Hot salsa

Oct. 24, 2006

By LEILA KHEIRY

Frontiersman

Salsa dancing is &#8220muy caliente” these days, and a group of about 50 Valley residents have hopped on that hip bandwagon, taking salsa dance classes offered through the Mat-Su Borough's community enrichment program.

Young couples in their 20s, teenage boys with sideways baseball caps, grandparents, and men and women of all ages in between gathered in the gym at the borough building in Palmer for the first class Oct. 11. Some caught on quickly, others got their feet a little tangled, but all appeared to have fun learning the one-two-threes of basic salsa dancing.

Instructor Tammie Press said she was pleased with the turnout, but not necessarily surprised by how many Valley people want to learn salsa. With &#8220Dancing With the Stars” and other shows, partner dancing is big on television now, she said, so people have a new interest in traditional dances.

That kind of interest comes in waves, she said.

&#8220A few years back, all of a sudden swing was the rage and we were bombarded with teenagers at that time,” she said. Later, it was tango, and now salsa seems to be a popular choice.

Press is a longtime dance instructor in Alaska. She started in Fairbanks, where she learned ballroom dance and started competing, she said. She was the first Alaskan to hit the national competition circuit, she said, and the first Alaskan to win an award from the U.S. Dance Federation.

In 1989, she opened a dance studio in Anchorage where she lived until last year, when she saw a house online for sale in Palmer. She drove into the Valley to get a closer look. Press said when she saw the house and the town, she said to herself, &#8220Oh my God, this is actually paradise.”

&#8220I just fell in love with Palmer,” she said. &#8220Now I'm happy if I never have to go back to Anchorage again.”

For a while, she commuted as she finished her work commitments in the big city. Now, she's mostly teaching her neighbors.

Press said she loves helping beginner dancers.

&#8220You can see them going from knowing nothing to learning the dance,” she said. &#8220I love their enthusiasm.”

Simone Smith is one of those enthusiastic beginners. She initially signed on with a partner.

&#8220I talked with my husband and … he was all gung ho until the first night,” Smith said.

While her husband bowed out, she decided to participate by herself, as did a number of students.

While the women outnumber the men, Press makes sure every woman gets to dance with a man at some point by rotating partners. The women get a break about every other rotation, but the men don't get much of a break.

Melvin Worth doesn't seem to mind. The twice-widowed grandfather said he isn't going to be denied his fun, which is why he signed up for classes.

&#8220I'm going to learn to dance!” he said.

Worth said he's going on a cruise at Christmastime, and he wants to be ready to boogie to the dance bands.

Salsa is the first of a series of partner dance classes Press will be teaching this winter. Each session is four weeks, with the class meeting each Wednesday. When the salsa class is complete, she'll start swing dancing lessons.

&#8220Salsa and swing are the two most popular dances,” she said. &#8220They interest the young people as well as the old people.”

After swing, Press said she'll slow things down a bit and teach a session on the foxtrot. While that dance is less popular now, she said, it contains all the basic steps and moves for ballroom dancing.

Press said she can teach anyone to dance.

&#8220I tell people all the time that if you can walk, you can dance,” she said. &#8220Ballroom or partnership dancing is just an extension of walking. It's one foot right after the other.”

In addition to Press' classes, the borough is offering a variety of partner dance classes with instructor Sharon Peek. For more information about how to sign up for the community enrichment classes, contact the borough at 745-9578.

Contact Leila Kheiry at

352-2270 or at leila.kheiry@

frontiersman.com