Learn something new.

Three years ago, students and faculty were given the chance to learn how to salsa dance, line dance, hula dance, belly dance, make origami, meditate and learn how to crochet during “Teach Me Tuesdays.”

The University Board brought the workshops back to the campus this semester.

Students could be part of the Latino culture Tuesday.

Couples learned how to move their hips to the rhythm and beat while they learned basic and advanced salsa dances like Merengue and Bachata steps.

At the end, a mini-dance off took place where students could implement moves they just learned and the winning couple received a $10 gift certificate to Los Potrillos in Charleston.

During the contest, the couples were judged on how well they executed the steps they learned and their listening skills as far as beat rotation.

Megan Reilly, a sophomore elementary education major, and Will Hurley, a sophomore geography major, said they decided to come because they enjoy dancing together.

“We like to dance together in private, so we decided to come out and learn so we dance more at public events,” Reilly said.

They won the contest that took place after the workshop.

Veronica Contreras, one of the instructors, said she was able to get a lot of one-on-one interactions with couples and liked how the dancing progressed throughout the evening.

“They learned how to mix moves together and stay on beat,” she said. “The flow was great.”

Contreras along with Mark Valencia, a senior psychology major, taught the moves.

“It’s good to know different styles of dance, language and history,” Valencia said. “Dance is rooted deeply into our [Latino] history and culture.”

Contreras loves to dance, so she decided to share that piece of her culture with the student body.

Contreras said students could use these dance moves if they go out to a club and a Spanish song comes out instead of just standing in the corner.

These workshops were brought back by the UB as a way to bring diversity to the campus community.

“I liked how students had the chance to experience ways of other cultures during the workshops,” said Xaviera Vasser, cultural arts coordinator for the UB. “Even though there is diversity, people don’t experience the ways of other cultures often.”

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or haholm@eiu.edu.

Sophomore elementary education major Marcy Peters enjoys an evening of salsa with her dancing partner during “Teach Me Tuesday,” a University Board cultural arts event in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Tuesday.(Chel

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