The light fantastic

Bob Handelman

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“I heard this wonderful music coming from this park in the middle of the city,” says Nancy Gilbert, explaining how, on a trip into New Haven, she came to dance salsa at “Salsa Under the Stars.” That’s a weekly summer dance party on the Broadway Triangle, organized by the fledgling Yale Student Salsa Society (known as YaSSS). Gilbert adds: “I made a quick turn and I drove around to the park and said, ‘Oh, yes, this looks like where I would like to be.’” 

Every Monday night this summer, weather permitting, salsa devotees and salsa novices danced part of the night away in the triangle of public space between the parking lot of the Shops at Yale and the new Crêpes Choupette kiosk. YaSSS brought in local DJs and salsa instructors and opened the event to everyone, free of charge. “Every once in a while, we’d do a 15-minute basic salsa survival lesson,” says one of the organizers, Tayyar Rzayev, a graduate student in computer architecture. Constance Thurmond ’19 and Christian De León ’18 (this page, foreground) were among the Yalies who danced. (Couple at far right, please get in touch. We’d like to credit you for your moves.)