"Boogaloo" salsa club

The idea of organizing a dancing club for people who are not fond of modern club music occurred to Marina Vanyushina, the professional choreographer, long time ago. At first she planned to teach different pair dances (waltz, tango, Latin American dances) to let people immerse in the world dancing culture. But the idea hasn’t been put into practice due to various reasons until spring of 2001 when Marina and her husband Gena got to a salsa party in Moscow club "Dirty Dancing".

The dance, the music, and the overall atmosphere – everything greatly amazed not only Marina but Gena as well, though he has never gone in for dancing. The feeling of freedom in people of different age admired them. But the greatest impression was the rueda.

That’s how it all started.

First there was an Internet search for the information about salsa in Russia, as a result of which the Rostov salsa lovers got acquainted with salseros of St. Petersburg. Marina used her first holidays to go to St. Petersburg to take salsa lessons.

The idea of the first Rostov club rapidly started coming true. Gena (for the first time in his life!) felt wish to dance; Marina got the partner, the absence of who was the main obstacle before. June 2, 2001 became the birthday of the "Boogaloo" club.

Salsa came to Russia from the parties of Latin American students and started spreading to ordinary clubs. It is the reason why the opinion that only Latin Americans can dance the real salsa still exists. But in Rostov the situation developed visa versa – salsa first was taught and then it appeared in clubs. There was no Latin American students so Marina was not going to pattern their style, she started learning from famous dance instructors and in October 2001 she went to seminars in Darmstadt.

Thus, dancing education expertise and great will to learn in short time let Marina organize a salsa school in Rostov, the level of which could be compared to the one of Moscow and St. Petersburg. It became perfectly clear in summer of 2002 during the salsa congress in St. Petersburg where "Boogaloo" club team "Gangsters Girls" created a furor by the level of dancing.

In recent two years the "Boogaloo" club became well known in Russia. It won in seven out of eight nominations of "Salsa Night Awards" 2002:

The discovery of the year – the "Boogaloo" club
The show of the year – "Gangsters Girls" at second salsa congress in St. Petersburg
The impact in the salsa movement development – Gennady Vanyushin
The DJ of the year – Gennady Vanyushin
Miss salsa – Marina Vanyushina
The event of the year – "The third front" opening
The school of the year – the "Boogaloo" club.

Now the club continues developing, the number of Rostov salseros constantly grows. One of the features that make Rostov salsa different from any other is its social component. The club members not only learn how to dance. They communicate and have fun together, the club activities sometimes become very unusual: ship salsa, street salsa, salsa on the seaside etc.

And of course, the club always welcomes guests; they feel the special spirit of Rostov salsa and come again.