Free: Union Station Salsa Dance Night

Copa and sashay to the live orchestral sounds of Rumbankete.

Purpose-specific architecture? We all can usually spot it from fifty paces away.

A dining hall filled with tables looks like a space designed for supping. A schoolroom, with whiteboards and desks and reading alcoves, was created to serve students.

And a train station? That's easy: It helps facilitate the passage of travelers, to the trains and just after they disembark.

But a glance around the historic ticketing hall at Union Station, right here in Los Angeles, might give anyone glancing from fifty paces pause, for while the building looks mighty train-station-esque, that ticketing hall ceiling also has the airy height, and detailed grandeur, of a vintage ballroom.

So when people begin to sashay there, and spin, and copa, and sombrero and hammerlock and perform the other traditional movements woven through Latin dance, you suddenly have to rethink your assumptions about a structure only serving one distinct purpose.

For Latin dance will merrily gambol, for free, at the Union Station historic ticketing hall on Friday, July 7 from 8 to 10:30 p.m., with Rumbankete providing the fill-the-room, big-flow'd, trombone-tastic orchestral vibes. The large musical group boasts musicians from several countries, from Cuba to Mexico, and dancers should expect a vibrant, get-out-and-shake-it evening via a wealth of high-energy songs.

Reservations? You don't need 'em. Money? As mentioned, this is all gratis to get into, so just bring any dough for beverages and such. Metro Art is the organization behind this excellent, pay-nada night, a night built around community, having fun, summer salsa style, and enjoying a building that wasn't exactly made for dancing.

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Or was it? In a way? Can a hurried dash to your train be considered a dance of sorts? Well, certainly, that Union Station historic ticketing hall could rival just about any ballroom around for beauty, acoustics, and room-to-move-a-tude.

See so yourself on July 7, dancers and architecture lovers of LA.

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