Salsa On 2

The history of "Salsa" dance is peppered with hearsay and contradiction. Although few would disagree that the music and dance forms originate largely in Cuban Son, most agree that Salsa as we know it today is a North American interpretation of the older forms. New York's Latino community had a vibrant musical and dancing scene throughout the '50s but found limited success with the 'Anglo' mainstream. In the 1970s, adoption of the term "Salsa" reduced the linguistic and cultural barriers to mainstream adoption of Latin music and dance.

The modernization of the Mambo in the 1950s was influential in shaping what would become salsa. There is debate as to whether the dance we call Salsa today originated in Cuba or Puerto Rico. Cuba's influence in North America was diminished after Castro's revolution and the ensuing trade embargo. New York's Latino community was largely Puerto-Rican. Salsa is one of the main dances in both Cuba and Puerto Rico and is known world-wide.

Interpretations of what the salsa dance is

The late Celia Cruz, hailed by many as the queen of salsa, said that salsa does not exist as a rhythm, but that it is rather an exclamation for music such as guaracha, bolero, cha cha cha, danzon, son, rumba, etc. The famous Latin composer and band leader Tito Puente also argued that there is no such thing as salsa but only mambo, rumba, danzon and cha cha cha, etc.

According to the late David Melendez, one of the first organizers of the East Coast Salsa Congress and a salsa dancer in New York since the 1970s, the word 'Salsa' first referred to the music. The term was coined in the 1970s by young musicians like Hector Lavoe, Larry Harlow, Ray Baretto, Willie Colon, who wanted a different name for the kind of music they were playing. The term 'salsa' was then popularized by Izzy Sanabria, owner of the Latin New York magazine, and Jerry Massuci, owner of Fania Records. Today, the term 'salsa' as we know it, has become synonymous with the dance, yet the dance suffers a "crisis of authenticity" whereby dancers are perpetually disagreeing over what qualifies and does not qualify as "salsa".

Origin of the salsa steps

The dance steps currently being danced to salsa music come from the son, but were influenced by many other Cuban dances such as Mambo, Cha cha cha, Guaracha, Changuí, Palo Monte, Rumba, Abakuá, Comparsa and some times even Mozambique. Solo salsa steps are called "Shines", a term taken from Tap dancing. It also integrates swing dances. Salsa can be a heavily improvised dance, taking any form the interpreter wishes. Modern Salsa has elements of Jazz, funk, reggae, hip-hop and samba.

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Hustle

Most Disco dances have strong roots in Swing. The Hustle is believed to have originated in New York in 1970. It went through many incarnations in the seventies, with line dances for groups of people, solo movements that came and went, and partnership dances. These partnership dances included The Basic Hustle, Latin, Spanish and Tango Hustle (thankfully gone for good), and the most popular Street, Three-Count or Swing Hustle that originated in California as the street Hustle by skaters in Venice and Malibu. John Travolta and "Saturday Night Fever" gave it its place in American pop culture. Hustle is danced to the contemporary pop, Hip Hop, or "House" dance music of the last 20 years. Most People dance New York style or Swing Hustle. It is a fast, smooth dance which is all about hands. The lady spins almost continuously, while her partner leads her back and forth in a "slotted" linear formation.

Hustle Songs:

· "Missionary Man" by The Eurythmics

· "Fever" by Madonna

· "It's Alright" by Pet Shop Boys

· "Last Dance" by Donna Summer

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Merengue

The Merengue is one of the most popular latin dances and the national dance of the Dominican Republic, and also to some extent, of Haiti. There are two popular versions of the origin of the Merengue. The first story alleges the dance originated with slaves who were chained together and, of necessity, were forced to drag one leg as they cut sugar to the beat of drums. The second says that a Great War Hero was wounded in the leg during one of the many revolutions in the Dominican Republic. He was welcomed home with a victory celebration and, out of sympathy, everyone dancing felt obligated to limp and drag one foot.

