Hey Chilliwack — first of all, a big thank you for coming out to our launch night.

I was truly blown away by that turnout. Twenty people was my bare minimum hope. Thirty was what I actually expected. Fifty would have been my happy place. I had no idea that eighty people would walk through that door.

It was a genuine pleasure to see every one of you, and the enthusiasm in the room was something else.

Although I was overwhelmed — gratefully overwhelmed — by the turnout, next Tuesday’s lesson will be capped at 45 people, so that everyone in the room gets taught properly.

Please also note the TL;DR in the sidebar — or further down this post, if you’re on a phone. It shows the new classes we’ve opened up to accommodate this great demand — including the outdoor Level 1 courses on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. So please pre-register for whichever one you want, and then read on.

How Eighty People Ended Up in One Room

Dancers gathered in a wide circle at The Grand Hall in Chilliwack, listening to instructor Salsa Paul before the lesson begins — Gathering everyone in before we started — this is what eighty people looks like.

There was a lot of secret sauce that went into building this incredible launch night. I spent over two weeks solidly on this, working with partners, with the media, and with the great people in this neighbourhood.

Growing up in this town, I’ve come to know that people here are generally quite social and enjoy a friendly smile — so I took mine downtown and started handing out the “Salsa Paul” business cards I’d had printed at Minuteman Press.

Places like Smoking Gun Coffee, Mill Street Barber, Studio Fade, Travis Sketches, The Bow and Stern, and The Book Man all gratefully took my cards and gave me a spot to leave them where people could pick one up. Almost none of the businesses I walked into turned me down — which tells you more about Chilliwack than it does about my pitch.

And while visiting the Chilliwack YMCA, I mentioned my project to Karen Price, General Manager of the Bob Chan-Kent Family YMCA, who was the earliest to say she’d share my posts on her Instagram — thanks Karen!

Hugo’s Mexican Kitchen went a step further and put churro bites on the table for anyone ordering an entrée and showing a ticket.

I also contacted the media, including:

Fraser Valley Today ran a full write-up by Alyssa Conti two days before the launch — “Salsa teacher swings over to downtown Chilliwack for Latin dance lessons starting Tuesday.” Worth a read if you missed it.
Jenna Hauck put us in The Chilliwack Progress Friday “What’s Happening” column
CIVL 101.7 FM gave us an on-air community mention
Tourism Chilliwack listed it on their events calendar
Around Chilliwack added it to their community calendar the same afternoon I wrote to them
The Downtown Chilliwack BIA got behind it early

And the partners carried it themselves. The Grand Hall posted about the night on their own channels, District 1881 and the other partners reposted it, and suddenly it wasn’t just me telling people — it was the neighbourhood telling people. That’s a completely different thing.

Another big help that really filled the room was Facebook, through mutual friends — ordinary people sharing it with their own circles because they thought their friends would enjoy it. No amount of press does what one friend saying “come to this with me” does. That’s not something you can buy.

And I have to say something about what it means to have an amazing, supportive sister. Cathy Preibisch took the door and ran it all night — a thankless job, and the difference between a night that starts on time and one that doesn’t. She did it so I could stay on the floor where I was needed, she talked this night up to her own friends before it happened, and she never once had to be asked. Thank you, Cathy. I’m lucky to have you.

One thing that genuinely sped things up: we had online payments through bclatindance.com set up ahead of time, so people could pay in advance instead of sorting it out on the doorstep. You can do the same for everything coming up — Tuesday nights, and both Level 1 courses.

Thank You, Jade and Cory

Jade and Cory Lehti, owners of The Grand Hall, standing together outside in District 1881, Chilliwack — Jade and Cory Lehti — they own and run The Grand Hall themselves.

None of this happens without Jade Lehti and her husband Cory, who opened up The Grand Hall for us and made the whole thing possible. I said it from the mic before we started a single step, and I’ll say it again here: they took a chance on a guy with an idea about weekly Latin dance in Chilliwack, and they backed it fully.

They tell the story better than I do. As @grandhallchwk once put it: what do you get when an event coordinator marries an electrician? The most well-lit venue you could imagine.

That’s genuinely the two of them. The Algra Bros built the space as part of District 1881, but the Hall is independently owned and operated by Jade and Cory — it isn’t a chain venue with a regional manager. Both grew up next door in Abbotsford and have made Chilliwack home. And the first event ever held in that room was their own wedding reception, which tells you how personally they take what happens on that floor.

