Salsa (dance)

For the musical style, see Salsa (music).

Salsa dancers Kevin and Sarahi dancing Cali style

Salsa is a syncretic dance form with origins from Cuba, as the original meeting point of European and African cultures. Its movements originate in Cuban Son, with strong influences from Mambo, Guaguanco, and other Afro-Cuban music.

Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms, line dancing (suelta), and Rueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine.

Salsa is popular throughout Latin America, and also in the United States, Spain, Japan, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Israel and Eastern Europe.

Salsa dancing origins

Salsa movements originate from the Cuban Son dancing of the 1970s, more specifically through the beat of Son Montuno with strong influences from the dance of Danzon, Mambo, Guaguanco, and other Afro-Cuban folkloric dancing. Today's salsa dancing is a rich blend of Latin-American and Western influences, namely from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Colombia. Some dance styles that have influenced salsa are Western and Ballroom dancing. Salsa traces a 90 year history in which there are a multiple evolutionary paths, sometimes split due to political and social influences. As result, today, there are three major salsa styles, namely Cuban Salsa ("Casino"), New York Style ("Mambo on 2"), and Los Angeles Style ("On 1"). Other Salsa branches include Colombian Salsa ("Cali-Style") and Miami-Style Salsa.

Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms, pole dancing (suelta), and Rueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine, choreography, and freestyle.

Basic movements

Salsa steps.

There are a few basic steps of salsa; the most common is the three weight changes (or steps) in each four-beat measure. The beat on which one does not step might contain a tap or kick, or weight transfer may simply continue with the actual step not occurring until the next beat. The option chosen depends upon individual choice and upon the specific style being danced. One of the steps is a "break step": which involves a change in direction. Different styles of Salsa are often differentiated by the timing of the break step (On Beat "Downbreak on 1" or Off Beat "Up beat on 2"). After 6 weight changes in 8 beats, the basic step cycle is complete. While dancing, the basic step can be modified significantly as part of the improvisation and stylings of the people dancing.

As a salsa dancer changes weight the upper body remains level and nearly unaffected by the weight changes. Caught in the middle are the hips which end up moving quite a bit — which is the famously known as the "Cuban hip movement."

The arms are used to communicate the lead are either open or closed position. In open position the two dancers hold one or both hands, especially for moves that involve turns, or putting arms behind the back, or moving around each other. In closed position, the leader puts the right hand on the follower's back, while the follower puts the left hand on the leader's shoulder.

In some North American styles, the dancers remain in a slot (switching places), while Latin American styles the dancers circle around each other sometimes in 3 points.

Additionally, in the original Latin America form, the forward/backward motions of Salsa is done in diagonal or sideways with the 3-steps weight change intact.

Rhythm

Dancing Salsa in Mexico

Music suitable for dancing ranges from about 150 bpm (beats per minute) to around 250 bpm, although most dancing is done to music somewhere between 160–220 bpm. Every Salsa composition involves complex African percussion based around the Clave Rhythm (which has four types), though there can be moments when the clave is hidden for a while, often when quoting Charanga, Changüí, and Bomba. The key instrument that provides the core groove of a salsa song is the clave. It is often played with two wooden sticks that are hit together. Every instrument in a Salsa band is either playing with the clave (generally: congas, timbales, piano, tres guitar, bongos, claves (instrument), strings) or playing independent of the clave rhythm (generally: bass, maracas, güiro, cowbell). Melodic components of the music and dancers can choose to be in clave or out of clave at any point. However it is taboo to play or dance to the wrong type of clave rhythm (see salsa music). While dancers can mark the clave rhythm directly, it is more common to do so indirectly (with, for example, a shoulder movement). This allows the dancing itself to look very fluent as if the rest of the body is just moving untouched with the legs.

There are basically two types of Clave Rhythm, the 2-3 and the 3-2 clave. The 2-3 clave is played on the counts of 2, 3, 5, and 8. Within the 8 beats that compose a basic salsa step, where the, "and" count is the count that is between any two counts, e.g. the count between 5 and 6. Most salsa music is played with the 2-3 clave.

