Free salsa lessons will return to the Student Recreation Center, taking salsa dancing to the next level.

Beginning today, English professor Michael Kuo and junior English major Natalie Esposito will give salsa lessons every Wednesday for five weeks in the recreation center’s dance studio.

The beginners class will be conducted from 7 to 8:15 p.m. and will follow the same format as salsa lessons offered earlier this semester.

“By the end of it, students will be able to dance salsa confidently,” Kuo said.

He said the intermediate /advan-ced class, not previously offered, will be conducted from 8:15 to 9:30 p.m. and is for people who have taken the beginner class or for people with previous salsa dancing experience.

Kuo said he and Esposito have been dancing together for three years.

“She and I took lessons in Champaign and decided to see if people in Charleston would like to share the salsa experience,” he said.

Salsa is really popular right now, he said.

He and Esposito took a group salsa dancing at the Regent Ballroom in Champaign earlier this year, and 500 people were there, he said.

“Everybody had a blast,” he said. “We’ll take another group up with these courses that we’re about to teach at some point.”

Kuo said those participating in the lessons do not need to bring a partner.