Jade came to it the long way round. She ran her own events company before this, putting on community events and fundraisers for organisations like Tourism Chilliwack, Tourism Abbotsford, the Abbotsford Arts Council, Archway and Chilliwack Hospice. She sits on the Chilliwack Arts Council and Chilliwack Pride boards, and volunteers with Chilliwack Rotary and the Streams Foundation. Cory spent eleven years as an electrician before the two of them opened the space.

I mention all of that because it explains something about the night. When you ask a venue like that for a weekly Latin dance social, you’re not asking a room for a favour — you’re asking two people who have spent their working lives making things happen for this community. They said yes almost immediately, and looking at their track record, of course they did.

Standing in that art deco room, on that hardwood floor, watching eighty people find the beat — that’s their gift as much as anyone’s.

What We Danced

After the introductions and the thank-yous, I went straight in. No warm-up speech, no theory. We started moving.

Merengue first — because merengue works

Regular readers know my reasoning here: merengue is a one-two, one-two step, one foot per beat, no syncopation, no pause to trip over. Your feet figure it out in about four minutes, which frees your brain up to learn the thing that actually matters — leading, following, and connecting with another person.

So we drilled the basic, then went straight into patterns.

A couple in the cuddle position at a Chilliwack salsa class — the follow wrapped in front of the lead with both hands still joined — The cuddle — both hands stay joined, the follow ends up wrapped in front.

The Cuddle. Both hands stay joined the whole time. The lead raises one arm, walks the follow under it, and instead of unwinding, the follow settles in front of the lead — arms crossed over their own body, both hands still held. It’s a resting shape as much as a move — you can keep marching the merengue basic in it, have a conversation, and unwind whenever you feel like it. It’s also the first thing on the night that made people laugh, because it looks far more complicated than it is.

Two dancers with joined hands raised overhead, entering the sombrero move during a beginner merengue lesson in Chilliwack — Going into the sombrero — hands up, and over the top.

The Sombrero. The first move of the night, and a good one to open with because it looks impressive and it’s genuinely easy. From a two-hand hold, marching the merengue basic, the lead brings the joined hands up and places one behind the follow’s head and the other behind their own — both of you end up with an arm draped over the back of your neck. That’s the “hat,” and that’s where the name comes from.

Dancers resting joined hands behind each other's shoulders in the finished sombrero position at The Grand Hall, Chilliwack — The finished "hat" — an arm draped behind each neck, hands never letting go.

From there the lead trails the arm and travels around while the follow walks under, and the shape unwinds itself as you move. No footwork change at all. You keep marching; everything happens in the arms — which is exactly why it works on night one, when everyone’s feet are still thinking hard about the basic.

Two dancers with arms raised overhead mid-sombrero at a Chilliwack salsa night — Eighty people, one hat. The sombrero going up all around the room.

A pair working through the sombrero arm shape under the chandeliers at The Grand Hall — Eighty people, one hat. The sombrero going up all around the room.

A follow turning under the lead's raised arm during the windmill in a beginner merengue lesson in Chilliwack — The windmill — one arm leads, the other follows, and it just keeps going.

The Windmill. The arms circling over and around, one leading the other, a continuous rotation you can keep going as long as you like.

The Pretzel. Then we tied ourselves in a knot and untied it. Always a crowd-pleaser, always a bit of laughter, which is exactly what you want twenty minutes into a room full of strangers.

Then salsa

Halfway through we switched. We covered the salsa basic step — that on-1 timing, the weight transfer, the feel of the pause — and then the two turns: the lead’s turn and the follow’s turn. Because everyone already had merengue connection in their body, the turns landed much faster than they would have cold.

Then we just danced

Salsa Paul in a straw hat leading a follow through a turn during open social dancing at The Grand Hall, Chilliwack — Me, finally getting to dance instead of talk.

The last half hour was social dancing. Music on, no instruction, everybody on the floor. That was my favourite part of the night, and it’s the part I’ll be protecting as we go forward.

One change based on your feedback

I had feedback that this was too many moves for one night, and that’s fair. Coming up, we’ll be covering fewer moves and spending more time on each one, so you leave actually owning what you learned instead of half-remembering five things.

We Gave Away Three Prizes

Two launch night prize winners standing either side of instructor Salsa Paul in the ballroom at The Grand Hall, Chilliwack — one holding her Private Dance Lesson prize card under the art deco chandeliers — Two of our winners with their prizes — that's a private lesson card in hand.