The Merengue is a spot dance, meaning it doesn't move around the dance floor so it is ideally suited to small, crowded dance floors. Merengue is a fun dance with simple steps so it is easy to learn quickly and the "1-2" march-like rhythm makes it a favorite throughout the Caribbean, Latin America and South America. It is the perfect dance to learn for those planning a honeymoon in any of these regions of the world. The Merengue was introduced to the United States in the New York area and like the other Latin dances is here to stay.

Merengue Songs:

· "La Bilirrubina" by Juan Luis Guerra

· "El Costa de la Vida" by Juan Luis Guerra

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Cha Cha

The Cha-cha is the youngest of the "Latin" dances. It is a true American dance, developed in the dance studios in the early 50's as a mid-tempo variant between Rumba (slow) and Mambo (fast). It is believed to have started as a step in Mambo - a triple step to replace the slow one to accommodate slower musical rhythms. This developed into an entirely new dance in it's own right. Slower modern music has often inspired the evolution of popular dances such as Single Swing into Triple Swing and Quickstep into Slow Foxtrot. Cha-cha music is slower than Mambo/ Salsa but not much. It is quite a common upbeat musical tempo. The dance is alive and well in the Ballrooms today. It is flashy, sassy and full of itself. The Cha-cha styling is very similar to the Rumba and the Mambo. Like most Latin dances, your weight is forward, and most of the movement is below the ribcage. The steps are small, taken with the ball of the foot first to better execute the hip action commonly known as "cuban motion". Cha-cha music is composed in 4/4 time. The rhythm is danced 2-3-4 & 1 or "rock step cha cha cha". Cha Cha is a great dance for couples to take up together.

Cha Cha Songs:

· "Smooth" by Santana

· "Oye como Va" by Santana

· "My Maria" by Brooks and Dunn

· "Cuban Pete" by Tito Puente

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Swing

Swing is another all American dance which dates back to the 1920's. We have Black Americans to thank for creating the Charleston, Shag and the Lindy Hop (named to honor Charles "Lindy" Lindberg the great American aviator) to go along with Jazz and Blues music. In 1934, Cab Calloway introduced a tune called "Jitterbug" and the name stuck to a 6 count beat variant of the dance. In the 1930's and 1940's, the terms Lindy Hop, Jitterbug and Swing were all used to describe the same style of dancing taking place on the streets, in the nightclubs, in contests and in the movies. Swing Mania hit and Swing dancing has enjoyed continuing popularity. Since the late 1940's, many regional variants have evolved: the Push Whip (Texas), the Imperial Swing (St. Louis), the Hand Dancing (Washington, D.C.), and the Carolina Shag (Carolinas and Norfolk) just to name a few. After the late 1940's, the soldiers and sailors returned from overseas and continued to dance in and around their military bases. Many of the films from that era feature swing dance sequences

The character of the Swing is upbeat and fun. It is a happy and playful dance. East Coast Triple Swing and Single Step Swing tend to be very circular in their movements and work more on a 6-count beat basic. The Single Swing, being the closest to the original form, has simpler footwork and is great for dancing to extremely up tempo music like the old Big Band Tunes as performed by the likes of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. The East Coast Swing can be danced to slower, Blues, Rock or Country music. The West Coast Swing and the Lindy Hop are danced more to an 8-count beat and are danced in a slotted fashion - both partners turning 180 degrees during every pattern, to exchange places. West Coast Swing is very smooth and sexy and is quite popular with people who like country and/or funk music. Lindy hop on the other hand can be very bouncy and has incorporated the Charleston kicks and various acrobatic lifts known as aerials and looks a lot like what we see of Swing in the old B&W Big Band WW2 movies.

