A dancing club that was previously held at a Latin-American themed bar in Reading is on the lookout for an alternative venue following its closure.
The Salsa Bachata Social Club is a dance group headed by teacher Jennifer Benavidez, offering salsa and bachata classes in a welcoming social atmosphere.
The classes are held at Reading International Solidarity Centre in London Street, and until recently, the first floor of the Revolucion de Cuba bar in Friar Street.
But now Mrs Benavidez and members will have to find an alternative second venue as Revolucion de Cuba closed with immediate effect yesterday (Tuesday, January 27).
The news comes as The Rev Collective, which runs the bar, fell into administration, resulting in the closure of 21 venues and the loss of 591 jobs.
Reacting to the news, Mrs Benavidez said: “It’s really disappointing, I’m really sad about it.
“We run dances and parties on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, we had workshops there, we bring a community of all different ages and ethnicities, it’s really sad.
“Fortunately, we’re upstairs in RISC. It’s a different space. What’s good about RISC is that it’s a charity, so Salsa has been at RISC for 25 years.
“Luckily, we’re not left without a location, but we were doing a lot in Revs, and it was really busy.
“I teach all over the UK, I’m an international dance instructor.
“I’ve just been in Thailand and Dubai, I have a team of teachers, and the biggest school is in Reading.”
Social dance classes were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Mrs Benavidez, who lives with her husband in Henley, explained: “When COVID hit, all dance classes suffered.
“I was in Revs doing corporate events when it opened Nocember 2016.
“Then I became the dance instructor, the dance classes are a labour of love, we don’t do it for the money.
“I’m fortunate my husband has a normal frigging job! I do it because of the community; it’s really sad we’re losing a venue.
“Of course it [The Revel Collective] was a corporation, and they need to make money but they were latin minded.”
Mrs Benavidez, who is originally from Austin, Texas, is looking into finding a second venue for the club.
She said: “We try to keep one to two venues, we like to do parties in nightclubs.
“For salsa, we never spend enough in the bar, but we’re a safe, happy community; it brings all types of people together, it’s not even people trying to pick up people.
It’s not just people from Latin America, it brings in ‘expats’ from Spain, Portugal and Greece as well.
“What we need is a big dance floor. What was great about Revs was that it had the upstairs; that location was just a gem.
“But thank God we still have RISC!”
