What is Salsa?
Perhaps the most popular and well-known form of social dance, salsa originated in the Caribbean. The movements have their origins in Cuban Son, cha cha cha, mambo and Puerto Rican bomba and plena and other dance forms. Due to its many influences, the name salsa (meaning ‘sauce’ or ‘mixture’) is quite suiting.
The dance itself is a very elegant one, in which moves are interwoven seamlessly and succeed each other in high tempo. The basic steps are easy to learn yet difficult to master, making this the perfect dance to start off with.
Salsa at the USC
Most of the salsa classes are given by the University Sports Centre. Leidance offers an extra class: Leidance advanced Salsa Class. This is an extra advanced course for those who have finished the advanced course. You have to be a Leidance member to join this class, but even as a non member you can try it out once for free!
| Monday Beginners |
19:00 – 19:55 Dance hall |
| Monday Semi-advanced |
20:00 – 20:55 Dance hall |
| Monday Leidance advanced |
21:00 – 21:55 Dance hall |
| Thursday Beginners |
21:00 – 21:55 Hall A |
More information about the dance classes at the University Sports Centre can be found here.
We hope to see you at the salsa classes!
About Johnathan Hoijer
My name is Johnathan Hoijer and I’m currently the teacher of Salsa and Bachata at the USC Leiden. Before I came to the Netherlands, I grew up at Bonaire, Venezuela and Curacao. My first acquaintance with Salsa and Bachata was at house parties at the islands, where people went outside to dance together in the evenings. My first steps of Bachata was at a neighborhood party at Santo Domingo, where a number of Dominican acquaintances wanted me to learn the basics, so that I could dance with them that same night. I grew up with Salsa music. My mother often played it while cleaning. When I was little, dancing wasn’t really my thing and I tried to avoid it as much as possible, but when I grew older and went to classes, I soon noticed I actually really liked it and I wanted to master everything. After having followed many classes, dance teachers asked me to assist. Since 2011 I give my own classes in Salsa and Bachata and I still enjoy it!
Next to Salsa and Bachata, I also followed classes in Zouk. In the future, I would like to dance more Zouk, since I really like the dance and the music. In addition, I also followed some classes in Kizomba and I would like to learn more about it. Also on my to do list is Samba de Gafieira, another Brazilian dance I like very much.