Taylor’s and Webfoot are two of the most popular bars in Eugene. Located right across the street from the University of Oregon campus, they are packed with students during the weekend, and many times during weeknights as well. It’s often hard to move around inside both of these places due to the high volume of people, and it’s hard to talk to people as well due to the loud hip hop and electronic dance music that the local DJs play. Of course, when people hear music, especially after they have consumed alcohol, they want to dance. And the dancing that takes place between men and women inside Taylor’s and Webfoot is often highly sexualized. While I am not a woman myself, I know that this type of dancing often makes women uncomfortable.

This context about these bars in Eugene is relevant because so far the experience our cohort has had going to bars in Accra has been significantly different than the experiences we’ve had at Taylor’s or Webfoot. On Wednesday, we went to a bar/restaurant that served Thai food, that was having a salsa night, in Ghana – how’s that for some cross cultural mixing? The drinks and food were very good, but the most remarkable thing to me about this place was the difference in the culture of dancing.

Unlike Taylor’s or Webfoot, where it’s packed to the gills with people dancing throughout almost the entire bar, this place had a designated area for people to dance – a big stage in the middle of the restaurant, containing at least 40 people. It was an incredible sight to witness. Despite all of the people on the stage, they all were essentially dancing in synchronicity.

There was a line of guys in the front row that would dance and everyone behind them would follow what they were doing. And these weren’t exactly elementary moves. There was a lot of spinning, shuffling, and other moves that required a fair amount of balance and coordination to pull off. There were also some songs where people would pair off and dance as couples as well. This wasn’t some exclusive group of people either. Anyone could get up and participate in the dancing if they wanted to. So a lot us went up on the stage and joined in. It was very exhausting, and some of us looked like clumsy fools at times trying to keep up with the Ghanaians, but it was by far the most fun I’ve ever had at a bar. It was such a refreshing and different experience from Taylor’s and Webfoot.

There was no judgment, no aggressiveness, no uncomfortableness, and most importantly, it wasn’t sexually charged. We were all just a bunch of humans dancing on a stage to salsa music in the open air on a beautiful night in Accra, and it was amazing. I know that a lot the women in our group enjoyed this experience as well, and liked how different it was from America. We’re all looking forward to going back to salsa night next week.