Types of Salsa
Introduction To The Common ‘Styles’ of Salsa
There are several styles of Salsa. They have the same underlying rhythm but the steps and the patterns on the floor in each style are somewhat different. Nonetheless, a skilled dancer can often dance with someone trained in a different Salsa style. This link has an extensive summary of dance styles with video examples: langeasy.com/spanish7/salsa.html#mozTocId558265 .
I have roughly summarized the key features of the various Salsa styles below. But I want to add one caveat. Salseros sometimes have a favorite style of dancing Salsa that they’re especially attached to. But there are many great ways to dance to Salsa or Timba music and I would say none of these are any better or worse than any other.
L.A. Style Salsa
L. A. style is no doubt shaped in part by the fact that Los Angeles/Hollywood is all about acting, being flashy, and drawing attention to oneself. This style is fast, sharp, and eye-catching. L.A. Salsa dancers who are at an advanced level often do fancy, athletic maneuvers that Salsa dancers call "tricks" (i.e. acrobatics). But beginners just do parternship steps with their feet on the ground. So no one needs to be an acrobat to learn L.A. Salsa.
L. A. Salseros do mostly linear steps, staying in “their slot." This style is generally danced "on 1" which means you change direction in the basic step on beats 1 and 5 of the 8-beat phrase. Visit youtu.be/0uDm8Tu8kCg for video instruction on basic L. A. Salsa moves.
Steps in this style are further explained in my book, Salsa & Rueda de Casino Guidebook.
New York Style Salsa
This evolved in a city where many great Mambo dancers made their mark. Mambo is "danced on beat two"--which means that the dancers change the direction of their movement on the second beat of the musical phrase. So it is no surprise that many NY dancers dance "on two." In terms of content, New York style Salsa tends to include a lot of multiple spins. This style emphasizes making moves look smooth and clean. The video on the side shows NY style salsa.
Note that LA style is generally on 1 while NY style is typically on 2.
Dancing “on1” and “on2”
Breaking (i.e. changing direction) on beat one is generally thought to be simpler than breaking on 2, since beat one is the easiest beat to find or hear. Many people first learn to dance on one and then switch to dancing on two. Those who love dancing on two often feel it is more musically sophisticated and that the rhythmic feeling of the dance is richer. Indeed, there is more rhythmic tension to dancing on an offbeat such as beat two. But dancing on one is wonderful fun as well. Certain songs seem to be particularly suitable for one or the other style, although both are always possible and both are perfectly fine ways to dance Salsa.
Casino Style (Informally called “Cuban Salsa”)
This style has a particularly strong Cuban influence. It should be mentioned that “Cuban Salsa” is essentially a nickname for this style of dancing. The correct, formal name is “Casino.” Casino moves can be done by one couple dancing alone, or by a group dancing together. The latter is called Rueda de Casino, described below.
Cuban style dancers don't tend to do fast, multiple spins. Casino dancers turn more slowly, typically doing what are called “walking turns." In addition, the movement of the partners in this style tends to be circular as opposed to linear. There is a lot of body movement in Cuban Salsa and you can more visibly see the Afro-Cuban influence. Cubans tend to bend their bodies forward more, and their knees are also more bent.
Readers who are interested in seeing what Casino style looks like when danced by just one partner can see that here: youtu.be/vfpajx2uemE. It’s an excellent, if fast-paced, demonstration of many relatively basic Casino moves. The majority of the video shows relatively basic steps put together in a nice presentation. The ending of the video has more advanced moves, which are quite exciting both to do and to watch.
There is, however, one rhythmic mistake in the video that I feel obliged to point out. It’s not serious and doesn’t diminish the quality of the dance demonstration. But since this page is aimed at instruction, I thought it should be mentioned so no one is confused… At the very bottom of this page the error is explained, so you can choose to watch and think about this first before seeing the answer…
Rueda de Casino
When Cuban/Casino moves (see “Casino Style” above) are done by a group of dance couples arranged in a circle, it’s called “Rueda de Casino.” Another informal name for the dance is "Salsa Rueda." People sometimes compare Rueda to American Square dancing, in that dancers learn patterns and then do them in synchrony. I think most Rueda dancers dislike that comparison, though, as Square dancing is so different in feeling from Latin dancing!