Everyone who pre-registered on my events page was entered into the draw — not everyone who signed in at the door — and we pulled three winners:

Two free private lessons — one-on-one time with me, to work on whatever you want
One free ticket to next Tuesday’s Salsa Night

Congratulations to all three of you. If you won a lesson, message me and we’ll find a time that suits you — there’s no expiry and no rush.

And if your name didn’t come out of the hat: there will be more draws. Registering online ahead of the night is all it takes to be in the next one.

If You Felt a Bit Lost in the Crowd

That’s completely understandable. Eighty people is a wonderful problem and it’s still a problem — in a room that size I can demonstrate and call corrections to the whole floor, but I can’t get individually to everybody, and partner dance is a hands-on craft.

So here’s the solution.

Next Tuesday is capped at 45

Tuesday, August 4 · 6:00–8:00 PM · The Grand Hall — limited to 45 people. Please register online so I know you’re coming, and so the door stays quick:

Register for Tuesday, August 4 →

When it’s full, it’s full. I’d rather teach forty-five people properly than eighty people approximately.

The Great News — We’ve Expanded the August Schedule

To accommodate this town’s thirst for salsa, we’ve updated our schedule and added small group lessons running throughout August. Everything is on the homepage and the classes page, and here’s the full picture.

Every Tuesday at The Grand Hall, District 1881, Chilliwack.


Beginner lesson	6:00 – 7:00 PM — salsa, merengue & bachata
Open social dancing	7:00 – 8:00 PM
Tuesdays in August	Aug 4, 11, 18 & 25 — $15 at the door, or pay online
Room limit	45 people — register online to be sure of a spot
Grand Finale	Tuesday, August 25

Complete beginners welcome · no partner needed · wear comfortable shoes.

See event details and register → · Get directions · Follow on Instagram

🎓 Level 1 Salsa — a four-week course, two sittings

This is the small-group version, capped at 16 people so I can give you personal attention on correcting your step and your combinations. It’s a salsa on 1 course, and you start from zero: basic step, both turns, then the cross body lead. By week four you can social dance.

Every class opens with ten minutes on the basic step — from scratch if you’re new, as a review if you’re not. So if you miss a week, or you join partway through, you’re not lost.

Two ways in, and it’s $20 a lesson either way:


Just one class	$20 — try it, no commitment
All four	$80 — same price per lesson, but it holds your spot

The pass isn’t cheaper. What it buys you is certainty: only 16 prepaid places per sitting, and once those are gone the class is full. Launch night showed me how fast a room fills in this town, and sixteen is a much smaller number than eighty. Both pages below show you exactly how many places are left, live, so you don’t have to guess.

Either way you book online first — this isn’t one you can turn up to on the night the way you can on a Tuesday.

Thursday and Saturday are the same class at two different times, not two levels — pick whichever fits your week.

Thursday evenings — outdoors (limited to 16 people)


Doors	6:45 PM — shoes on, say hello
Class	7:00 – 8:00 PM
Four weeks	Thu Aug 6 · Aug 13 · Aug 20 · Aug 27

Book Thursdays — $20 for one, $80 for all four → (the page shows how many places are left)

Saturday mornings — under cover, runs rain or shine (limited to 16 people)


Doors	9:45 AM — shoes on, say hello
Class	10:00 – 11:00 AM
Four weeks	Sat Aug 8 · Aug 15 · Aug 22 · Aug 29

Book Saturdays — $20 for one, $80 for all four → (the page shows how many places are left)

Both courses are in Chilliwack, and the exact address is emailed to you once you’re registered.

📈 Level 2 Salsa — coming in September

August isn’t the end of it. In September I’m opening a Level 2 salsa course, picking up exactly where these four weeks leave off — cross body lead variations, turn patterns, combinations, and the leading and following that makes social dancing start to feel easy rather than effortful.

Here’s the practical reason that matters to you today: Level 2 starts from the assumption that you already have Level 1. The basic step, both turns and the cross body lead are the vocabulary the whole course is built on. Do the four weeks in August and you walk into September ready to go. Leave it until then and you’ll be learning the basic step while everyone around you is dancing combinations.

So if Level 2 sounds like something you’d want, the August Level 1 course is how you get there — and there are only sixteen places in each sitting.

Dates, times and pricing for September go up on the classes page as soon as they’re confirmed. Book a Level 1 place now and you’ll hear about Level 2 before it goes public.

A Word About Shoes

This is the question I get most after someone’s first night, so here it is properly.

For your first few classes, wear what you’ve got. Anything with a smooth-ish sole that stays on your foot is fine. Trainers with a lot of grip are the one thing to avoid — salsa asks your feet to pivot, and a shoe that grips will hold your foot while your knee keeps turning. That’s how people get sore.

