The Salsa is a fast, seductive, sexy and exciting dance and it is said that the name “Salsa” was derived from the Spanish word sauce which can be spicy, sweet and sour all at the same time. The dancers do not move around too much while dancing Salsa and sort of dance in a small area thus getting another name “Slot dancing“. These are some Salsa dancing basics which you should know.

A beginner’s primary moves of Salsa are very simple. This has an eight count rhythm divided into four beats each. One four beat count is called a bar and so the primary move consists of two bars of musical rhythm. In Salsa dancing basics there are steps for the first three beats and the fourth beat is skipped or just a tiny tap is done for comfort. The same is repeated for the second bar too. In a bar the first 2 beats are fast the third beat is slow finishing in the fourth beat. Since it is a fast dance the Salsa is danced to a count of up to 180 beats per minute.

The basic steps are as follows. Male lead in first bar: left foot forward step, right foot replace weight at same point, left foot back again to step beside right foot. (Optional: fourth beat, you can do a tiny tap with right foot for balance) Second bar: right foot backward step, left foot replace weight at same point, right foot forward again to step beside the left foot.(optional: you can do a tiny tap with left foot for balance).

The female follower does exactly the reverse of the male lead. What the man does in the second bar she does in the first, and what the male lead does in the first bar she does in the second bar. A variation and combination of the Salsa dancing basics form the moves for the rest of the dance.

Variation 1: Instead of stepping forward, you take a step sideways to the left; replace right and step back into position.

Variation 2: Instead of stepping backward you take a sideways step to the right, replace left and step back into position.

Variation 3: The Cuban style of Salsa ballroom dancing basic is followed by the Latin Americans in which there is cross body movement. The male lead takes a step forward on the first beat and on the second and third beat he steps sideways to right while turning at an angle of 90 degrees to the left. The female follower does the opposite and they will now be standing side by side. On count five the male lead takes a step backward and on six and seven a step sideways to the left and turn again 90 degrees. The woman does the opposite and by the end of the eighth beat they will be facing each other again only in opposite positions. Hope you can learn these Salsa dancing basics fast.

The origin of Salsa dance is a little tough to be traced. Perhaps the main reason is that this is also a dance which has mixed origin.  Some say it came from Cuba and some say it came from Puerto Rico. So it is safe to assume that Salsa is a combination of a dances performed by Africans, the Latins,  the Caribbean dancers  as well as dances of Puerto Rico and Cuba. Or at least each geographical area has played a role in the evolution of the salsa dance.

Similar to the Tango, Mambo and other dances the Salsa too took wings and flew to the US in the early 1940s. Here in the city of New York the origin of Salsa dance got a face lift by the Latin, Cuban and Puerto Rican community and what we dance today as the Salsa is this modified version. Besides the modification the Salsa also borrowed some steps from Rumba and Mambo. Trumpets, Cowbells and Congas are some of the instruments which give accompanying music for the Salsa dance besides the Claves and the Timbales.

Since Salsa has borrowed steps from Mambo it is natural that there is similarity in dancing styles. Both have six dance steps for a count of eight and the moves are also distinctly similar at times. The difference is that the mambo is danced with maximum backward and forward movements and the Salsa has included a lot of turns and it has a number of side stepping moves like the chases.

Even though the origin of Salsa dance did not take place in New York, this great city is responsible for its name “Salsa”. This name was given to represent its mixed dance and music origin from different Hispanic countries and its music like Guarcha, Merengue, Cha-Cha-Cha-, Charanga, Rumba and mambo to name just a few.

The Salsa is a lively dance performed with passionate energy and with a lot of sensuous movements. Salsa  is usually danced with a partner because of its sensuous and passionate character but can also be performed singly and appreciated for its footwork and dance moves. The origin of Salsa dance says that the name Salsa was aptly derived from the Spanish word “Sauce” referring to its spicy flavor.

The Salsa is a fast dance with some slow movement in between performed in two bars of four beats each with three dance steps for each of the four beats. The dancers shift their body weight during the skipped beat and raise heels and drop hips getting ready for the next step. The steps go left forward, right replace , both together, skip and then right backward, left replace and both together, skip.  The Salsa can be performed in a range of 120-180 beats per minutes. Now that you know the origin of Salsa dance, I am sure you feel like learning it, right?

Dancing is a good hobby and can sometimes become addictive too. But no matter, dancing is a fantastic exercise and so you can kill two birds with one stone. keep fit and learn an art. So, which form of dance have you chosen? Is it the Salsa?  Then here are some Salsa dance facts which will be helpful.