There are other aspects, outside of the Clave, that help define Salsa rhythm: The cowbell, the Montuno rhythm, and the Tumbao rhythm.

The cowbell is played on the core beats of Salsa, 1, 3, 5, and 7. The basic Salsa rhythm is quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, slow, in other words, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7, which are very similar to the beats of the cowbell. Recognizing the rhythm of the cowbell helps one stay on Salsa rhythm.

The Montuno rhythm is a rhythm that is often played with a piano. The Montuno rhythm loops over the 8 counts, and is useful for finding the direction of the music. By listening to the same rhythm, that loops back to the beginning after eight counts, one can recognize which count is the first beat of the music.

Tumbao is a rhythm in salsa that is played with the conga drums. It sounds like: "cu, cum.. pa... cu, cum... pa". It is played with the counts of 8 and 2, & 4 and 6. Tumbao rhythm is helpful for learning On2. The beats 2 and 6 are emphasizes when dancing On2, and the Tumbao rhythm heavily emphasizes those beats, as well.

Salsa styles

Salsa's roots are based on the Son dancing (circa 1920s), and is open to improvisation and thus it is continuously evolving. New modern salsa styles are associated and named to the original geographic areas that developed them. There are often devotees of each of these styles outside of their home territory. Characteristics that may identify a style include: timing, basic steps, foot patterns, body rolls and movements, turns and figures, attitude, dance influences, and the way that partners hold each other. The point in a musical bar music where a slightly larger step is taken (the break step) and the direction the step moves can often be used to identify a style.

Incorporating other dance styling techniques into salsa dancing has become very common, for both men and women: shimmies, leg work, arm work, body movement, spins, body isolations, shoulder shimmies, rolls, even hand styling, acrobatics, and lifts.

The basic Salsa styles are:

1. Latin American Styles, originating from Cuba and surrounding Caribbean islands and then expanding to Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the rest of the Latin states; also heavily influence "Miami" style which is a fusion of Cuban style and North American version. The styles include "Casino", Miami-Style, Cali-style, and Venezuelino Style.
2. North American Salsa, two major types of Salsa with distinct tempo differences; Los Angeles Style which breaks on the first beat "On 1" and New York Style which breaks on the second beat "On 2". Both have different origins and evolutionary path, as the New York Salsa is heavily influenced by Mambo and Jazz instruments in its early growth stage.

Cuban Salsa "Casino"

Main article: Casino (salsa dance)

The appropriate name for Cuban Salsa is Casino as it is known throughout Latin America. Dancing Casino is an expression of popular social culture; Latin Americans consider casino as part of social and cultural activities centering around their popular music. The origins of the name Casino is derived from the Spanish term for "hall".

Historically, Casino traces its origin as a partner dance from the Cuban Son dancing and its rhythmic body motions from Afro-Cuban Rumba heritage. Son is considered an older version and ancestor to Salsa. Son is danced on delay measure upbeat (contra-tiempo) following the 2-3 clave (Son Clave) whereas Casino is usually danced on downbeat break on 1 or 3 (a-tiempo). Beats 1, 3, 5 and 7 are considered downbeats and 2, 4, 6 and 8 are considered upbeats. Casino is popularized in the late 1950s as the Cuban Son received upbeat and quicker arrangements by musicians. Casino has a very independent development, free from external influences such as Puerto Rican and North American dances partly due to the effect of the Cuban Embargo.

Culturally, Casino is danced as an interplay between male and female gender, and feeling the music ("Sabor") as its main ingredients. Almost all casino dance routines are named in latin cultural context with emphasis on sexual interplay, teasing, and everyday experience.

Geographically, in Latin America, Casino and its variants are danced in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Nicaragua. It is also highly popular in Europe and parts of Asia.

This style of salsa is relatively easy to learn, and thus popular among beginners. However, to master Casino requires dancing and mastering from influences such as Rumba, Son, and Mambo. This takes a long time, and is further compounded by lack of teaching materials in other languages other than Spanish.

