Muy Caliente!
Latin music and salsa dancing revived in Lawrence, and in a place you least expected. By Mike Bauer, Jayplay writer
It's Friday at Maracas, sometime past 11:30 p.m. Latin music blasts through a PA system from the DJ's booth at the front of a dark room. The only light in the room is above the DJ's booth, the bar in back and two pool tables at the side of the room. In front of the DJ are dozens of people salsa dancing. Some are also hanging out by the bar, either waiting for friends or trying to get enough tequila flowing in their bloodstreams so their hips may flow freely. Scarface is playing with Spanish subtitles on a large television screen behind the bar.
Sounds like a typical night for a Latin nightclub, all right, until you realize that you're in The Pool Room, 925 Iowa St. You do a double take of your surroundings. Is this really the same place that, two days prior to Maracas, locals and college students went to play a game or two of pool? Can a bar like The Pool Room successfully hold the Latin dance night Maracas in a side room of their bar?
The answer is yes.
Frank Terreros had the idea for Maracas after La Tasca closed a couple years ago. Terreros opened Maracas on
photo: Amanda Kim Stairrett
Hannah Frako, Gilbert, Penn., sophomore, danced with Bogdan Pathak, Albuquerque, N.M., graduate student, Sunday evening at the Kansas Room in the Kansas Union.
Jan. 30 in the side room of The Pool Room to see if the event would draw a large enough crowd to make the event a regular feature. "The turnout was unbelievable more than The Pool Room or I expected. We're definitely keeping it," Terreros says. Part of Maracas' success could be attributed to DJ, Danny Tetuan, aka DJ Jalepeno. "He gets all the best music from Miami and Chicago," Terreros says. Terreros has known DJ Jalepeno since his days at the bars Coco Loco and La Tasca, which are now out of business. Terreros says a lot of people come to Maracas because of Jalepeno's reputation. Most of the music played at Maracas is Latin music, but there is also hip-hop and electronic music. During these songs the crowd takes a break from salsa dancing and dances freely with each other. Terreros loves the diversity of the crowds he's seen so far; there aren't only Latinos coming to dance, there are also international students. Terreros says a big response has also come from the dance clubs on campus.
Kyle Simmons, who works the door, has seen different types of people checking out Maracas since its opening. "You don't have to be Latin to enjoy this," Simmons says.
Stephani Crawford, a Native American, has known Terreros for 10 years. She's been coming to Maracas because of their friendship and because she enjoys salsa dancing in Lawrence, not in Kansas City or Topeka. This was a place for her to go in town after La Tasca closed. She likes the open dance space and the music better than La Tasca's, she says. She also helps set up fliers for Maracas in Kansas City, Lawrence, Topeka and Olathe. She says many of her fellow Haskell University students come to Maracas.
Anurag Pant, a graduate business student, has been coming to Maracas since its opening. He likes that it is closer to the dorms on campus than La Tasca's downtown location was.
Maracas is held every Friday night starting at 10. Cover charge is $8 for 18 and over, $5 for 21 and over.
— Mike Bauer can be reached at mbauer@kansan.com.