Every Saturday night at Gusanoz restaurant in Lebanon, N.H. the tables are pushed aside for dancing to live Latin music.
Quick-quick-slow. Quick-quick-slow.
The salsa rhythm is at the core of Saturday nights at Gusanoz Mexican Restaurant in Lebanon, where dozens of people with diverse backgrounds come to learn and practice their flirtatious salsa dance steps.
After guests dine on authentic and delicious Mexican cuisine, the staff at Gusanoz clears away tables and chairs to create a makeshift dance floor.
Live Latin music acts such as the Black Beans, which performs the first Saturday of each month, or Latin-influenced DJs, have made Saturday night salsa dancing at Gusanoz an Upper Valley tradition.
“Primarily, it’s just something we wanted to bring to the community, because it didn’t exist here,” said Nick Yager, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Maria Limon, a native of Mexico. “We wanted to give people a chance to experience more of the Latin culture.”
Yager said he and his wife, who doubles as his personal salsa instructor, have enjoyed salsa dancing together for years. The couple started offering salsa dance nights at the restaurant about two years ago, and they also host Monday night salsa dance lessons taught by their friend and instructor Nellie Ferland.
“She has her own methodology of teaching, and it seems to be pretty popular and effective,” Yager said.
Turnout at the restaurant on Saturdays has been “pretty solid,” Yager said, with a multi-cultural crowd packing the small restaurant on Lebanon’s Miracle Mile. Yager said he’s met people from Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Guatemala, Cuba, and elsewhere. And all of them tend to have their own dancing style.
Those who take to the dance floor cover a wide range of skill levels. Yager said the beauty of salsa dancing is that it’s easy to learn, but the more difficult (and often sexier) moves can take years to master.
“I think it’s something that’s very easy to pick up the basics, but it has kind of an unlimited ceiling to develop your skills,” he said.
There is no cover charge at Gusanoz on Saturdays, which is also billed as “kids day” at the restaurant. Children can hit a piñata there every weekend for free. For more information, visit gusanoz.com or call the restaurant at 448-1408.
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