Casino can be seen at the Cuban Salsa Congress, which bring dance instructors and authentic Latin musicians to many parts of the world. Today, there is a global re-emergence of Cuban Salsa due to:

1. The explosion of Timba, a modern evolution of Cuban salsa music which is now considered the forefront of Latin big band music and orchestra arrangements with complex changes and innovations such as Cruzado Clave (Cross Clave) and rapid tempo differentials and dramatic innovations at every level of hierarchy from the tumbaos. See: Timba.
2. Original YouTube videos of authentic dancing from Cuban sources such as dancing in Havana and Santiago which was not accessible before the internet age due to the effect of the Cuban Embargo by the United States.

Cuban-Style Salsa Partnership Dance (Parejas)

Casino is danced in three points which makes up the circular motion as couple face each other in intricate patterns of arms and body movement. This is distinctive from the North American Salsa styles which is danced in a slot (two points) and linear positions as taught by the North American and European dance studios.

Casino has an strong basic step known as "Guapea" (lit. "Chill Out" by Afro-Cuban Community), in which the male lead put his left foot behind on the break, as opposite of left foot forward on the basic step.

Casino styling includes men being "machochissmo" and women being femininely sexy, with major body and muscle isolations, through the influence of Rumba dancing. During the dance, dancers break from each other during percussion solos and perform the "despolete", and advanced form of styling in which the male and female partner get physically close and tease each other without touching through the gyrating of hips and shoulders while performing muscle isolations.

The major distinction of Cuban Salsa Styling is that male partners have tendencies to show off (following Afro-Cuban Guaguanco influence) under the guise of cultural behavior of males having to attract attention and tease females. This is the major point of differences between Casino and the rest of the Northern American Salsa as the North American Salsa ascribed to the ballroom adage of "men are the picture frame while women are the picture."

Cuban Solo Dancing (Suelta)

Cuban-Salsa Solo Dancing (Suelta) is dancing salsa without having a partner. It originates from stage singers and dancers who setup routines during orchestra and live performance. Dance singularly or in a group (usually male facing females on the dance floor) the movements are based on a-tiempo or contra-tiempo with intricate footwork and lively body movements.

Other forms of partner dancing

Other partner dancing styles include "Trios" or "Quattros" in which a male lead will dance with two or more female partners in each arm in in intricate patterns. There are also a "Trios" version in which two male leaders share a female partner.

Miami-style Casino

Developed by Cuban migrants to Florida, and centered around Miami, this form of Cuban Salsa fused with American culture and LA Style. Major differences of Miami-style Casino is that it is exclusive dance to downbeat (On1), and has elements of shines and showstyle added to it following repertoires of North American Styles.

Miami-style has many adherents, particularly Cuban-Americans, and other Latinos based in South Florida.

Rueda de Casino

Main article: Rueda de Casino

In the 1950s Salsa Rueda or more accurately Rueda de Casino was developed in Havana, Cuba. Pairs of dancers form a circle (Rueda in Spanish means "Wheel"), with dance moves called out by one person. Many of the moves involve rapidly swapping partners.

There two main types of Rueda de Casino:

1. Cuban-style - "Rueda de Cuba" (Original type of Rueda, not so formal consisting of about 30 calls). Codified in the 1970s.
2. Miami-style - "Rueda de Miami" (Formal style, many rules, based on a mix, hybridization of Rueda de Cuba and Salsa Los Angeles-style ). 1980s and onwards to today.

The difference of Miami-style Rueda is the hybridization of Cuban and L.A. Style, and dance routines that reflect American culture (e.g. Coca-cola, Dedo, Adios) which is not found in the traditional Cuban-style Rueda.

Major Rueda de Casino groups known throughout the world are:

Rueda de Casino Team	Location	Description and Information
Salsa Racing	Florida, USA	Principal Choregrapher Henry Herrera, codified the Miami-Style Rueda. Dance on1 / A-Tiempo
Casino.com	Santiago de Cuba, Cuba	Principal world-renowned champion and choreographer Yanek Revilla. Two times in a row champion of Bailar Casino National Television program by state-owned television station, Cubavision. Dance On1 / A-Tiempo
Luceros Del Son	Pinar Del Rio, Cuba	Famous Hat Rueda team, innovations in cross switching. Dance On3 / A-Tiempo
Rumbanana	Corvallis, Oregon, USA	Famous Rueda team, achieving prominence in major championships in USA and Europe. Choreographer Mike Eskeldson and Simona Boucek. Dance On1 / A-Tiempo. http://www.rumbanana.org
Salseros Indonesia	Jakarta, Indonesia	Winner of 2010 Asian Rueda Championships. Principal choreographer Albert James Loing. Dance On1 / A-Tiempo

