Sarah and Jorge Gutierrez are bringing a Latin flair back to the River Market location that once housed Juanita’s restaurant with their plans for Little Rock Salsa, a private club focusing on salsa dancing, naturally, along with other Latin dances like bachata, cumbia, cha-cha and meringue.
The Little Rock couple have just applied with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division for a private club license and are working on their application with the city for a zoning change.
Little Rock Salsa is a kind of club-dancing school headed by the Gutierrezes that for the last seven years has partnered with local restaurants and clubs to hold Friday night salsa nights. Among those partners were Browning’s before it became Heights Taco & Tamale, Juanita’s and the Metroplex Event Center.
“It will be Arkansas’ first dedicated site for ballroom dancing and salsa and other Latin types of dancing,” said Sarah Gutierrez, who heads Aptus Financial, a Little Rock financial planning company. A “light menu” will be served, and Little Rock Salsa will feature a full bar, she said.
They plan to be open every Friday and may be open other nights as well for special events like “tango night.”
Sarah and Jorge, who manages a chemical plant in Jacksonville, met salsa dancing. “It’s just great fun,” Sarah Gutierrez said. “We met salsa dancing in Little Rock. We fell in love doing that. And now we teach together.”
Little Rock Salsa hopes to be open by December.