Salsa Casino Partner Dance
Dance is the hidden language of the soul
In Cuba, a popular dance known as Casino was marketed abroad as Cuban-style salsa or Salsa Cubana to distinguish it from other salsa styles when the name was popularized in the 1970s. Dancing Casino is an expression of popular social culture in Cuba and many Cubans consider casino a part of their social and cultural activities centering on their popular music. The origins of the name Casino are casinos deportivos, the dance halls where a lot of social dancing was done among the better off, white Cubans during the mid-1950s and onward.
Historically, Casino traces its origin as a partner dance from Son
Cubano, fused with partner figures and turns adopted from the Cuban
Mambo, Cuban Cha Cha Cha, Rumba Guaguancó and North American Jive. As
with Son, Danzón and Cha Cha Cha, it is traditionally, though less often
today, danced a contratiempo. This means that, distinct from subsequent
forms of salsa, no step is taken on the first and fifth beats in each
clave pattern and the fourth and eighth beat are emphasised. In this
way, rather than following a beat, the dancers themselves contribute in
their movement, to the polyrythmic pattern of the music.
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