Every Sunday, WUSauce, Washington University’s premier salsa dance team, teaches free salsa lessons to the Washington University community. Picture this: Mallinckrodt Center room 302, 1-2 p.m., WUSauce and a room of dancers of all skill levels. No experience is required to enjoy the smooth, beat-driven sounds of salsa music as you’re walked through the steps.

I am by no means a trained dancer, and as I walked to Mallinckrodt, I was unsure of what to expect. Would I be thrown in the deep end with quick eight-counts and fancy turns? I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the experienced salsa dancers who were bound to show up to this lesson and wow everyone with their fancy footwork; I was mistaken.

Founded in 2004, WUSauce aims to introduce the Wash. U. community to the beauty of Latin dance when they aren’t competing in competitions. WUSauce has been giving salsa lessons to the Wash. U. community for several semesters, but they have not been as openly publicized as they are now. A possible past deterrent was the $5 lesson fee WUSauce used to charge. But now, lessons are free so that “[WUSauce] can make the vibe more open to the Wash. U. community,” senior Ethan Evans said.

I arrived to the lesson and our instructors, Evans and sophomore Kendall Pomerleau, slowly walked the other attendees and I through a variety of steps. We worked quickly enough for it to be a challenging and engaging experience, but slowly enough so that everyone could keep up with the steps. We started off with line drills before moving into partner work and finally into a simulation of social dancing.

First they walked us through some basic steps, from the side-to-side to the cumbia. We practiced turns with the appropriate arm movements—they’re different for each direction you turn—and then we were ready for partner work. Going through complex hand holds and spins, Evans and Pomerleau turned us into a group ready to hold our own at any local St. Louis social dancing event.

When asked how they became involved with WUSauce, Pomerlau said “I’ve been dancing my whole life and wanted to try something new,” a contrast to Evans’s response, “I had no partner or salsa dancing experience and I thought I’d give it a shot.”

Whether you have years of dance experience, none at all or two left feet, WUSauce salsa lessons are for anyone. As long as you have an interest in learning a new dance style and are open to having fun with your peers, than WUSauce salsa lessons are for you. If you ever need a partner, I’ll be there and I’ll be more than happy to do a couple of turns with you.