In place of students murmuring, studying and sipping coffee, the Courtyard Caf‚ at the Illini Union was packed with students watching and learning from a glowing red stage. Eliana Manero teaches her salsa students here every Thursday.

The Illini Union Board regularly holds events for students to participate in cultural programs. Manero not only teaches salsa here, but also teaches a free Latin dance class every Sunday night at La Casa Cultural Latina.

Before the dancing began, students stood on the sides of the dance floor, waiting for the signal to enter. Lisa Post and Katie O’Brian, freshmen in Business and LAS, respectively, were among these students awaiting their chance to learn salsa. The girls saw an ad for the class in their Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall, and came because they thought it looked interesting and hoped to improve their dancing skills.

“Hopefully I don’t have to do the guy part because I’m tall,” O’Brian said.

Next to them stood a couple holding hands before the lesson began. Elsa Holden, freshman in FAA, admitted she had to coerce her boyfriend, Christopher Anderson, junior in LAS, to participate in the night’s events. Anderson showed a cynical smile when he responded.

“I’m very happy to be here,” Anderson said.

Despite some student apprehension, when the lesson began it was all about focusing on Manero’s instruction. The night began with a merengue warm-up. She shook her hips to the rhythm of the music, beating loudly from the stage.

“There’s a trick to move your hips,” she said. The students followed her example, trying to sway their hips as naturally as Manero.

After dancing merengue for several minutes, the students danced more loosely and Manero turned the lesson to salsa, beginning with the foot work. The footsteps were harder for the students to pick up on.

“Uno, dos, tres, cuatro,” she counted as she stepped without the music.

They stared at her feet, moving forward, back, backwards, forward and tried to mimic her example. They softly counted to four as they looked at Manero, then those dancing beside them, and then back at their own feet.

Manero first taught salsa 12 years ago. She never thought herself a teacher until she noticed when she went out dancing, she usually ended up with a group of people surrounding her.

“People wanted to know how to do what I did … then there would be eight people around me trying to learn,” she said.

She describes salsa dancing as a way to make people feel good, an escape that is good for the soul. In particular, she thinks it is beneficial for students who deal with a lot of stress from their studies.

“They learn how to dance and then go back to the books,” Manero said. “It makes them feel better, work better.”

During the day, Manero works at Carle Hospital in food services. She brings food trays to patients, and gets much joy from her job. She likes to settle the anticipation the patients feel when they are hungry and waiting for their meal. Mostly she enjoys the smile they give her when she arrives.

“Their big smile, it makes happy,” she said.

Manero immigrated to Champaign from Chile more than 40 years ago, when she was 16. An American ballroom dance instructor, whom she refers to as her “American mother,” brought her family to Peru and eventually to Illinois. Manero, at age 11, immigrated with her Chilean mother and older sister. When her Chilean mother became a widow, she supported her two daughters as a seamstress. When she was hired by her American mother for a three month job in her own home, she and Manero became attached.

She said in Chile, she learned to dance at a very young age, as it is an integral part of her culture.

“Latinos, we’ve been dancing since we are five years old,” she said. “We go to parties with our parents, and we watch them and just do what they do.”

When Manero teaches classes, she loves to look across the room and see people from all different cultures coming together through dance.

“You can do anything with salsa,” Manero said. “Express yourself, from the top of your head to your toes.”