It is impossible to not dance to salsa music. You can try to resist, but it’s futile: Your hips will start to twitch, your feet will start to move, and try as you might, your body can’t help but wiggle around, whether you know how to salsa or not.

Edwin Ortiz y su Orquesta La Romana brought out the Latin side of Bangor with their performance Saturday night on the Kenduskeag Dance Stage. The temperature may have dropped a few degrees after the balmy, breezy afternoon, but under the tent, it was as hot as an August night in Puerto Rico.

Percussion is really the star of the show for this band. One doesn’t normally think of cowbell and maracas as being difficult instruments, but put them in the context of salsa music and they are transcendent. Add timpani and conga, and it’s a dense, intoxicating rhythmic stew, accented by sharp horns and gorgeous Latin piano.

Though Orquesta La Romana is a salsa band, the musicians don’t shy away from other influences. They brought in strains of the wildly popular style of music known as “reggaeton” and invited audience members onstage to show off their dance moves. Two strangers got up and shook a little tail feather together, while a couple bum-rushed the stage and whirled around in sloppy but impassioned salsa moves.

If Saturday night’s show was any indication, Bangor loves to dance. Put a crowd of live music-starved Mainers in front of a tight, spicy salsa band, and they let loose. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, people get a little carried away. They just can’t help it.