The Jazz & Roots Club at the Buttermarket, Howard Street, Shrewsbury SY1 2LF is hosted by Dave Bassett.Every Monday there is a whole night dedicated to Salsa led by Rohan Brown, of Salsa Fever, Birmingham, together with local teacher support.
There is an advanced workshop at 7.30pm and complete beginners and intermediate workshops at 8.30pm.From 9.45-11.30pm there is a free-dance session.The entrance fee is £5 for classes and free-dance or £3 for free-dance only.
The Buttermarket is a busy local nightclub spread over three floors.The classes here are well attended and Rohan makes them funny and stimulating.
The classes are kept interesting by changing styles every few weeks and they give people a firm grounding in Cuban, X Body, Rueda and Bachata.
Rohan teaches the advanced and intermediate workshops on the main dance floor with local teachers instructing beginners and improvers downstairs in the cellars.So whatever your level, there’s a class that’s suitable for you to drop into.
After the classes finish most people stay in the club to practice the turn patterns they’ve just learnt, and others arrive purely for the free-dance.The dancefloor is large and on two levels so there’s never an issue with space.Rohan stays on to DJ and the floors are filled for most of the night.
The downsides are that quite often the floor is not cleaned properly after a hard weekend of club-goers!It’s frequently sticky and just needs a really good wash during the day, but there’s always talc on offer and after an hour the floor starts to smooth out.
Also, it can be quite chilly at this venue.Obviously once you start dancing it’s not a problem, but as soon as you sit out for a while you start to feel the chill again.If you are arriving before the classes have finished, its best to wear some warm layers until you can start dancing, especially in the winter months.
Generally though, it’s a really good social meeting point for budding and accomplished salseros.The music is varied and interesting with Merengue, Salsa, Bachata and Cha Cha Cha thrown in.For £5 I’d say it was good value for money, especially if you can fit more than one class in.
