The dance party transforming Monday nights in one historic Boston neighborhood
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(Photos by Roberto Rodrigo-Paz)
To some, Mondays are the dreaded day the weekend ends and adulting resumes. However, for the lively group that assembles each week at The Anchor, Monday nights at the Boston outdoor venue are filled with salsa and bachata dancing accompanied by the breezes of the Boston Harbor.
DJ and dance instructor Andres Giraldo kindles the crowd’s vibrant energy.
“The idea having a night where we can just dance outdoors in the summer and to share what we love, which is this culture of salsa dance and salsa music,” Giraldo said of the “Monday Saborcito @ The Anchor” classes he has run for the past five summers.
The weekly popup in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood is among the classes and performances produced by Giraldo’s Allston dance studio, Salsa y Control, that he operates with his brother Johnny. The two produce events all over Boston under Sabor Latino Boston and are involved in the annual Boston Salsa Festival. Giraldo is also an owner of Saborcito, which offers salsa and bachata classes around the Boston area.
Even after a long day of work, the people who flood The Anchor’s patio look like they are having fun. Some dance in office attire, others come dressed to dance salsa and bachata in flowy skirts and heels. The weekly dance party attracts a diverse crowd of young professionals, retirees and even a few children — of all different dance levels.
Michelle Tubbs, a teacher dancing with a group of teachers from her school one Monday earlier this summer, said it was her first time at the Saborcito event, but she said she’d like to return.
“I definitely think there’s a vibe of people coming together and doing something they love,” Tubbs said. “I definitely feel that.”
That night it was also the first visit of Geova Perez, a Dominican mother of two. She said she is usually busy with her kids on Monday nights but thoroughly enjoyed taking time off to attend the dance class.
“They are playing Hispanic music,” Perez said. “Everybody’s dancing from different ethnicities. It’s nice to see that.”
Perez said she enjoyed the environment created by the dancers and their different levels of experience.
“There is definitely a sense of community here,” she said. “Everybody is very welcoming.”
A Cambridge-based luxury fashion seller who has become a regular at Saborcito said he likes that the event is free and a low pressure environment to develop dance skills.
“It’s really fun. It’s just a great energy,” he said, adding that Saborcito is the first Latine dance event he has come to regularly.
Giraldo said he is proud of the community the dance classes have cultivated.
“It’s been amazing to bring different cultures and different kinds of backgrounds to this,” he said.
– Story by Madison Forrest
– Copy edited by Valerie Izquierdo
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