LINDY HOP and SINGLE SWING SONGS:

· "It Don't Mean a Thing if You Ain't Got that Swing" by Duke Ellington

· "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets

· "Americano" by Brian Setzer

· "Sing Sing Sing" Swing Kids soundtrack

EAST COAST SWING SONGS:

· "How Sweet It Is" by Marvin Gaye

· "I Feel Lucky" by Mary Chapin Carpenter

· "This Kiss" by Faith Hill

· "There's Your Trouble" by the Dixie Chicks

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Foxtrot

Although often associated with the style of Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers, the Foxtrot was actually introduced into the mainstream by Harry Fox in 1913 in his Vaudeville Routine. As "Fox's Trot" was embraced by the social dancers of the time, it became simply the Foxtrot. Foxtrot is a "Ballroom" or Smooth dance, traveling around the line of dance (the perimeter of the room in a counterclockwise direction). Smooth in fact is the main description of the dance. Men generally like Foxtrot because it is a lot like walking or strolling. Musically it is very easy to hear the Foxtrot

Rhythm ( I call it "The White Man's Revenge" - anybody can hear Foxtrot!) The dance is in some ways similar to Waltz, but the focus is much more linear, traveling straight around the room, rather than in a circular fashion. It also has much less of the characteristic "Rise and Fall" of Waltz. Foxtrot is an extremely useful dance socially and can be danced to a variety of jazzy musical styles. Most of the Rat Pack standards that are played at weddings and on New Year's Eve are Foxtrots. International Foxtrot is the very technical style that is commonly seen in Ballroom Dance Competitions where couples remain rigidly in the dance hold or "frame". American Style Foxtrot has a fun "theatrical" quality because the couples can open up to allow for spinning the women. Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly both used the long, smooth movements of Foxtrot to cover a lot of ground gracefully in their cinematic routines. The basic beginner rhythm of Foxtrot is Slow-Slow-Quick-Quick. Higher-level patterns are often danced Slow Quick Quick. Many of our students have selected this dance for their First Dance.

Foxtrot Songs:

· "A Wink and a Smile" by Harry Connick, Jr.
· "L.O.V.E." by Nat King Cole
· "Fly me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra
· "You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loves You" by Dean Martin
· "Something's Gotta Give" by Sammy Davis Jr.
· "World On A String" by Peggy Lee.

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Tango

Tango music originated from Argentine, Brazilian and Spanish influences. The earliest traces of the Tango date back to the latter half of the 19th century-to the Milonga, an Argentine folk dance with Moorish, Arabic and Spanish ancestry. Years later, the Argentine Gauchos (streetwise single men) danced a modified version of the Milonga, in the seedy bars and bordellos of Buenos Aires. The Milonguero dance hold in Artgentine Tango is called "close embrace", where the couple are literally dancing chest to chest. It gives Tango an immediate intimacy that the other dances not have. This was considered far too riske for polite society.

Verne and Irene Castle renowned ballroom dance performers later took on the dance. They changed the hold to a traditional ballroom frame, toned the dance down so that it could be danced in a socially acceptable manner and restructured many of the figures to allow them to be taught like traditional smooth dances. The International and American Tango Styles danced in ballrooms today developed from this offshoot. Their unique style is expressed in quick double takes with the head and stalking panther-like movements complete with lunges and dips.

"Tangueros" (Tango dancers and singers) did not fair well under Peron period but performance Tango known as "Fantasia" developed in the mid 1950's and sustained interest in Tango in general around the world. Fantasia being performance based, has many acrobatic movements such as lifts, dips, twirls and of course the characteristic argentine hooking and kicking steps called "Ganchos" and "Boleos". It can be viewed as a dance separate variant, though experienced dancers can dance many fantasia moves socially.

When The Argentinean Tango crowd refers to "Tango", they totally ignore the American, International and Fantasia offshoots. Socially danced in "Milongas" (Argentine Tango Dances) around the world there are three basic types of Tango -- Milonga, Valtz and Tango. Each of these three has its own distinctive features and music. Milonga, the original, is danced very close, to very fast music and has a lot of staccato foot changes and taps. You dance on every beat of the music. Valtz is danced to Viennese Waltz music, hence the name. It is more flowy and is danced more frequently on the first beat of a measure or the "1" of "1-2-3". Tango is the most sensual of the three, danced to slower, moodier music. It is therefore more precise. Controlled smooth movements allow for the intricate footwork so often associated with this dance. What makes this dance truly unique is that the gentleman can set up situations for the woman to "play" or do embellishments, which she controls. Whether one dances in the "close embrace" or in the dancers decide the more formal ballroom hold. Often at Milongas each kind are played in sets of three or four and a couple will tend to dance the set together.

Tango has a flavor quite unlike any other dance. The basic rhythm is an 8 count Slow-Slow-Quick-Quick-Slow. The music itself leads to excess. It is a dance that is ironically both showy, yet very intimate. Tango has also been immortalized in such films as "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"(Rudolf Valentino), "Scent of a Woman" (Al Pachino), "True Lies" (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and "Assassination Tango" (Robert Duvall).

Tango Songs:

· "La Cumparsita/Tango Please"(Medley) Strictly Ballroom soundtrack

· "Por Una Cabeza" by Tango Project

· "Habanera" from Carmen

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Waltz

The German "Landler", a folk dance, is supposed to be the forerunner of the Waltz. During the 18th Century, a dance developed, which was called the walzen, German for to roll, turn or glide. The Walzen was met with outraged indignation by the older generation when first introduced into the ballrooms of the world in the early 19th century because it was the first dance where the couple danced in a modified closed position-with the man's hand around the waist of the girl. Regardless, the Waltz became popular through many parts of Germany and Austria. The Waltz was given a tremendous boost around 1830 by two great Austrian composers - Franz Lanner and Johann Strauss: they set the standard for the Viennese waltz (a very fast version of the Waltz, see Viennese Waltz above).

The first time the waltz was officially danced in the United States was in Boston in 1834 by Lorenzo Papanti. The Boston, a more sedate form of the fast Viennese Waltz, danced at a leisurely 90 beats per minute. It evolved in America around 1870, and by the 1920's had slowed down even more to ¾ time with strong accent on the first beat and a basic "box" pattern of forward-side-together-back-side-together. This version of the Waltz retained the characteristic traveling and turning figures and the slower tempo but allowed for more figures including a dip. International style Waltz, like Foxtrot, is danced entirely is closed hold and is most commonly seen in the competitions. American style opens up and allows for under arm turns and much more variety of figures. Waltz is popularly known as the "traditional American wedding dance" and is often used for Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances. Its characteristic undulating rise and fall technique and shoulder sways gives the dance an oceanic or floating quality. Country Waltz, a purely American invention, is a variant of this dance which maintains the slow 1-2-3 rhythm but utterly ignores the box. The basic step is danced with the man taking all 6 steps forward. In many ways it far more resembles two-step than the traditional waltz.

Waltz Songs:

· "Rainbow Connection" by Kermit the Frog

· "Fascination" by Nat King Cole

· "If You Don't Know Me by Now" Simply Red

· "Play Me" by Neil Diamond

· "Moon River" Breakfast at Tiffany's Soundtrack

· "Open Arms" by Journey

· "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof

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Samba

The Samba originates from Brazil. It was and is danced as a festival dance during the street festivals and celebrations. The music has an joyful contagious rhythm which makes even non dancers want to get up and dance. When one sees pictures of people dancing at Carnival in Rio it is the Samba. It was first introduced in the U.S. in a Broadway play called "Street Carnival" in the late twenties. The festive style and mood of the dance has kept it alive and popular to this day and the rhythm pervades popular music. The South America Samba slower and more fluid its American counterpart, which is danced to a faster tempo. Both styles have the basic "Samba Bounce". The beautiful music of the Gypsy Kings epitomizes the addictive Samba style but many modern singers have Samba rhythms.

Samba Songs:

· "Copacabana" by Barry Manilow

· "Stop" by Mark Anthony

· "La Isla Bonita" by Madonna

· "The Girl from Ipanima" by Sammy Davis Jr.