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Salsa refers to a fusion of informal dance styles having roots in the Caribbean (especially in Cuba and Puerto Rico), Latin and North America. The dance originated through the mixture of Mambo, Danzón, Guaguancó, Cuban Son, and other typical Cuban dance forms. Salsa is danced to Salsa music. There is a strong African influence in the music as well as the dance.
Salsa is usually a partner dance, although there are recognized solo steps and some forms are danced in groups of couples, with frequent exchanges of partner (Rueda de Casino). Improvisation and social dancing are important elements of Salsa but it appears as a performance dance too.
The name "Salsa" is the Spanish word for sauce, connoting (in American Spanish) a spicy flavor[1]. The Salsa aesthetic is more flirtatious and sensuous than its ancestor, Cuban Son. Salsa also suggests a "mixture" of ingredients, though this meaning is not found in most stories of the term's origin.
Rhythm and steps: The basic step typically uses three steps each measure. This pattern might be quick-quick-slow, taking two beats to gradually transfer the weight, or quick-quick-quick allowing a tap or other embellishment on the vacant beat. It is conventional in salsa for the two musical measures to be considered as one, so the count goes from 1 to 8 over two musical bars. |
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The Cha-cha-cha (in
Spanish Cha-cha-chá) is a Latin American dance of Cuban origin. It
corresponds to the Cha-cha-cha music introduced by Cuban composer and violinist
Enrique Jorrín. This rhythm was developed from the danzon by a synchopation of
the fourth beat. The name of the dance came from the shuffling sound of the
dancers' feet as they executed the chassee. See Cha-cha-chá (Cuban dance) for a
description of the Cuban evolution of the dance.
The dance teacher Pierre
Margolie ('Monsieur Pierre') from London, a founder of the Latin American
Faculty of the ISTD, visited Cuba in 1952 to find out how and what Cubans were
dancing at the time. He noted that this new dance had a split 4th beat, and to
dance it one started on the second beat, not the first. He brought this dance
idea to England and eventually created what is known now as ballroom
Cha-cha-cha.
The validity of his analysis is well established for that
time, and some forms of evidence exist today. First, there is in existence film
of Orquesta Jorrin playing to a cha-cha-cha dance contest in Cuba;
second, the rhythm of the Benny More classic Santa Isabel de las Lajas
written and recorded at about the same time is quite clearly synchopated on the
fourth beat. Also, note that the slower bolero-son ("rumba") was always danced
on the second beat.
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Merengue is a style of Latin American music and dance with a two-step beat. Partners hold each other in a closed position. The leader holds the follower's waist with his right hand, while holding her right hand with his left hand at the follower's eye level. Partners bend their knees slightly left and right, thus making the hips move left and right. The hips of the leader and follower move in the same direction throughout the song. Partners may walk sideways or circle each other, in small steps. They can switch to a double handhold position and do separate turns without letting go each other's hands or momentarily releasing one hand. During these turns they may twist and tie their handhold into intricate pretzels. Other choreography is possible.
Merengue was made the official music and dance of the Dominican Republic by Rafael Trujillo. Some[who?] say merengue derived from the "paso de la empalizada" (pole-fence step). There are also legends about a limping war hero (or El Presidente of a banana republic himself, in some versions) who had to step in this way while dancing because of wounds, and polite (or clueless) public imitated him[citation needed].
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Bachata, a form of music and dance that originated in the countryside and the rural neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic. Its subjects are often romantic; especially prevalent are tales of heartbreak and sadness. In fact, the original term used to name the genre was amargue ("bitterness," or "bitter music"), until the rather ambiguous (and mood-neutral) term bachata became popular.
The dance is a four-step beat achieved with a walking Cuban hip motion, and a unique “pop”. The dance is performed both in open position and in closed position depending on the setting and mood of the partners. Similar to Merengue, dips are not original to the dance and turns are done infrequently. The male leads the female with subtle communication using pushing and pulling on the hands to guide the direction in which to move or to hint on upcoming turns. The female may also provide communication using her left hand to indicate whether she is comfortable or not dancing in a closed position.
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Rueda de Casino (Rueda, Casino Rueda, Salsa Rueda) is a particular type of round dancing of Salsa. It was developed in Havana, Cuba in the late 1950s and early 1960s by the famous group Guaracheros de Regla and one of its main choreographers and creators was Jorge Alfaro from San Miguel del Padrón, a soloist of a comparsa.
Pairs of dancers form a circle, with dance moves called out by one person, a caller (or 'Líder' or 'cantante' in Spanish). Many moves have hand signs to complement the calls; these are useful in noisy venues, where spoken calls might not be easily heard. Many of the moves involve the swapping of partners.
The names of the moves are mostly in Spanish, some in English (or Spanglish; e.g., "un fly"). Some names are known in slightly different versions, easily recognizable by Spanish-speaking dancers, but may be confusing to the rest.
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Argentine Tango is a social dance and a musical genre that originated in Argentina and moved to Uruguay and to the rest of the world later on. In the US, it is commonly confused with Ballroom Tango, though this is a later derivation. See History of Tango and Tango music for the origins and development of each. This article describes the dance itself.
Argentine Tango consists of a variety of styles that developed in different regions and eras, and in response to the crowding of the venue and even the fashions in clothing. Even though they all developed in Argentina and Uruguay, they were also exposed to influences reimported from Europe and North America. Consequently there is a good deal of confusion and overlap between the styles as they are now danced - and fusions continue to evolve.
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