Once you know you’re staying, proper dance shoes are a genuine upgrade rather than a vanity purchase. The sole is designed to let you turn on the ball of your foot with control, and the support is built for standing and moving for two hours. Most people notice the difference in one night.

I’m an official brand partner with Fuego Dance Shoes — they’re a dance sneaker, so they don’t look out of place walking in, and they’ve got a split sole that makes spinning much easier than a street shoe. Use code SALSAPAUL10 for 10% off.

Full disclosure: I earn a commission on sales through that link above.

Thank You, Chilliwack — and Thank You to the Neighbourhood

A launch night like this doesn’t happen from one person posting on Instagram. These are the people and places who helped get the word out.

The venue and the neighbourhood

@grandhallchwk — The Grand Hall, our home on Tuesdays, and the most beautiful floor in the Fraser Valley
@district1881 — the restored heritage district that makes the whole neighbourhood work
@downtownchwk and @trevmcdonald — Trevor McDonald and the Downtown Chilliwack BIA, for championing what happens in this town and for telling everyone he knows

Local businesses who backed us

@hugosmexicanchilliwack — Hugo’s Mexican Kitchen, who shared the event across their channels and are still doing complimentary churro bites with an entrée when you show your Tuesday Salsa Nights registration
@zebookman — Amber Price and The Book Man. Amber hosted the potluck where I met Jade in the first place. This entire series traces back to that room.
@travis_sketches — Travis Clarke, artist and the man behind the weekly Live Model sessions at the Cultural Centre, for the introductions and the cross-promo
@thebarbershopmillstreet and @studio_fade1 — Mill Street Barber and Studio Fade, for sending people our way and telling their clients to come dance
Brook at Smoking Gun Coffee and The Bow and Stern — for putting a stack of our cards where people could pick one up
Karen Price, General Manager of the Bob Chan-Kent Family YMCA — the first person to offer to share our posts on her own Instagram

Media

Mike Vanden Bosch at Fraser Valley Today in Chilliwack — the first person in a newsroom to pick up my email. He asked for photos, and when the story landed on a weekend he handed it to the colleague who covers those days rather than letting it drop.
Alyssa Conti, that colleague, who wrote the piece that ran two days before we opened the doors — “Salsa teacher swings over to downtown Chilliwack for Latin dance lessons starting Tuesday.”
Jenna Hauck at The Chilliwack Progress, who put us in the Friday “What’s Happening” column
Matthew A. Hawkins, Creative Director of Hawkins Media and Around Chilliwack, who had our launch on his calendar page within hours of my asking
Rajdeep Kaur and the crew at CIVL 101.7 FM, for the on-air community mention
Tourism Chilliwack, for the calendar listing — and for the kind note afterwards

The dance community

Susi Haemmerle of the Latin Beat Dance Club, who promoted the night to her own students. That’s a genuinely classy thing for one dance instructor to do for another, and I noticed.

Behind the camera

Denise Styler-Menard behind the music desk at The Grand Hall, with the dance floor busy behind her — Denise Styler-Menard — who spent the night catching everyone else's.

A special thank you to Denise Styler-Menard, who took photos all evening. When you’re teaching, you see the room from the front and you remember almost none of it afterwards — you’re too busy counting. Denise caught the parts I missed: the laughing, the concentrating, the moment somebody realises they’ve just done the move.

Nearly every photo in this post is hers. She didn’t have to do that, and the night would be a much thinner memory without it.

And to everyone who reposted, tagged a friend, or dragged somebody along who “doesn’t dance” — you’re the reason there were eighty people in that room. Follow along at @bcslatindance_salsa_paul and tag us in your photos.

One More Thing

Something happened in that room on Tuesday that I’ve been trying to find the words for all day.

Two dancers laughing cheek to cheek after a beginner salsa lesson at The Grand Hall in Chilliwack — Strangers at six o'clock, friends by eight.

Eighty people, most of whom had never danced, most of whom didn’t know each other, laughing at themselves under an arm in a sombrero. Nobody was on their phone. Nobody was watching from the wall.

Chilliwack proved it’s hungry for salsa. Now let’s feed it — every Tuesday, plus Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings all through August.

And I’ll say the quiet part out loud: a response this warm, this abundant, has started to make me fall in love with Chilliwack all over again. I’ve danced in two countries and come home to this one, and Tuesday night reminded me why. A big thank you, Chilliwack.

Forty-five spots next Tuesday. Sixteen on Thursday, sixteen on Saturday.