There are a lot of walk steps incorporated into the Salsa dance moves. So, if you just remind yourself of these Salsa dance facts whenever you practice, it will make it easier for you to learn Salsa dancing. In this article I am mainly mentioning the “DO NOTs ” in Salsa dancing.

Fact 1: Do not double step with the same foot:

Just like when you are walking the Salsa dance moves are always with alternate feet movements. How do you walk? left, right, left, right, left, is it not? Similarly in Salsa dance too , it is the left foot first, then step with right follow up with left foot again and then start again with right foot. Only the placement of the step may change from forward to backward and vice versa. Weight shift of the body from left leg to right leg and back will also take place naturally. So, if at all you do a double step, then you have made a wrong move.

Fact 2: Do not extend your Strides:

Another very important salsa dance fact is to keep your strides normal as when you walk. OK, do you want to know what a stride is? A stride is the the distance to which you keep your foot forward when you walk or the length between the two feet when you walk. A person normally maintains the same distance between his feet while walking and lengthens the stride when running or going somewhere in a hurry. It is important that you keep your stride normal while dancing the salsa. Why?  Because the Salsa is a very fast dance and you need to alternate between quick steps and slow steps matching the rhythm and this cannot be done if you lengthen your stride. So REMEMBER: if you shorten your stride you will be too fast and if you lengthen your stride you will be too slow.

Fact 3: Do not restrain your hands:

There are some things which our body does naturally that we do not realize that it has performed an action. One example is the swing of our hands while walking. Just try keeping your hands still while walking and you will see that it is practically impossible. To maintain proper balance of the body our left hand swings when our right foot moves and vice versa. The same principle is to be followed while dancing the Salsa. This is a very important Salsa dance fact which you have to keep in mind while learning Salsa.

Styles of Dancing Salsa
The widely used basic dance steps of salsa begin with a simple forward movement.  This first movement involves a left tap with the initial music beat, then making one step forward with the left foot, a swing back on the right foot, then completing the sequence by moving back left to lock. After the forward movement, the next step is the basic back movement. Tap right, then step back right, swing forward left and lock right. The above steps are fully discussed below. In most cases, each step performed by the man is mirrored by the woman. For instance, when the man makes a forward basic movement, a back basic movement is done by the woman and so on.

Today, there are various popular dance steps of salsa with each style representing the dancer’s cultural preference. You will find that dance steps of salsa from previous times, neighborhoods, cities are very different. Individual salsa dancing style has its own unique features, with the dance style names being derived from the geographical area or people who made them popular. Those dancing salsa can do so while accenting to the different music beats. Below is a description of the dance that emphasizes the music beats “1”, “2” and “3”, commonly referred to as dancing “on 1”, “on 2”, and “ on 3”.

Step Timing Salsa Dance
Step timing or timing is the way the dance steps of salsa merges with the music. Cadence means keeping time or marking time. To achieve fluidity, the dancer must time the steeps to fit the music. Nowadays, there are various popular timings in Salsa. By accenting to the various music beats, salsa can be danced in different styles.

Just like in other music, the melody and the rhythm of the music used in Salsa competes for the attention of the listener. The melody and rhythm of Salsa Music are usually off beat or syncopated from each other. The music is usually written using the time signature, 4 beats per each measure. In the dance steps of salsa, for dancers to finish a single basic dance cycle they use two music measures, each for the body’s right side and left side.

Following the Leader
By tradition, in salsa dance the Leader is the Man, while the Follower is the Woman. The Follower and the Leader are referred to as Partners or Dance Partners. The Man directs the woman by giving her little pushes, checks or tugs known as “claves”. These “claves” are given at the appropriate time during the dance and enable the Follower to discern when to hesitate, turn, cross-body, dip, etc.

Partner Contact = Closed Position
One of the basic dance steps of salsa is performed in the European or closed position where the Man is faces the Woman.

In this dance four Contact points exist between the Partners and they are;
1)    Using the Left Hand, the Man takes the Woman’s Right Hand.

2)    The Man positions the Right Hand onto the back of the Woman.

3)    The Woman rests her Left Hand onto the shoulder of the Man

4)    Both the Man and the Woman fix their eyes on each other.

Let’s Lace Your Femininity with Short Salsa Dresses!

A short salsa dress makes you feel and look outstanding because of its elegance and sophistication. That leaves you with the qualities you ought to look out for when picking on a salsa dress. Is it the style of the short salsa dress that will attract you to it or the comfort, sexiness, color, capability of the dress to accessorize or the salsa dress’s movement – the decision is all yours! However, in picking on a salsa dress, most of these aspects are necessary, so let us have a detailed study.

