Dances · Salsa

Just like other musical rhythms such as jazz or flamenco, salsa expresses a particular way of feeling through its rhythm and sound. As a form of expression, it picks up elements of music that somehow come into contact with it, but never loses its essential being, which represents the experiences of the Caribbean cities.

The rhythm flows in a half bar of 4x4, that is to say, with two beats. On the first beat, two half beat steps (fast) are taken and on the second beat only one step (slow) is taken. This slow step is actually taken on the first half beat and on the following half beat no step is taken at all, but the pelvis keeps moving to mark the hip of the leg that just moved.

In the Caribbean it is said that in salsa "anything goes"; salsa’s style is very liberal.

The position used to dance Salsa is the same as that for dancing merengue, cha-cha-cha y mambo. The bodies are very close together and the arms are held in tropical style (together with the forearms in a vertical position). In salsa you also make the Caribbean hip movement.

In this way, when you move a leg you leave it bent without putting your weight on it and marking the hip of the opposite leg, which stays stretched and supports the body’s full weight. But unlike the mambo, during the last half beat the pelvis doesn’t stop; rather, it keeps moving. This way, the weight is shifted to the leg that gave the last step, which begins to straighten gradually (this is when the other leg begins to bend) and the hip begins to be marked. However, the hip isn’t totally marked until the next step is made.

« more dances