Rocking it, salsa style

Salsa is a type of Latin American dance that involves footwork coordinated in time to jazz and drum beats.

Until a decade ago, if you were to ask anyone about “Salsa”, they would have thought you were talking about the spicy Spanish tomato-based puree that goes with nachos.

But recently, the dance form, Salsa, which has nothing to do with its homonym, has become increasingly popular, not only in the western hemisphere, but throughout Asian countries as well.

“But it is important to keep in mind that salsa is under a category called ‘social dances', that is, dances that take place with a partner,” says Ms. Kokila, who has been teaching salsa since 2000.

Success of Salsa

Many patrons and fans of Salsa operate under the misconception that Salsa can be traced back to Spanish roots, but this is ncorrect. Salsa dancing arose out of Cuba, due to a mixture of West-African and native Latin American influences. The dance continued to have great success in the north American countries, because of its catchy jazz beats, rhythmic footwork and easy-to-learn steps.

A Chennai-ite who took up learning the dance at the Russian Cultural Centre, Chennai, says, “Yes, it was a fun class. There were people of all ages dancing, and it's not difficult to learn at all, especially when compared to other dance forms.”

Styles and Steps

There are many different varieties of Salsa that exist today, each having a unique name that either specifies the geographic location it originated from or the name of the dancer who was the first to popularise it. Each of these individual styles has a distinct characteristic, whether it be a more complex beat to follow or a twist in the basic footwork.

Small steps

The basics comprise small steps taken first by the right foot, then the left, and accompanied by a slight swaying movement of the hips.

Sheela Ram, who has done a course on Salsa dancing, says, “You can do it to any song, basically. When I was doing the course, they had general Salsa music playing all the time. All you had to do was step to the beat.”

As she so aptly stated, ‘stepping to the beat' is considered to be the trickiest part of mastering this dance.

Traditional Salsa music consists of triplet beats at rapid speed. Newer styles of Salsa music vary in their tunes and rhythms, but as Ms. Kokila puts it, “Salsa is all about the basics. Using a little bit of basics, you can dance and show off.

Once you know the basics, branching out to other styles of salsa becomes easier as well.”

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Best dancers

These individuals have not only been the best dancers during their time, but have also pioneered various forms of the dance.

Eddie Torres

Juan Matos

Frankie Martinez

Magna Gopal

Seaon Bristol

Leon Rose

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Fun facts

The name Salsa was not linked to the food, but to a dance teacher named Frankie Salsa, who lived in the 1930s.Columbian Salsa is known as “Cumbia”, while a Cuban-originated form of the same is known as “Casino”. Read on to see what the essential parts of a Salsa dancing costume are!

Women:

Flair-dress in red or black

Long, flowy skirt with a blouse

Heeled ballroom shoes

Men:

Slacks with a satin shirt

Short formal pants with satin shirt

Salsa shoes with hard soles

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Movies with salsa

Guess what? Your favourite actors have also jived to Salsa at one point or another!

Dhoom 2

Kal Ho Na Ho

Naqaab

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Kites

Step Up2

Dirty Dancing

Dance with me

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So salsa

Salsa is a type of Latin American dance that involves footwork coordinated in time to jazz and drum beats. Most forms of Salsa usually involve a partner. But there are two accepted alternate forms: “suelta”, which can be done as a solo routine, and “Rueda de Casino”, where up to eight people can participate by dancing in a circle and constantly switching partners.

Source Samvitha Ram

Posted in Latin American dance , Rueda de Casino , Salsa , salsa dance , salsa dancing , salsa dancing steps