Salsa Dance Steps
In Spanish the word Salsa means sauce, indicating the spicy nature of the dance steps. Salsa dancing is also referred to ‘slot dancing’ as the dancers stay in a fixed area of the dance floor and don’t move around a large area.
The salsa dance music has a pattern of eight beats comprised of two bars, each comprising of four beats. This simple pattern is used to create surprisingly complex music which is fast, comprising of about 180 beats per minute.
The dance steps are made up of one of three steps followed by a skipped step or possibly just a tap on the fourth beat. On the counts of 1, 2 and 3 the leading partner steps forward. The body weight is then transferred to original support leg which remains in place, enabling the dancer to take a backward step.
On the counts of 5, 6 and 7 the dancer steps backwards and moves the boy weight onto the previous support foot which stays in place followed by a step forward again. These are the basic steps but the dancer has the option of substituting other more complex steps such as:
The Side Break – The dancer starts with their weight on either foot and then steps sideways; moving the weight to the previous support foot whilst keeping it in the same place.
The Back Break – The dancer starts with their weight on either foot and then steps backwards; moving the weight to the previous support foot, keeping it in the same place.
The Forward Break – The dancer starts from either foot and step forward; moving the weight to the previous support foot, keeping it in place. When dancing the Cuban Salsa, the lead dancer performs a basic backward step on the counts 1, 2, and 3 whilst performing a forward basic step on counts 5, 6, and 7.
The following dancer simply mirrors the movements of the lead dancer. An additional feature of Cuban Salsa is that it is common practice to have the lead dancer and their partner encircle each other at regular intervals. In many Latin American countries it is not the Cuban Salsa that is most popular but the Columbian style.
In this variation the lead dancer and their partner do their moves whilst standing in one place. The steps are basically the same as those in the Cuban style with the main difference being lack of space involved. The close proximity of the dancers and movements of the bodies whilst not moving makes this a very sexy version both to dance and to watch!
Learning to dance the Salsa by reading about it is not very easy and the best way is to attend a Salsa dance class or by watching a video tuition that can show the dance in action.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Roger Titley
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