Las Vegas dance group builds studio with help of city grant
A Las Vegas dance company is building its first dance studio with the help of a redevelopment program from the city.
Sin City Salseros, a 17-year-old event-production and dance-instruction company, is building a one-story, 8,000-square-foot building at 4545 W. Sahara Ave. called Rhythms. The Salseros received a $50,000 grant from the city’s Visual Improvement Program to use on the exterior.
The grant money can be used for patio and canopy work, signage, landscaping, lighting and security cameras, according to the city. Concept drawings show a large patio with seating, televisions, string lighting and a pergola.
The money comes from the city’s redevelopment agency, which was created in 1986 and gets its funding from property tax revenue from two redevelopment areas.
The program is aimed at helping “reduce urban blight” and serving “as a catalyst for improvements to other nearby properties,” according to the city.
Construction began in late 2017 and is expected to be complete by the end of January. The lot is next to the Sahara West Plaza, home to several markets, a shoe repair store, a liquor store and a toys and collectibles store.
Sin City Salseros founder Nathan Strager grew up in Las Vegas and graduated from Eldorado High School. He lamented the what he called a lack of dance culture in the city that isn’t centered on electronic dance music. It led him to start the Salseros group in 1999.
Strager used to take the group other instructors around the world to teach and perform. Six years ago, “we stopped living out of a suitcase,” Strager said, and began renting space in Las Vegas to teach and host events.
The group has been renting a studio on South Polaris Avenue, teaching 1,200 students and hosting nine dance teams, Strager said. Classes include salsa, jazz, reggaeton and hip-hop.
“We teach people how to dance, but there’s nowhere (for Latin dancing) in Las Vegas,” Strager said.He hopes the new space will become the go-to spot for dance instruction and for people to dance on weekends.
Strager said he wants something like downtown Los Angeles’ The Mayan. The club hosts Latin nights with a mix of salsa, merengue, cumbia, bachata, reggaeton and other styles.
“There were 2,000 people on a Saturday night dancing, all nationalities,” Strager said. “There was this Japanese salsa band playing … Oh, my God; it was amazing. Each song you would (switch partners). You never see that here.”
To start, the building will be open Saturdays and Sundays for public dancing. But Strager hopes to expand hours soon. He believes he can, based on the popularity of the Las Vegas Salsa Buchata Super Congress, a five-day Latin dancing event at the Tropicana he started 15 years ago.
The group hosted its second Ultimate Latin Dance Championship in July, which had 5,000 attendees and awarded $20,000 in prize money.
Contact Madelyn Reese at mreese@viewnews.com or 702-383-0497. Follow @MadelynGReese on Twitter.
Las Vegas redevelopment grants
The city has requirements for how work funded by the grant is carried out. For both the development/contractor award phase and the construction phase, at least 15 percent of all contractors, subcontractors, vendors and suppliers of the developer must be residents of the area. There is also a goal (not a requirement) to achieve 15 percent employment of minority-, women-, disadvantaged- or veteran-owned businesses.
Recipients of the development grant also are required to submit an employment plan, with a description of what effect the new business will have on employment opportunities in the area and a description of the minority populations employed.
At least 15 percent of all the jobs created in the redevelopment area must be filled by residents of the area. The city tracks this for 12 months post-construction.
The project is only eligible for grant money after contracts have been awarded.
City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency
