In the Spanish language, the definition of Salsa is sauce, and implies spiciness that is characteristic of Latin and Caribbean cuisine. More recently, salsa acquired a musical meaning in both English and Spanish.
A very popular dance style in Latin America, the Salsa dance style has gained huge popularity in the US in recent years. Salsa’s origins are in Cuba and is derived from the Cuban son and mambo, as the music foundation is based on the Son Clave. Johnny Pacheco introduced Salsa to New York in the 1970′s. The most well-known styles are Cali-style (from Colombia), Cuban-style (“Casino”), LA-style, New York-style, Puerto Rican-style.
Salsa is an 8-beat dance style, with a few basic steps. Most commonly, there are three steps or weight changes in each 4-beat measure. To spice up their routine, some Salsa dancers also use a kick with the lower leg or a stomp during their pauses. There’s actually very little movement around the dance floor, with most movement being conveyed through subtle hand and leg movements.
Typical Salsa music ranges from about 150 bpm (beats per minute) to around 250 bpm, although most dancing is done to music somewhere between 160–220 bpm. Salsa music is comprised of African percussion based on the Clave Rhythm. The base of Salsa music is an instrument called the clave, played by hitting two wooden sticks together. Playing with the clave are instruments such as congas, timbales, piano, tres guitar, bongos and strings. Outside of the clave rhythm are instruments such as bass, maracas, güiro, and the cowbell.
There are many different styles of Salsa dancing, including Colombian Style Salsa (Cumbia), Cuban Style Salsa, Miami Style Salsa (Classico Cubano, Casino), Casino Rueda Style Salsa (Rueda de Casino, Salsa Rueda), L.A. Style Salsa (Dancing “On 1″), New York Style Salsa (Dancing “On 2″, Mambo Salsa, Eddie Torres Style), and Puerto Rican Style Salsa.
Many dancers use different styling techniques into any style of Salsa. Incorporating shines, leg work, arm work, body movement, spins, body isolations, shoulder shimmies and rolls, and even hand styling have become a huge trend in the salsa scene.
