Salsa (dance)

Students from Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City perform at Culture Week

Salsa dancing evolved as a dance to accompany salsa music which was popularized in the 1960s.[3] It was primarily developed by Puerto Ricans and Cubans living in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[4] Different regions of Latin America and the United States (including countries in the Caribbean) have distinct salsa styles of their own, such as Cuban, Puerto Rican, Colombian, and New York styles. Salsa dance socials are commonly held in nightclubs, bars, ballrooms, restaurants, and outside, especially when part of an outdoor festival.

There is some debate surrounding the exact origins of the name "salsa". Some claim that it originated from something musicians shouted while they were playing their music to generate excitement.[5] 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.[6] Whatever its origin, the term is fitting because salsa dancing and music is a mixture of different styles, just like salsa or "sauce" in Latin American countries is a mixture of different ingredients. Originally a street dance, salsa dance steps came to be more formalized once schools began opening up teaching students how to dance salsa with a set curriculum. One of the early influential instructors in salsa was Eddie Torres, who helped to formalize the timing for New York-style salsa, and popularized the style around the world.

Salsa is a partnered dance where the lead takes the follow through a series of spins and turn patterns to music. Salsa's tempo ranges from about 60bpm (beats per minute) to around 130bpm, although most dancing is done to music somewhere between 80 and 120bpm.[7] The basic Salsa dance rhythm consists of taking three steps for every four beats of music. Salsa dancers can also break apart during a dance to dance solo, known as "shines".

There are two main styles of salsa: linear and circular. In linear salsa, dancers remain in their "slot", switching places from one side of the slot to the other, similar to West Coast Swing. New York style salsa and LA style salsa are both danced in this fashion. The second style of salsa is circular salsa, where the dancers circle around each other, reminiscent of East Coast Swing. Both Cuban style salsa and Colombian salsa follow this circular pattern.

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.

Salsa dance socials are commonly held in night clubs, bars, ballrooms, restaurants, and outside, especially if part of an outdoor festival. Salsa dancing is an international dance that can be found in most metropolitan cities in the world.[8] Festivals are held annually, often called a Salsa Congress, in various host cities aimed to attract a variety of salsa dancers from other cities and countries. The events bring dancers together to share their passion for the dance, build community, and share moves and tips. These events usually include salsa dance performers, live salsa music, workshops, open dancing, and contests.

Dancing Salsa in Mexico

Salsa generally uses 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 and 220 bpm.

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.

For salsa, there are four types of clave rhythms, the 3-2 and 2-3 Son claves being the most important, and the 3-2 and 2-3 Rumba claves. Most salsa music is played with one of the son claves, though a rumba clave is occasionally used, especially during rumba sections of some songs. As an example of how a clave fits within the 8 beats of a salsa dance, the beats of the 2-3 Son clave are played on the counts of 2, 3, 5, the "and" of 6, and 8.

There are other common rhythms found in salsa music: the chord beat, the tumbao, and the Montuno rhythm.

The chord beat (often played on cowbell) emphasizes the odd-numbered counts of salsa: 1, 3, 5 and 7 while the tumbao rhythm (often played on congas) emphasizes the "off-beats" of the music: 2, 4, 6, and 8. Some dancers like to use the strong sound of the cowbell to stay on the Salsa rhythm. Alternatively, others use the conga rhythm to create a jazzier feel to their dance since strong "off-beats" are a jazz element.

Tumbao is the name of the rhythm that is typically played with the conga drums. It sounds like: "cu, cum.. pa... cu, cum... pa". Its most basic pattern is played on the beats 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8. Tumbao rhythm is helpful for learning to dance contra-tiempo ("On2"). The beats 2 and 6 are emphasized when dancing On2, and the Tumbao rhythm heavily emphasizes those beats as well.

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.

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).

International Salsa Congress, 2004 at Bangalore

Over the years many different styles of salsa dancing have evolved around the world.[9] 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.

Los Angeles style

Basic step for LA style, with leader's steps in blue

Salsa show dancing

Los Angeles style salsa (LA style) is danced "on 1" where dancers break forward on the first beat of the music, in contrast to New York style which is danced on 2. LA style salsa is danced in a line or "slot" with dancers exchanging positions throughout the dance, unlike Cuban salsa which is danced in a more circular fashion.

The two essential elements of this dance are the forward–backward basic step 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), leaving the slot open. The follower then steps straight forward on 5-6 and turns on 7-8, while the leader makes another 90 degrees counter-clockwise and slightly forward, coming back into the slot. In total, the couple turned 180° with the follower and leader switching places.

The "Vazquez Brothers" (Luis Vazquez, Francisco Vazquez, and Johnny Vazquez) are credited for the early development and growth of LA Style.[10] Luiz Vazquez was the co-founder of LA's first salsa dance team, Salsa Brava. The Vazquez Brothers drew influence from stage dances such as tap dance and helped develop LA style's reputation for flashy moves and acrobatics.

Other prominent figures in LA style salsa include salsa promoter Albert Torres, who created the LA Salsa Congress, the first salsa congress in the United States and for many years one of the largest salsa events in the world. Later dancers such as Alex Da Silva, Christian Oviedo, and Liz Lira are also credited with developing the LA style of dancing as we know it today.

Academic researchers have used salsa dancing as a productive research site in the social and natural sciences. For example, researchers in the natural sciences studied the mathematics of salsa dancing moves.[13] In the social sciences, researchers have studied salsa dancing to understand, for example how the Latino identity is connected to salsa dancing.[14] The study of salsa dancing has been studied as a metaphor to understand emotional and cultural economies.[15] Salsa dancing has been shown to manifest "moments of luxury" in which people use hedonistic escapism to leave momentarily the constrains of ordinary normal life.[16] and, researchers have also used salsa dancing to study the ephemerality of social groups.[17]

• Salsa music – the music to which salsa is danced
• Mambo – a dance style which heavily influenced salsa dancing
• Palladium Ballroom – a New York City venue that helped popularize Latin music and dance during the 1940s and 1950s
• Rhumba – a ballroom dance that heavily influenced salsa
• World Salsa Championships – a list of international competitions for salsa dancing
• Cuban salsa – a popular form of salsa dancing from Cuba

• Salsa dancing in Latin America travel guide from Wikivoyage