Seattle Salsa Column:
"Nadine Knows" is a syndicated salsa column about musings of the salsa sort. Columnist Nadine Chan is a San Francisco native and has been salsa dancing since 1998 and is a sought after performer & dance instructor.
can find more articles as well as her latin dance instructional videos at:
Salsa Dance Videos by Marcelo and Nadine.
Nadine Knows
Hey all you salseros
out there! We’re back in full force. I have TONS of ideas to write about.
Check out my column for personal stories and advice on
New.....
- What IS that funky smell?
- How do I find a practice partner?
- Audition
- Salsa-proof clothes for the chicas
- Salsa-proof tops
- Salsa-proof bottoms
- Home Base (no, not the hardware store)
- How to avoid getting STOMPED on the dance floor or what to do if you ACCIDENTALLY step on or bump another dancer
- TIPS to avoid getting stuff STOLEN
- Loving to dance or dancing to get some lovin
- Avoiding Pesky Persistent People
- Secret alter ego
- I've got a story for you
- Oldie but goodie
- Smokin' salsa venues go smoke-free
- Halloween party at Vito's
Salsa? In Seattle? When I first moved up to Seattle from San Francisco, one of my first challenges was to find a place to Salsa. This was back in October 1998. I searched the web. I scanned the Seattle Weekly and the Stranger. I asked random people. And all I came up with was swing, Swing, SWING.
Don’t get me wrong, I like to swing. In fact, I used to Lindy Hop like there was no tomorrow back in my city of San Francisco. But for three months before I moved to Seattle, I grew addicted to the Latin sounds of Salsa. And I CRAVED it.
During my third day in Seattle, I happened to be at an orientation for graduate students in the School of Public Health at UW. To tell you the truth, I skipped out on the orientation and just went there for the food and reception afterwards. With a plate stacked high with grub in one hand, and a fistful of munchies in the other, I began to move through the crowd of strangers towards the activity sign-up tables. Kayaking, movies, food (‘hmmm, yeah, I should sign up for that’), swing dancing (‘oh, alright, I might as well sign up for this’), skiing, biking, hiking, blah blah blah.
Just as I was about to sign up on
the swing list, I overheard another woman talking about all the swing
places in Seattle that she’d been to over the past year.
She sounded like she knew what was up with the dance scene here,
so I waited til her conversation was over and descended upon her. “Hey, ummm, my name is Nadine and I overheard you talking
about swing places. Do you, by chance, uh, know of any, uh, Salsa places
in Seattle? I’ve searched everywhere and I can’t seem to find anything!”
“Yeah. As a matter of fact, I’m going Salsa dancing tomorrow,”
she said.
I went NUTS. “Really??? Can I come? I know you must think I’m crazy. You don’t even know me. But I promise you I’m not a lunatic. How can I contact you? Do you want to email me? Or call me?” I blabbered on and on. And that was how I met my first friend in Seattle, Miss Melanie P.
She took me to a neighborhood place in Wallingford, where we danced and tried not to bump into people. I loved it.
I didn’t yet know how to tell the difference between Merengue,
Salsa, and whatever ‘Cumbia’ was. But I loved it.
The next week, she took me to another place on Lake Union. There, I met DJ Gustavo, El General, who invited me to check out Salsa at a great Tea Room in Columbia City. It has since stopped playing Salsa =(. Anyhow, that night, I went home, exhausted. ‘Wow!’ I thought to myself. That’s THREE places where I can Salsa. Little did I know that in the next couple of years,
… something was brewing, and an explosion of Salsa venues was about to erupt…
And that’s how it all began for me, one addicted salsera living in Seattle.
I’d love to read your comments and suggestions. Send them to me here: