What is Salsa?

Salsa was developed from the beautiful, languid Cuban music known as son. What is son? Go to You Tube and enter: Buena Vista Social Club Chan Chan. That’s son – sexy, smooth, and very Latin? Buena Vista Social Club is the legendary Cuban group of ever-changing musicians, and Chan Chan is a traditional Cuban song.

So what’s salsa? Get back to You Tube and enter Los Van Van. Wow! The energy level is way up, and the music is electric, more urban. Los Van Van is one of the most famous Cuban bands, and you’ll hear their music in salsa clubs worldwide. Now just enter salsa into You Tube, and you’ll see other bands.

So how do you dance salsa? Don’t be put off by the swirlings of experienced dancers – the basic steps are simple. Salsa is danced to four beats using three steps, each one beat long. Its 1, 2, 3, stop, 5, 6, 7 stop. Walk like that to time and you’re dancing salsa. Yes, it’s that basic! Just as you can walk in any direction you choose, so you can dance salsa on the spot, in straight lines, or in turns.

After a couple of lessons you’ll start learning the turns – and then the salsa world really opens up for you, and the pleasure soars. There’s something about the lilting beat of salsa music that secretes happiness and joy in salsa dancers – why not come along to one of our weekly classes and see for yourself!

At Rumba Havana Salsa we teach the pure original Cuban salsa with a professional Cuban dancer and his team. Other styles of salsa have evolved, but in our opinion, Cuban salsa is the only way to learn. So come and join us. We are sure that once you have tried salsa, you will never want to stop dancing!