Colombian Salsa / Cali Salsa style

Cali Salsa Style, or Colombian Salsa, is based on geographical location of the Colombian City of Cali. Cali is also known as the "Capital de la Salsa" (World's Salsa Capital); due to salsa music being the main genre in parties, nightclubs, and festivals in the 21st century.

The elements of Cali Salsa Style is the strong infusion of Colombian rhythms particularly Cumbia and Boogaloo.

The basic step of Colombian Salsa is the "Atras" or "Diagonal"; breaking backwards diagonally instead of moving forwards and backwards as seen in the New York and L.A. Style. Dancers do not shift their body weight greatly as seen in other styles. Instead, dancers keep their upper body still, poised and relaxed while the feet execute endless intricacies. The dancer break mostly On1 (sometimes On3), with short measures of "4" instead of full "8" counts.

A major difference of Cali Style and the other styles is the footwork which have quick rapid steps and skipping motions. They not execute Cross-body Lead, or the "Dile Que No" as seen in the other salsa genres. Their footwork is intricate and precise, thus, several major world championships were attributed to Colombian Style dancers. Cali hosts many annual salsa events such as the World Salsa Cali Festival and Encuentro de Melomanos y Coleccionistas.

New York style

There are two distinct developments of New York Salsa as a music and dance genre:

1. Primary original evolution from Mambo era when Cuban music was introduced to New York due to influx of migrating Cuban dissidents and Latin migrants during Pre/Post Castro-revolution in th 1950s and 1960s. This is era is known as the "Palladium Era". At this time, the music and dance was called "Mambo" or "Rumba" -- connotating the general term without being specific. The most famous dancer during this era was Puerto-Rican descendant Pedro "Cuban Pete" Aguilar, also known "The King of Latin Beat".
2. Secondary evolution during the late 1970s, Latin migrants, particularly Puerto Ricans, contributed to the New York Salsa development during the "NuYorican" era of Héctor Lavoe which greatly popularized salsa as a term and modern latin music throughout the world. Salsa superstars were "discovered" during the era, such as Ray Baretto "The Godfather", and Celia Cruz "The Queen of Salsa". There are also salsa artists that transcend both period, notably the legendary Puerto Rican Tito Puente "The King".

These two developments create a fusion of a new salsa music and dance genre, different than its Latin American and L.A. Style counterparts.

Musically, the old Mambo (Mambo Tipico) is fused with New York Jazz and Swing to create a new salsa genre but retaining much of its original percussions. The addition of new musical instruments such as xylophones, jazz saxophones, and steel drums added new melody to the evolving genre.

In New York Style, the tempo and timing of the dance is strictly On-2 (based on delay tempo, on the first slap on the tumbao / conga).

Dancers around the world often integrate elements and repertoire from New York into their Salsa routines due to New York Style's advanced motions and routines.

Many also refer to this style as "Mambo" since it breaks on 2nd beat of the measure. However, there are other dance forms with more legitimate claim to that name; see (Mambo) The accompanying dance to the original Mambo, popularized by Perez Prado which greatly influenced New York big band development was actually not a pure partnership dance. Due to its immense popularity, some of the original mambo steps were incorporated into the ballroom and New York Style curriculum, resulting in the 3rd Mambo Tipico steps (Spanish : Pati-Pami) became the first basic foundation step of New York Style. Subsequently, the L.A. Style of dancing also followed suit by incorporating the same foundation as its basic step.

The etiquette of New York Style is strict about remaining in the "slot" and avoiding traveling dancing in a sandbox area with a lot of spins, turns, and styling. There are greater emphasis on performing "shines" in which dancers separate themselves and dance solo with intricate footwork and styling for a time—suspected origins from Swing and New York Tap.

