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| What is Salsa? |
Salsa:
A salsa move known as a cross body lead is pictured in the animation below...
The term 'salsa' means 'HOT MIXTURE' or 'SAUCE'.
Salsa is all about dancing with a partner or on your own in a relaxed, friendly way and not getting hung up on the technicalities. Put simply it's about having fun.
Salsa is a great way of meeting new friends & keeping fit. Why be bored brainless at a gym that costs a fortune in membership when you can burn off loads of calories, have more fun and meet lots of single people at a salsa night?
Salsa is a mixture of many styles of dance and is constantly evolving to incorporate other dancing moves. There are two main distinctive styles these are Cuban and Cross Body. The main difference between these styles is that Cuban style is based on circular moves and Cross body style is based on straight line moves. Both styles have their advantages and many dancers use a mixture of the moves they like best from each one.
The cross body style is more popular in America and is rapidly growing in popularity in Europe. Most of the classes in the UK focus on the cross body style though the Cuban style is starting to make a come back. Many of the Spanish salsa clubs are now teaching both cross body style salsa classes and Cuban style rueda classes.
Latin music is thought to originate from the rhythms the African slaves bought to the new world.
'Salsa' emerged in New York in the 1960's following a large influx of Caribbean immigrants, mainly from Cuba and Puerto Rico. The distinctive salsa sound was created by mixing elements of Mambo, Cha Cha Cha, Guaguanco, Guajira, Son Montuno, Jazz, Aquilnaldos, Bomba and Plena.
The term salsa was popularized by the record industry in the mid-70's to categorize the sensuous and hot Latin dance music of the time. Mainstream acceptance of Salsa was aided by the release of Jerry Masucci's film 'Salsa' in 1973.
Salsa can be fast and lively or slow and smooth, and the rhythm can change during the same track.
Salsa Music and couples dancing has seen a huge growth in popularity in the UK in the last five years. Most towns and cities in the UK now hold at least one weekly salsa event, and over two thousand people attended last years UK International Salsa Congress.
Salsero:
A salsa singer.
Mambo:
Most commonly referred to as a repeating section of a song. The dance done during this part of the music became known as the mambo.
Merengue:
A brisk 1-2 beat dance from the Dominican Republic.
Cha Cha Cha
A popular musical style created in Cuba, played at first by the Cuban charanga bands.
Rumba:
Informal "get-together" combining African drumming and Spanish or African vocal traditions with improvised dancing and singing.
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