Latin, Ballroom and Salsa society - Nottingham Uni

Salsa is a syncretic dance genre from Cuba, as the meeting point of European and African popular culture. It later spread to Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean islands. Salsa is essentially Cuban with deep Afro-Cuban beats, and additional musical influences from Son, Guaguancó, Rumba.

Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms, line dancing (suelta), and Rueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine.

Salsa is popular throughout Latin America, and also in the United States, Spain, Japan, Portugal, France, Eastern Europe and Italy, (and soon the UK!)

The name "salsa" is the Spanish word for sauce, connoting, in American Spanish, a spicy flavour. Salsa also suggests a "mixture" of ingredients, though this meaning is not found in most stories of the term's origin.

More information on wikipedia.org.

Cuban style Salsa

The appropriate name for Cuban Salsa is Casino as it is known throughout Latin America. Dancing Casino is an expression of popular social culture; Latin Americans consider casino as part of social and cultural activities centering around their popular music. The origins of the name Casino is derived from the Spanish term for "hall".

Cuban-style Salsa is danced in three points which makes up the circular motion as couple face each other in intricate patterns of arms and body movement. This is distinctive from the North American Salsa styles which is danced in a slot (two points) and linear positions as taught by the North American and European dance studios.

The music related to the Cuban salsa genre is known as Timba.

New York style Salsa

New York Salsa originally evolved from the 1960s Mambo era when Cuban music was introduced to New York due to influx of Cuban and other Latin migrants. The New York Salsa (NY Salsa) has its own evolutionary path as old Mambo (Mambo Tipico) is fused with New York jazz and swing to create a new salsa genre. In New York, the dance is strictly On 2, although dancers around the world often integrate elements and repertoire from New York into their dancing On 1.

Two timing emphasizes the conga drum's tumbao pattern, and encourages the dancer to listen to percussive elements of the music. Advocates of New York Style consider this to more accurately reflect the Afro-Cuban ancestry of the music.

Many also refer to this style as "Mambo" since it breaks on beat 2 of the measure, though there are other dance forms with a more legitimate claim to that name. Mambo has been taught in ballroom schools throughout the world since the 1950s in which the music was originally Cuban in origin.

The etiquette of New York style is strict about remaining in the "slot" and avoiding travelling.New York style tends to place a greater emphasis on performing "shines" where dancers separate and dance solo for a time, suspected origins from Swing and New York tap.