Room 1122 in the Computer Science Instructional Center is usually reserved for upper-level math and engineering courses. Last Thursday night, the room found another use as Professor Nelson Padua-Perez and his wife, Elena, danced alone in the back of the room.

The topic for tonight’s class was on the whiteboard: “Salsa Sabrosa,” or “Tasty Salsa.”

The usually staid classroom works serviceably with a little rearranging, making plenty of room for Padua-Perez, his wife and whoever else shows up. Last semester, salsa dancing lessons drew up to 25 students for each of the six classes held – low by university standards, but respectable for something advertised only by word-of-mouth and the wall-mounted plasma screens in the CSI lobby.

At last Thursday’s meeting, 13 students stayed for the whole class, down from 24 students two weeks prior.

Emma Riggs, a junior math and computer science major and the chair of the Maryland Association for Women In Computing, said the idea of the salsa class came from her organization and wasn’t originally meant to happen more than once.

“We started doing it last semester. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, but it was so popular that we just kept doing it,” Riggs said. When the organization approached Padua-Perez with the idea last fall, Padua-Perez agreed immediately.

“I said, ‘Hey, let’s do it. What have we got to lose?'” he said shortly before class began last Thursday.

Although the class is virtually unknown outside the computer science program and last Thursday’s group was composed mostly, if not entirely, of computer science majors, anyone is welcome to attend.

They attend for many reasons but share a common one – Padua-Perez. With classroom antics and a penchant for interrupting lectures with jokes, Padua-Perez is known to his students by his first name, and his classes are anything but the stereotypical image of computer science.

“I’ve never had a teacher like this for comp sci,” said Varun Kohoi, a junior computer science and mathematics major, who found out about the class through one of Padua-Perez’s classes. “He always has something to say that’ll make people laugh.”

Kohoi said he likes Padua-Perez’s computer science classes and finds more of the same energy in the professor’s salsa instruction. “Teaching salsa is the same way [as computer science class] – everyone is laughing in the class.”

A few minutes after 7 p.m., everyone gathered in the cleared-out area, and salsa class was in session. Men and women paired off, took hands and started with the basics.

Though his teaching style is unorthodox, Padua-Perez didn’t make things complicated. With sleeves rolled and wife in tow, he explained what was next, demonstrated it with his wife, then watched the students try.

Salsa, though it looks complicated, stems from a basic dance step. Once someone’s got that down, variations branch out from it, gradually building in difficulty.

Watching Padua-Perez teach salsa dancing is like watching him teach computer science. He isn’t afraid to tell a joke or to mug for laughs in either class, but the jokes don’t distract from the material.

At Thursday’s class, the students laughed often and smiled at their instructor’s stream-of-consciousness blend of salsa instruction, anecdotes, nerd moments and insights on being a geek, featuring gems like “Don’t turn her like a truck,” and “Now the next thing I want you to do is make it extreme, like extreme Java.”

Though the students had fun, it didn’t keep their dancing from improving substantially during the hour-long class. Formerly little more than a great danger to the toes of all involved, the attendees left class knowing the basic step, two ways of holding their partner, how to spin or be spun, and the cross body lead, a stylish move in which the partners trade positions.

After class, Padua-Perez and his wife stand, arms around one another, both glowing slightly from an hour spent dancing.

“He’s a good husband,” she said, looking at him.

“We like to dance,” he said.

Like everyone who came to salsa that night, he’s smiling.

Contact reporter Theodore J. Sawchuck at newsdesk@dbk.umd.edu.