Students will have a chance to spice up their Thursday night with free salsa dancing lessons hosted by The Multicultural Student Center.

The classes will take place from 7-9 p.m. tonight in the Multipurpose Room of the Williams Center. A student I.D. is required to attend, and proof of attendance will be provided along with refreshments.

The event is co-hosted with Sigma Iota Alpha, a Latin sorority, who is teaching participants the dance steps.

“We saw an opportunity to increase students diversity awareness by having salsa dancing lessons and to give them the opportunity to learn more about salsa dancing,” Moses Robison, MSC graduate assistant, said.

Students will learn basic moves both solo or with a partner, and then will all have an opportunity to actually use what they learned as everyone dances together later in the night.

Though salsa dancing has strong Latin roots, it also has a number of other cultural influences, which is something students would have the chance to learn about, Robison said.

Cristina Tapia, a senior hotel and restaurant management major, will be teaching the class alongside her Sigma Iota Alpha sisters.

“I’m not a professional, but I try to teach basic moves and keep it as fun as possible,” Tapia said.

“Salsa is complex, but at the same time it can be danced many different ways, but it has a basic step,” Tapia said.

The classes are not just for dancers, and everyone can learn at their own speed and try something new, Tapia said.

“It’s about everyone coming together and everyone learning a little something different,” Tapia said.

The salsa lessons have been offered in previous years and have been successful. However, last year’s two-part class trimmed down to one day.

“Last year we had the event over two days. It was successful, but this year we wanted to have it in one day so students could learn and dance without missing anything,” Robison said.

Sigma Iota Alpha is using this event as an opportunity to get involved on campus.

“We usually try to get involved in any organization on campus,” Tapia said.

Sigma Iota Alpha is also looking to expand the type of events they participate in.

Tapia said, “We would like to get involved with more events so we are not limited to just Latin events.”