Some Rueda de Casino moves just involve couples doing moves synchronously. But there are others where the entire group of Rueda dancers function like a team and dance more like a big unit. Those are called "group moves" and create a wonderful team spirit.
It is worth noting that Rueda is done in Cuba a little differently than the way this dance evolved in the U.S. since the 1970's. Some Rueda dancers try to stay true to the original style of the roots of the dance. But some Rueda dancers do moves that evolved in the US when the dance was brought here. So under the category of Rueda de Casino, there are actually a couple of different "sub-styles." One of these is sometimes called Miami style, and there is more detail on that below.
Additionally, in the 2010s, some creative Casineros began to make up novel approaches to dancing Rueda. These new “structures” or approaches to dancing range from simple to mind-blowingly complex. They have come to be called Rueda Structures and many have been developed at this point. One of them is called TOCADOF which stands for “Transition Oriented Calling and Development of Figures.” Here is a video that shows how this is done: youtu.be/7rdr9cmwu58. Basically, it puts more emphasis on short calls with a lot of movement around the circle rather than long moves with the same partner.
Another Rueda Structure is Avenida which lines up two rows of Casino dancers and moves are done either in a small subset of those dancers, or in the entire group. A special case of Avenida is when there are exactly 8 dancers (4 couples) in this structure. That is illustrated in this video: youtu.be/B8geKr2ANHs.
There are now a few different ways that people approach Rueda de Casino dancing. However, big picture of a group of dancers in a circle with frequent partner exchanges, doing moves in synchrony mostly remains the same, as does the joy that this dance spreads! It’s an exhilarating experience to do this dance, and people routinely make friends in the classes. (I’m clearly biased! I love the dance!) Information and steps on Rueda de Casino dancing are covered extensively in my book, Salsa & Rueda de Casino Guidebook. And information on my Washington DC area classes is here: Danceintime.com/classes.
Miami-Style
This style is dominated by the Casino Rueda moves that were popular in Miami around the 1970s and beyond. These moves have been used and adapted by Miami dancers. The steps are "pretzelly;" with intricate, interconnected arm movements. In this style, too, the movement of the partners tends to be circular as opposed to linear.
The approach to these moves evolved and changed in Florida, where moves were made longer and more complex. This style was exported to many other cities around the world via popular DVDs that Salsa Lovers and Salsa Racing produced and sold. It provided some standardization of moves in the early days of Rueda dancing that was very helpful for growing interest in the dance. The Florida teachers contributed to making Rueda de Casino popular worldwide.
Over the years, groups everywhere have altered and created their own moves, so now there is an amazing array of steps and a variety of approaches from one city to another, let alone from one Rueda group to another.
Final Comment on Approaches to Rueda de Casino
In 2015, a dancer named Juliet Mc Mains published a wonderful book, Spinning Mambo into Salsa, that deals with all styles and types of Salsa, tracing their evolution and history. In the chapter on Casino Dancing in Cuba and Miami, she addresses the debate about dancing in the authentic Cuban style versus the Miami version of the dance. She says that there was actually a lot of exchange of dance steps when people who lived in Miami went home to visit family in Cuba. They brought American steps to Cuba that the Cubans wanted to learn. Likewise, Cubans picked up moves from their American relatives on visits and taught them to others in Cuba. McMains concludes that the types of Casino dancing (authentic Cuban versus Miami style) became less distinct due to this kind of exchange back and forth.
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Explanation of the Error: The video of Casino moves done by one couple has one rhythmic mistake embedded in it. If you watch, the dancers switch from dancing “on 1” to dancing “on 5” at 1:43. It happens when the dancers pause and restart. They resume dancing on beat 5 instead of on beat 1. So for the rest of the presentation, they are not dancing on 1, which is the usual way to dance these moves. In other words, every dance move from 1:43 on, is starting on beat 5 in the music, instead of starting on beat 1, as it should. Nonetheless, the demo is well done and is a nice representation of how basic Casino moves can be assembled to make a presentation.