💃🏽 Salsa 101 🕺🏽
Artwork by Valerie Vescovi
Whether you were born without rhythm or have been dancing for as long as you can remember, knowing how to dance salsa is an especially unique and fun skill to master!
Origins
Though there is much debate about its true origins, salsa is a partnered Latin dance style that was
popularized in the United States by Puerto Ricans and Cubans living in 1960s New York City.
It is an amalgamation of dance styles including mambo, pachanga, cha cha cha, swing dance,
and more.
The term was popularized by the record label Fania Records to better market their
music, and Fania founder Johnny Pacheco says he chose the word "salsa" because of its spicy
and hot connotations. Whatever its origin, the term is fitting because salsa dancing and
music is a mixture of different styles, just like salsa or "sauce" in Spanish-speaking countries
is a mixture of different ingredients.
Music
The key instrument that provides the core groove of a salsa song is the clave. It is often played with two wooden sticks
(called clave) 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.
The basic salsa dance rhythm consists of taking three steps for every four beats of music. The odd number of steps
creates the inherent syncopation to the Salsa dancing and ensures that it takes 8 beats of music to loop back to a new
sequence of steps. Different styles employ this syncopation differently. For "On1" dancers this rhythm is described as
"quick, quick, quick, pause, quick, quick, quick, pause". For "On2" dancers this rhythm is "quick, quick, slow, quick,
quick, slow". In all cases, only three steps are taken in each 4-beat measure (or 6 total over 8 beats).
Click here to listen to the Best of Salsa Hits!
Styles
Over the years many different styles of salsa dancing have evolved around the world. Many of them are compatible with
each other, but others are different enough to make dancing between dancers of different styles difficult.
Incorporating other dance styling techniques into salsa dancing has also become common, with dancers of one style
incorporating styles and movements of others to create new fusions of dance styles.
Click to learn more about each style:
New York Style
Los Angeles Style
Cuban Style/Casino
Miami Style
Rueda de Casino
Colombian Style