Dance Descriptions

SALSA

Salsa music is hot and so is the dance. With its tight, compact movements, Salsa is an exciting social dance and is one of the most popular club dances around today. Salsa is a more contemporary name for the same step pattern as Mambo, and came about when dancers started adding Hustle steps to Mambo.

What are the different styles of Salsa?

Mambo (Ballroom)

is danced on 2 and the count is 2,3,4,pause, 6,7,8,pause. Very sharp, dramatic movements characterize this dance. This is the style danced in ballroom competitions.

New York salsa

has strong Puerto Rican influences. This style is also known as Mambo Tipico and the Eddie Torres Style. The beat for Mambo Tipico is 1,2,3,pause, 5,6,7,pause, but the breaking step is on 2. This timing gives the dancers an extra beat to do their moves and results in a smooth style characterized by lots of spins.

Los Angeles salsa

is danced on 1. LA style is characterized by very dramatic, flashy moves. Both men and women have a great deal of styling that is smoothly integrated into the dance making it even more sensual.

Cumbia

is most common in the Central and South American countries. The Cumbia step (or the back-basic) is typically danced on 1. The leader steps back with his left foot on the 1st beat and back with his right foot on the 5th. Cumbia is characterized by a very bouncy style with each partner doing alternating left turns.

Casino salsa

is based in Miami with strong Cuban influence. It's danced on 1 with a forward and back basic and cross-body lead. The forward and back basic is different from the other styles because the leader steps forward with the right foot while the follower steps forward with the left. Casino style can be danced by couples or in a very large group called a Rueda or wheel. In these Ruedas, a caller calls or hand signals each move and the entire wheel does the move simultaneously. Both the men and the women continually rotate around the wheel, switching partners.