Salsa Dancing in Los Angeles Salsa Dance Club: The Mayan Los Angeles Salsa Club

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Have I never been to a club before? Feel like a club virgin again.

There are salsa clubs and then, there are  salsa clubs. The Mayan Club is at the heart of downtown L.A. and FREAK OUT it is hot!  Why?  Because you got your classy joints with heavy wine colored drapes, and you got your salsa socials in dolled-up studios with makeshift beverage retail at one end, and then you got restaurants-cum-club with tough floors and awkward dance spaces, but on-lookers galore.  The Mayan Club is all club with unmistakable neon in every color blinking above red velvet rope. 

On the inside — the guts — the Mayan, it turns out, appears to have risen from the ashes of an old theatre.  What's so great about it is that it's simply massive inside — 50' ceilings — with huge crusty industrial decor, blended with brilliant lighting and stellar sound.  This place is HUGE; I never even saw the other floors (classic rock?  raeggeton?).  We walked in on the mezzanine; the bar is against the rear/entrance wall and just in front are tables and chairs on a dias which overlooks the sunken dance floor.  Massive, circular and pendulous. Keep moving forward and the dance pit butts up against a raised floor, one that is flanked by one or two bars on each side and speakers taller than LeBron James. Upstairs is stadium seating and it looks down at the dance floor and three tractor trailer-sized screens.  It's not really done up or glamorous, in fact the balcony feels like there should be gladiator type games going on below, but mostly the audience up there gets to see salsa performances, competitions, or soft porn… oh right, that's just the music videos.  

Anyhoo, the Mayan plays a great mix of salsa, chacha, throw in bacchata and merengue.  On Saturday night, we saw Johnny Polanco belt it out with a live band, but were really there to cheer on our favorite dancers in the World Salsa Competition prelims.   They rocked it!  Gotta love the glitter, sequins, and all the tiny, tight outfits and turns.  This is definitely a latin/ hispanic crowd … but maybe I wasn't paying attention. Everyone was dressed to the nines.  I danced almost nonstop for three hours. Girls, you gotta go because there's a lot of guys on the floor, more guys than gals, and unlike a ton of other places, almost everyone there could dance dance dance.  There's a lot of folks drinking off to the sides, but they're just taking a break and I bet over 90% could go for a real spin on the floor without faking it.  I got lucky and no one picked me up for a toss or a throw the entire night… or maybe that's just a stupid stereotype about west coast salsa?  Doesn't matter bec/ I had a super great time.  One thing to consider at the Mayan is ear plugs.  Love the music, but when the floor is vibrating, and HARD, something's gotta give. 

Talk about destiny.  Club of clubs.  Check it out.

(Submitted by Muffin, from SalsaCrazySocial.com)

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