Salsa At The Jam House, Birmingham!

On the last Thursday of every month, in a bar in central Birmingham, a little magic takes place. There’s an evening of Salsa at The Jam House, St. Paul’s Square, which includes an hour’s lesson.

All products marked with * have been gifted to me for consideration. More information can be found in my full disclaimer. I was able to attend this event free of charge in exchange for a review.

I moved to Birmingham to study at music college in 2004. I really wanted to go to a Salsa evening, but Dan wouldn’t go with me. His reason for this? “I’m always in the band, so I never dance.” We didn’t have a first dance at our wedding for this reason & but actually, it wasn’t missed. So you can imagine my excitement when I was invited along for the evening by Ting from The Ting Thing!

Situated not far from New Street, The Jam House has three main sections to it; the downstairs bar area, the main upstairs where the dancing took place, & an area to the side of this. I know The Jam House offers food & I think this is where it’s served. The main upstairs had a slightly risen stage area, where the salsa moves were demonstrated so we could all see & afterward, where the band played. It also had a bar to the side of it, so there was no need to mess about with stairs when you wanted a drink!

At 9pm the MC & a professional dancer took to the stage & began to teach us some Salsa moves. With Salsa being in 4/4 time (4 beats in a bar, the same as the majority of pop music), it is easy to dance to. You step on 1, on 2, on 3 & then pause on beat 4. Then repeat. Everything we learnt subsequently was just a variation on this.

If you’re nervous about taking part in something like this or worried about looking silly, don’t. EVERYONE in the main upstairs area was joining in. When we had to pair up the MC made sure everyone had a partner. It didn’t matter whether it was a traditional male/female pairing – I danced with Chloe from Gastronomic Gorman. We all had a great time! Once the hour’s instruction was over the live band started playing & people continued dancing individually, in their pairs & as larger groups. It was a great evening & although my hips had started to become painful half way through the lesson, I really enjoyed myself & would definitely go back in the future.