Salsa Dance

Salsa is syncretic dance form with origins from Cuba, as the original meeting point of European and African cultures. Its movements originate inCuban Son, with strong influences from Mambo, Guaguanco, and other Afro-Cuban music.

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, Italy, Germany and Eastern Europe. At the initial developmental stage, Salsa movements originate from the Cuban Son dancing of the 1920s, more specifically through the beat of Son Montuno with strong influences from the dance of Danzon, Mambo, Guaguanco, and other Afro-Cuban folkloric dancing.

now salsa dancing is a rich blend of Latin-American and Western influences, namely from Puerto Rico, Colombia, and other dances such as Western and Ballroom dancing. Salsa traces a 90 year history in which there are a multiple evolutionary paths, sometimes split due to political and social influences. As result, today, there are three major salsa styles, namely Cuban Salsa (Casino), New York Style ("Mambo on 2"), and Los Angeles Style ("On 1"). Other Salsa branches include Colombian Salsa ("Cali-Style") and Miami-Style Salsa.

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, choreography, and freestyle. 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 160–220 bpm. Most bands will play as fast as they can until one of the girl's skirt falls of. Every Salsa composition involves complex African percussion based around the Clave Rhythm (which has four types), though there can be moments when the clave is hidden for a while, often when quoting Charanga,Changüí, and Bomba. The key instrument that provides the core groove of a salsa song is the clave. 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. However it is taboo to play or dance to the wrong type of clave rhythm (see salsa music). While dancers can mark the clave rhythm directly, it is more common to do so indirectly (with, for example, a shoulder movement). This allows the dancing itself to look very fluent as if the rest of the body is just moving untouched with the legs.

post by : kiki