Chicago this weekend?

[terremoto]

I'm going to be in Chicago starting tonight (Wednesday) and will be there until sunday afternoon. If someone could let me know where to dance I would appreciate it. Also, if someone could let me know if there is a halloween salsa party that would be great :p

[hamstersphere]

Master Dance Studio in Palatine often has Saturday night practice parties ... maybe give them a call?

[etp777]

heh, LOTS of salsa in chicago, and started pasting in ads but it was like 2 pages worth of stuff. :) So just head over to here:

http://www.salsapower.com/cities/us/chicago.htm

Rumba Restaurant is one of the favorites among pros at my studio.

[nucat78]

Check out Lisa "La Boriqua".

[Stagekat]

Nacional 27 has gotten a great rep for their Salsa... heard it's one of the seen and be seen places for Latin Dancing... Haven't had the pleasure myself.

If you just want some good Salsa/Bachata/Cumbia etc... w/o the club part I highly recommend Latin Rhythms. www-latinrhythmsltd-com. It's one of my favorite places... the've got all kinds of dancers there. They're next Mixer is Saturday Nov 1. It's likely a Halloween Theme... you'd have to call to be sure. They had a nice Halloween party last year.

[terremoto]

Thanks everyone!!

[terremoto]

I went out thursday and friday night - had a great time!! I have been to chicago a lot - but this was the first time I was able to make it out dancing. I am looking forward to going back - met some great salseras. and the halloween parties were awesome!! Some really funny costumes.

[etp777]

So where did you end up going, terremoto?

[terremoto]

On Thursday night i went to excalibur - I really like the split floors. It gives something for everyone. One floor had 80's music. Then upstairs there were two floors - one floor had bachata and meregue and the other floor had almost all salsa with some cha cha. I spent most of the night on the salsa floor. They had a costume party - and if you were there - I was the hispanic guy dressed like richard simmons. Friday - uh, can't remember :) but it was also a good night. I travel around a lot and get the clubs mixed up.

[etp777]

Heh, completely understand. And very cool to hear aabout excalibur. We had a fundraiser there last yera, and their idea of the seperate rooms/floors really sounded interesting, but I've never actually made it out there on a thursday night to check it out. Course, fact that I don't really bachata or merengue makes the one room of less use to me. ;)

[Salcero]

Chicago is a fun town for salsa.

[Catarina]

Weekends in Chicago have been kind of rough of late. There's not one central place on fridays or saturdays for the time being. The socials haven't seemed as consistently scheduled this fall, and Rumba, though consistent, is generally more crowded. I went there this past Saturday for the first time in months, and enjoyed myself more than I had previously.
Thursdays at Excalibur are great though--the separated dance floors allows for a change of scenery in the evening, and if you prefer only salsa/cha cha cha you can select that dance floor and stay there all evening. They also have free ice water! I tend to go out to Excalibur pretty regularly and have a good time fairly consistently.

terremoto--glad you had such a great time! I remember seeing you at Excalibur & your costume was awesome!!

[salsamarty]

The two times I've been in Chicago I've enjoyed Green Dolphin Street.

[Salcero]

The two times I've been in Chicago I've enjoyed Green Dolphin Street.

Green Dolphin doesn't seem to be the spot anymore. GD competes with another club for Tuesday, yet as the previous post mentions, there are other days with no good salsa options for salseros?

[etp777]

Rumba, though consistent, is generally more crowded. I went there this past Saturday for the first time in months, and enjoyed myself more than I had previously.

I was there last Saturday too, and was definitely crowded. Enough so that it was making feel claustrophobic, and while I did have a good time, called it a night early.

[Catarina]

I agree, it was crowded, and I stood on the sidelines for a number of songs, having no desire to go out on the tiny bits of available floor!

Re: Tuesdays
Alhambra is the new hot spot for Tuesdays. It's HUGE, swanky, and has a good crowd consistently. Green Dolphin is still going, and I prefer the DJs there (El Caobo included), but end up at Alhambra more often to keep in step with the dancers.

[etp777]

Thanks, will have to mention it to friends. Know they were also talking about Buzz on Wednesdays. Dunno, that night at Rumba was my first time out. Some great dancers, some normal dancers, and a couple bad showoffs, but overall, outside of the crowding, enjoyed it a lot. Needs more medicore/bad leads though so that I look better (at least in comparison ;) )

[terremoto]

terremoto--glad you had such a great time! I remember seeing you at Excalibur & your costume was awesome!!

LOL - glad you liked my costume :D I don't know when I'll go back to chicago but I will post again.

[BugBear]

Decided to post in this thread instead of making a new one, mostly because I found some good info. Still, the last post is from three years ago, so I have to ask if things have changed.
I did some research and it seems that Excalibur is still around, so I'll probably check it out. I'll be in Chicago in March. I'm an On1 dancer, so I wouldn't really mix with an On2 crowd. Also it would be great if anyone could point me to a place with some Cuban style dancers, because that's kind of my comfort zone. Haven't danced a lot lately and my LA is a bit rusty. :)