New York Style dancers are typically very serious about the musicality and timing of their dancing. To satisfy their tastes, "socials" are often held that cater to almost exclusively playing Salsa Dura (lit. "Hard Salsa") and Descarga (lit. "Jam Session"). This is mid-to-up-tempo salsa with an emphasis on percussion and band orchestration rather than the vocals.

The longest-running social in New York is the Jimmy Anton social, which is held every first, third and fifth (if there is a fifth) Sunday of the month.

New York Style is danced by dedicated communities around the world, and also found in New York Salsa Congress and many dance congresses around the world.

One of the most famous schools of New York Style is Eddie Torres Latin Dance Company, founded by New York Salsa legend Puerto Rican migrant Eddie Torres who is responsible for codification of the New York Style curriculum, and subsequent offsprings, such as the Santo Rico Dance School. and ABAKUÁ Afro-Latin Dance Company

Los Angeles style

Los Angeles Salsa Style (L.A. Style) is born from recent developments in North American dancing following Latin-American musical hits of the late 1980s and 90s. L.A. style is danced on 1, in a slot, with a measure of easiness and adaptability to it.

It is strongly influenced by the Mambo, Swing, Argentine Tango and Latin Ballroom dancing styles. L.A. style places strong emphasis on sensuousness, theatricality, aerobics, and musicality. The lifts, stunts, and aerial works of today's salsa shows are derived mostly from L.A. Style forms with origins in Latin Ballroom and Ballet lifts.

The two essential elements of this dance are the forward–backward basic as described above, and the cross-body lead. In this pattern, the leader steps forward on 1, steps to the right on 2-3 while turning 90 degrees counter-clockwise (facing to the left). The follower then steps forward on 5-6, and turns on 7-8, while the leader makes another 90 degrees counter-clockwise. After these 8 counts, the leader and follower have exchanged their positions.

It is widely known that LA Style dancers focused their tempo to break again On 1, with less emphasis on the beat measures thus bypassing traditional rhythm 1-2-3 in Latin American or the NY Style dancing.

Although popular in the western nations, particularly English-speaking countries, L.A. Style has many detractors. The Latin-Americans consider L.A. Style to be an abhorrent as the dance is focused too much on techniques and show-styling and is further compounded by the lack of "Sabor" within the dancers for not being able to relate to the actual tumbao or the clave beats. New York Style and Mambo Purists perceive L.A. Style dancers "rhythmically-challenged" due to the "lack the rhythm and the focus on melody instead of tempo", and much cynicism is placed on L.A. Style for "pinching" advance N.Y. Style routines. Nevertheless, L.A. Style has been credited for the popularity of salsa as the middle-class choice social activities in the western world.

The three Vazquez brothers are claimed to have started L.A. Style in Long Beach, California. It is said that Francisco the oldest created the L.A. Style, and then taught it to his younger brothers by combining Mambo, theatrics, and Mexican dancing.

Major L. A. Style instructors include Mexican-born Francisco Vazquez, Luis Vazquez,and Johnny Vasquez "Prince of Salsa", the controversial Brazilian Alex Da Silva, Ronny Medrano, and Josie Neglia.

See also

Salsa dancing

• Palladium Ballroom
• Rueda de Casino
• Dance
• Dance move
• Salsa music
• Partner dance
• Casino (salsa dance)
• Salsa Suelta
• World Salsa Championships

References

Hutchinson, Sydney (2004) "Mambo on 2: The birth of a new form of dance in New York City.” CENTRO Journal 16(2):109-137.

Pietrobruno, Sheenagh (2006) Salsa and Its Transnational Moves. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, Inc.

Mikko Kemppe (2010) Mastering the Four Most Important Rhythms in the Music

External links

• Dictionary of Salsa Moves
• Basic Salsa Dance Steps
• Salsa videos
• Experiment with Salsa rhythms online
• Salsa Bands
• Salsa Central - Online Salsa Magazine
• WikiTravel: Salsa Dancing in Latin America
• Online Salsa Magazine - OnlineSalsa.com
• Sydney Dance Rhythms - Salsa School in Sydney, Australia
• Salsabor Tropical Latin Dance school - Salsa Dancing in South Florida Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach