Met at Melt. Currently a Spanish professor and theater professor in TTU Foreign Language Department. Has been in the States for about eight years, and came for both teaching and learning. He came to Washington State University to get a masters degree in Spanish literature, and got his Ph.D. from Arizona State University. He is Puerto Rican, and grew up dancing salsa and merengue; it came naturally to him. He found out about the salsa community here basically through word of mouth, and is now a regular at Melt, where he goes to socialize.

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Met at Melt. He is a regular attendee at Melt and dances a lot. His dance partner also dances a great deal as well. He is considered an “expert dancer” by his aunt, and has been dancing salsa since he was very young.

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She is a regular Melt attendee as well, but also attends Jakes. She mostly goes to socialize, and dances on rare occasions. She is proud of her two nephews, Joe and Cesar. She also took on a social role of introducing Abi and I (Danielle) to Cesar and Celia.

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Met at Jakes via Joe’s aunt. She is a young woman in her mid-late twenties. She is an excellent dancer, and considers her forte to be reggaeton, although she is very good at salsa as well. She invited us (Abi and Danielle) to dance with her, and is a very friendly, open person.

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Attends both Melt and Jakes. He is considered to be the PR person, and can be seen at events meeting and greeting, talking to everyone at the event. He labels himself “salsa pro” and for whatever reason prefers to mingle rather than dance.

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Abi and I met the owner of Jakes at Melt on our first visit, actually. He said that he would make sure to find us when we came to salsa night at Jakes on Thursday, but he did not come that evening. We have not had the opportunity to speak to him in person since.

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One of the instructors for the beginning salsa class at the rec center. He is currently a student at Tech and is in his twenties. He has been dancing salsa for a long time, and used to be very active in the club/salsa night scene in Lubbock, although not as much in recent times.

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Gilbert’s dance partner and fellow teacher in the beginning salsa class at the rec center. She used to be a Tech student and is in her twenties as well. She has extensively salsa experience as well, but was not quite as active in the local salsa scene as Gilbert.

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Interviewed by Aaron and Nicky.

We met DJ Mario at Melt our first night there. He regularly does salsa nights and works at a local radio station. He said he's been into salsa and doing salsa nights for about 6 years. He became interested in the genre because of a few colleagues he worked with a few years ago who were Puerto Rican, and two DJs who have since gotten out of the business. He said that he had the choice, when the other DJs left, to let salsa in Lubbock die, or to get into the game and keep it alive. He describes salsa as a passion of his and has been incredibly helpful.

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Graduate piano major student at TTU.  From Mexico, has been dancing salsa for a long time.

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He is the man in charge of the salsa night event at Melt.  He used to work salsa night at Jakes, but when his contract with the radio station expired, the contract stayed at Jakes, and he started salsa nights at Melt.  He helped start salsa night in Lubbock, which has been going on for 13 years now.

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Undergraduate music education major at TTU.  Attends salsa night at Jakes on a regular basis with friends from school.  Is Hispanic, originally from Amarillo, and has been dancing salsa for a while.

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Graduate violin major student at TTU.  Also from Mexico, has been dancing salsa for a long time.

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