Plenty of places to move your feet to the beat
Olaf Bleck remembers when there were only two real nights to dance salsa in town.
"Back in those days there was very little of that," says Bleck, whose website, salsaboston.com, lists all of the local salsa nights. "Ryles was probably the No. 1 place and Johnny D's on Sunday nights."
In 2008, you can take your pick, with different places to try six nights a week. Latin-music lovers and salsa enthusiasts say Boston's scene has evolved over the years to include more offerings.
One of the major developments is that salsa used to be underground, says Alex Alvear, performance and production manager for IBA/Center for Latino Arts.
"It's become a phenomenon of its own," he says. "It's become a household name."
Another change is that some clubs are completely devoted to Latin fare, such as Mojitos Lounge (mojitos lounge.com), which features Latin music four nights a week. Live music abounds at Havana Saturdays at the Jorge Hernández Cultural Center (havanaclubsalsa .com) in the South End, which features a weekly lineup of live bands. And salsa night at An Tua Nua on Wednesdays has garnered a loyal following since it picked up part of the crowd that frequented Sophia's Latin Club on Boylston Street before it closed in 2004.
Meanwhile, Ryles Jazz Club (rylesjazzclub.com) in Cambridge is still going strong with Salsa Cubana on Wednesdays, Temporada Latina on Thursdays, Viernes de Vacilón on Fridays, and Salsa Sundays. The club recently added Noche Latina Tuesdays.
A recent change to the local scene has been the emergence of rock en español nights. It began with Christian Hinojosa and his monthly Clandestino parties. La Bohemia Boston, which started last year, offers monthly parties that combine Latin American music videos from the 1980s and '90s with live band performances.
"The most drastic change in the local scene has been rock en español," says Andrés Preciado, Bohemia's cofounder. "There have been other Latin nights, but it's always the same thing."
Unlike Clandestino, which primarily plays Latin rock, La Bohemia (labohemiaboston.com) also throws in a little bit of Latin dance music. Others have taken advantage of the evolving scene to experiment. Last year, the IBA/Center for Latino Arts changed El Bembé, its salsa and merengue night, to include a more pan-Latino flavor, Alvear says.
IBA also picked up on the popularity of rock en español and held its first-ever rock en español festival this past November, co-produced by Hinojosa and featuring four bands. He is planning another one in December.
TANYA PÉREZ-BRENNAN 