Salsa Ballroom Dancing

Salsa ballroom dancing is one of the most social of the ballroom dances. That’s because it is a social dance, mostly enjoyed by casual dancers in clubs. It can also be a performance ballroom dance as well.

Do You Have The Salsa In You?

Salsa’s roots are debated, but it’s a dance likely rooted in Caribbean influences, especially Cuba and parts of North America. The dance is derived from several other dances, including the Mambo, Cuban Son and Guaguanco. Though it might have originated from other dances, Salsa is always danced to Salsa music, which has roots in African music.

Although you can dance solo when you are dancing Salsa, this is a partner dance and some dances can even be performed with groups of couples, with some exchanges of partners. Because Salsa is a social dance, there is a good deal of improvisation that takes place, but the steps can be more defined and organized when Salsa is danced in performance.

Most of us know what food the word salsa refers to, but many of us don’t know that the word actually means sauce and spicy flavor. While it’s derived from the Cuban Son dance, among others, it’s more sensuous and flirtatious than those dances. The word salsa also infers a mix of ingredients, so Salsa, the dance, includes influences from many other dances.

Salsa doesn’t require a lot of floor space. That is, while couples in competition might move over the dance floor, the dance is usually performed in a fixed space, with partners rotating around each other and exchanging places often. If you are dancing Salsa socially, it’s actually considered bad form to take up too much floor space.

The core Salsa step uses three steps for each measure. The pattern might be quick-quick, allowing a tap or other flourish on the vacant beat, or it might be quick-quick-slow, taking the full two steps to transfer the weight.

The music for Salsa is derived from African percussion rhythms, and appropriate music can be slow (at about 70 beats per minute) or fast (up to 140 beats per minute). Most Salsa dancing is done to music that’s about 80 to 120 beats per minute. Many instruments can be used to create Salsa music, but the primary instrument that provides the rhythm and timing of Salsa music is the conga drum.

To learn Salsa, you can do a few things. You can head to a Salsa club and just watch others before you head for the dance floor and make your own effort. Or you can go to one of those Salsa clubs and take a free class. These are sometimes offered before the club officially opens for the day or during the course of the evening while the club is open.

You can also take Salsa lessons at a dance studio. This is a good option if you are a bit reticent to head to the dance floor without having a good deal of confidence in your dance skills.

Remember that Salsa is a sexy and fun dance, and it’s great for fitness, because it’s fast and sometimes frenetic.