Satin & Latin Dance Studio

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excerpt from Willamette Week Online, SPECIAL ISSUE
BEST OF PORTLAND 2001

BEST A-LA-MAIN-IZQUIERDA

Each Friday night, Satin & Latin Dance Studio has an open Casino Rueda dance. Casino Rueda has all of square dancing's elements except one: nerdiness. The dance originated in Cuba's calles and uses Salsa's sexy (non-do-si-do) moves. The middle-aged women who prowl ballrooms for horizontal fox-trot partners are noticeably absent from the packed scene of high schoolers, fashionable singles, married couples and a few grandmothers. A "singer" in each circle calls out different moves while the dancers trade partners. Dancers cluster according to ability, so even Johnny Nobeat can groove to CDs of Salsa classics under a disco ball and Christmas lights. The small and agile Remos Reynosa, Satin & Latin's owner, jokes in English and Spanish with novices and demonstrates steps with his sparkling wife. As a Casino Rueda master, Reynosa creates new shimmies and teaches a style unique to Portland. Friday evenings alternate between "open classes" (1 hour) and "parties" (all night, baby). Both begin at 7 pm and have a $5 admission. 

Satin & Latin Dance Studio
707 NE Broadway Suite 210
281-6691

excerpt from Dancing with Fire
BY CRISTINE GONZALEZ  Issue date: 10/16/2001
The Tribune

Forget the do-si-do and allemande.

Dance lovers are moving to steps with names such as “enchufla” and “exhibela.”

The steps are staples of rueda de casino, a Cuban street dance that has hit the Latin dance scene in Portland.

Best described as salsa square dancing, casino rueda developed in the 1950s. Immigrants brought it to Miami nightclubs, where it became popular in the 1980s. But it wasn’t until a few years ago, when a wave of Cuban immigrants came to Portland, that it was introduced to local dance hot spots....

 

“If you know how to dance it, you can dance it with anyone anywhere,” said Sharon Spence, co-owner of Northeast Portland’s Satin & Latin Dance Studio, which has offered casino rueda lessons for about two years.

What makes the fast-paced dance unique is how it is performed: Couples dance in the shape of a rueda, or wheel, following calls for rapid exchanges between partners who turn and break as they would in regular salsa dancing. Rueda can accommodate two to 50 couples, but in nightclubs it’s more comfortable with about six.

Of course you don’t have to be Cuban to dance casino rueda convincingly...

 

The best way to start is by watching casino rueda done right. (It can’t hurt to rent the 1998 movie “Dance with Me,” starring Vanessa Williams and Chayanne, whose character dances rueda in some scenes.)

Once you get an idea, head to the Satin & Latin studios, the best place in town for beginning casino rueda lessons...

 

...When the music changes to an evenly paced salsa, six couples come together in a tight circle on the dance floor. One man hollers out several calls, and everyone changes partners, sometimes clapping and stomping their feet in unison until they reunite with their new partner –– and all at a furious pace.

All eyes are on the group as they dance, the men weaving in and out of the women, who salsa dance in place during the exchanges. When one dancer unwittingly begins to move out of the circle, an onlooker gently pushes him back in to keep the momentum going.

After the song ends, they get pats on the back and even a round of applause...

 

Remos Reynosa and Sharon Spence, the husband-and-wife team who run Satin & Latin Dance Studio, at 707 N.E. Broadway, are God’s gift to petrified beginners.

Through humor and polite badgering, they’ll get even the most bashful wallflower performing tasteful pelvic thrusts in no time.

On a recent Friday night, Reynosa began by walking students through some basic steps. Once the class more or less had the steps down, the students broke into about five circles according to ability.

Returning students stay in their circles until they feel comfortable moving up.

Although Reynosa performed as a ballroom dancer for 35 years, his salsa is for the people: He teaches the basics so that students can mix with partners in any setting.

“Last Friday, we had a 9-year-old boy and a grandmother in the same class,” Spence said. “There is no age barrier for dance.”

Tip: Arrive early. This studio gets crowded fast.

Cost: “It’s $5 for a lesson; $50 if you sit down,” Reynosa jokes. Lessons are at 8 p.m. Fridays...