Since salsa is a sexy dance, the short salsa dress a performer picks on must put emphasis on the person’s body movements. In this case, the dress must also flare up whenever a dancer spins and flow with the dance styles as well. For instance, spaghetti straps are common features in the salsa dress. A salsa dress’s spin factor is determined by the dancer’s preferences.

The aspect that you like the salsa dress to give emphasize is an important consideration as well; cleavage, shoulders or legs. Sexier shoulder lines match perfectly well with Stretchy tops having pretty straps. To show cleavages, front deep V-cuts are the best. Opposing irregular cuts in salsa dresses display the most outstanding parts of the dancers’ legs and create flattering frames for the dancers’ thighs.

In salsa clubs, it is extremely steamy and hot. Therefore, while picking on a short salsa dress, the material used to make the dress must breathe, be soft and one that will maintain a cool body temperature.

The color of the short salsa dress is important too because it reflects on the wearer’s individuality and should be in line with the energy and vitality of the dance. Red salsa dresses are popular but the dresses could as well come in pastel shades, black and white or better still a combination of two colors. For instance, the color aspect is evident in red salsa dresses having black trims or black ones having red features. You might as well integrate some sparkles and glitz to make the dresses more noticeable. For instance, sparkles on black salsa dresses are appropriate and well liked in salsa performances.

Irrespective of the occasion to wear the short salsa dress, the dress must bring out your best features, be it for a prom night, general night-outs or forthcoming contest.

A short salsa dress is appropriate because:

It facilitates easy movement. Regardless of how attractive the dress style is, if a person is unable to comfortably move the arms in the dress, movement will be hard. If possible, pick on stretchy dresses.

It is sexy. In the undying dance of love, salsa brings up masculinity and femininity in men and women respectively. Medium-sized trousers and tight shirts are appropriate for men while skimpy tops featuring the neck/collar is appropriate for women. For emphasis, a short salsa dress is better as compared to long dresses for women.

The exceptionally widespread and fundamental salsa dance steps begin with left taps as soon as the first beat sounds and one-step onwards using the same feet. The whole sequence ends when dancers rock back on the right feet and suddenly stepping backwards to finish. All these are fundamental movements that are followed by basic movements of the back. Tap on the right side, step back on the ride side once more, rock ahead and then close on the right side. All these guidelines are discussed extensively below. Commonly, women constantly mirror steps made by the men, therefore when men are performing forward fundamental salsa dance steps, women will perform the back fundamental dance steps and the other way round.

All over the globe, there are carious specifications as of how dancers ought to perform basic salsa dance steps. In the same way, there have been several disagreements concerning the music beats performers ought to ‘break’ on, which involves changing directions to the side, backwards or forward. On the other hand, if salsa dancers all moves mentioned below, there will be no complications in different salsa dance steps taught by dissimilar instructors, particularly in America.

Classified as a clave-based dance, salsa necessitates that feet movements must put more concentration between strong beats occurring on counts one and three of the background music. To be precise, dancers ought to ‘break’ as soon as they hear the second beats on every music bar. That is clearly the academic disagreement but now that you are already aware of it, just put it out of your mind! The most significant thing is that dancers and their partners consistently dance to the beats and rhythms they get from the background music.

The salsa dance steps are in essence a re-invention of Mambo dances that have close relations to Rumba.  In most cases in the salsa music, there is a section labeled Bolaro/Rumba and another spicy part, which is the common salsa. The way through which dancers move their feet in Rumba, Salsa and Mambo is the same. The outcome of performers’ reactions also matches the music tempo. Therefore, if dancers perform influenced salsa dance steps, as outlined here, their probabilities of dancing to most salsa moves is high.

Ladies who face the men have to perform similar steps to avoid confusion. In such a case, if the men move their left feet forward, women have to move their right feet backwards and the other way round again. The contrary make men tread on women – quite an embarrassing scene!

In salsa forward basic movements, men ideally perform all forward basic movements first and then the backwards basic movements. Quite the reverse, women do complete opposite actions of the men’s salsa dance steps. This means that women normally perform backwards basic movements after which front basic movements follow.

The other significant salsa dance step is the back basic. All fancy moves in salsa rely on the back basic. Generally, two back basic movements constitute to the back basic. To start with, the men have to step back using their left feet mirroring women’s steps. Immediately after finishing this step, both the women and men must step back. The last movement in the salsa dance steps that men need to do id pushing away from the women to stop them from moving to the front.

