Our History....
May of 2004, over coffee in the kitchen, Georgia, Vatan (Argentine Tango dancers and instructors) and Brian (a salsa dancer and instructor), questioned why various Latin dance events in Syracuse had come and gone over the years. They found it frustrating to constantly search for a place to dance. Vatan, had already been running Tuesday night event that featured Argentine Tango and Salsa since 1999, but it was small and held mid-week. They were sure that the Syracuse area had enough dancers to support a much larger, regular Latin dance event.
Georgia and Vatan decided to create a monthly Latin dance, hoping it would bring all that wonderful Latin dance energy together, under one big roof. They also wanted to create a venue that would introduce non-dancers to Latin dance. They believed that others would soon come to enjoy Latin dancing as much as they did. Brian sharing similar thoughts, reinforced their thinking and helped them brainstorm ways of getting started.
Vatan quickly enlisted the help of dance instructors he knew, that could teach Cha-cha, Rumba, Salsa, La Rueda, Merengue, Bachatta. Guest instructors kindly volunteered to teach a free 1 hour lesson each month so newbies could be introduced to Latin dance and cool moves cold be shared with more experienced dancers. The plan was to offer a free one hour Latin dance lesson, followed by Latin dancing from 9pm to 1am.
The First Friday Latin Dance Night was born on June 4, 2004 at Johnston's Bally Bay. The first dance lesson was taught by Felipe Rivera. This dance drew 80 dancers and the following month that number jumped to over 100 and continued to grow. Brian had suspected the need for this venue was much bigger than they previously anticipated. He felt Syracuse could support a Latin dance more than one night a month.
December 10th of 2004, in cooperation with Georgia and Vatan's First Friday Latin Night, Brian launched his first "Havana Nights" dance event. This was held at Half Penny Pub, a small spot in the Armory Square area of downtown Syracuse. It would be held every Friday except the 1st Friday of the month in order to support Georgia and Vatan's event. His plan was to teach a salsa class followed by dancing 9pm to 2am.
August 11th, 2006, Brian moved his event to the same location as Georgia and Vatan's First Friday Latin Dance.
Now, on any given Friday, you can come to Johnston's Bally Bay and a find fabulous people, great Latin dancing, the best of Latin music, plus wonderful dance instruction.
And with the continued support and positive energy that Latin dancers bring, this event promises to be around for awhile.