people who are really part of the club, they have some moments of bonding that say just walking in and hanging out with us on a Friday night, you wouldn’t get. So we like to hang out on campus and off-campus together. So it just becomes a little salsa familia,” Essary said.
The salsa familia is always accepting new family members. Prospective club members can stop by rooms 011 and 013 of the Peter’s Building for a lesson any Friday night at seven-thirty.