It is difficult to explain where did salsa originated. Salsa cannot be easily described. Who was the inventor of salsa? Was it the Puerto Ricans or the Cubans? Salsa is the refinement of most Afro-Caribbean and Latin dances. Each one of them played an important role toward its revolution.

Salsa bears some resemblance with Mambo due to the fact that they both have a six step pattern that is danced on eight counts of the music. The two dances also share most of their moves. In salsa, the turns are a vital feature, making the overall feel and look of Salsa different from the ones in Mambo. Mambo entails moving backward and forward while salsa keeps the side to side moves.

The Origin of Salsa Dance
To know where did salsa originated you must realize that Salsa is not merely Cuban; nonetheless, we have to show some appreciation for Cuba for being the country of ancestry and origin of creation. It is the same place where Contra-Danze, also known as country dance of France/English, was later called Danzón was introduced by the French who had fled Haiti. The dance started to with the Rhumbas that were of African origin such as Yambú, Colombia and Guaguanco. The Add Són that belongs to the Cuban people was a combination of flavora, the African drumbeats, Spanish troubadour also called sonero and also a partner dance that is flowered to the calve beat.

The synchronization also took place in a smaller degree and together with some other variations in countries such as Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia and so on. The bands that were found in these countries brought their music to Mexico City during the time of the famous films within the country such as Perez Prado, were most popular. After a short time; a movement quite similar took place to New York. More syncretism and promotion in the two cities continued and commercial music generated because of the fact that there was an increase in investment.

New York, where did salsa originated. Although New York came up with the “Salsa” term, it did not invent the dance. This term gained popularity as a nickname to describe a number of different music from many countries with Hispanic influence: Rhumba, Cubop, Mambo, Cha cha cha, Danzón, Són Montuno, Bomba, Festejo, Guaracha, Són, Guguanco, Guajira, Charanga, Cumbia, Plena, Merengue and many others. Most of them have stuck to their individuality and many were combined while creating salsa.

If you happen to be listening to the current salsa, you are not going to miss the són base and you will hear Cucumbia and Guaracha. You will also listen to some ancient Merengue that is built in rhythms of a variety of songs. You will also listen to the ancient styles in the modern beats. Salsa differs in sites. For instance, in New York, extra percussion and new instrumentalization were included in some of the Columbian songs to make the New Yorkers who dance mambo, also referred to as “on the two” can feel at ease while dancing to the beat and rhythm of the song since  they do not easily recognize the original arrangement.

This is also known as “finishing”, getting into the local market. The “finish” does not take place because the Colombian is not able to play Salsa, but it will not play to the Post-Cuban Salsa or Puerto Rican rhythm. I call it post Cuban because the Cuban music has undergone a major transformation to another equally favorable and new flavorful sound. This had made people get a clear picture about where did salsa originated.

Some people dance to have fun or for personal enjoyment, while others practices it as a form of exercise. Countries like Brazil, Cuba, Italy, Spain, and Egypt are gaining in popularity as dance holiday sites. There are various Cuban dances that are enjoyed because of their style, and one of them is the salsa.

Do you want to know about salsa dancing?
It is the most famous, sexy, and cool dance of Cuba, which is gaining in popularity around the world. Salsa, cha cha, mambo, and rumba are some of the most famous styles of dance in Cuba.

The history of salsa dancing
Cuban dance is inescapable for a visitor who comes to spend a holiday in Cuba. It has mixed African and Spanish heritage. It has evolved from traditional dance styles known as rumba or son. These dances were born in 1950 after the communist revolution. Because of common roots, all the dance styles of Cuba have some similarities.

How to dance salsa
A visitor on dance holiday in Cuba introduces you to various choices in dance style. Visit the clubs of the capital city, Havana, to learn how to dance salsa, and visit  Matanzas to learn rumba.

A holiday in Cuba is not sufficient for you to completely learn a dance style, but only enough to know its basics. The real help for learning the dance steps can only come from the cultures of Latin America. Many visitors fall in love with the sexiest Cuban dance style—salsa dancing. Although Cuba is known around the world for its coffee, cigars, and rum, salsa dancing has helped the island rank high with tourists.

Salsa has now been diversified into many styles and is taught by various experts, but original and traditional salsa is enjoyed in Cuba only.

Part of the salsa dance is accessible. Basic steps of salsa dancing are easier to learn than any other Cuban dance. Mastering complete salsa dancing is very tough, but the three basic steps can be learnt easily. If you can spare the short time it will take to learn to salsa dance, you can enjoy it and will be able to have fun and feel good.

Salsa dancing is sexier than rumba and is more intimate than cha-cha. Salsa may prove to be not only the most beautiful, but also the sexiest dance around.