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| Salsa is not only a great way of keeping fit but also a really good opportunity to meet new people and have fun. In order to dance with a partner, you need to let your guard down, co-operate with your partner and start letting go - you need to think of it as a new language. |
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| Cuban Salsa Dancing |
Cuban Salsa is relaxed, playful and fun. The leader and the follower circle around each other whereas in many other salsa styles such as the New York style Salsa, dancing is linear. Cuban style salsa is not slot based and there are no 'home positions' for the dancers.
In Cuban Salsa turns are walked rather than pivoted which means you can dance Cuban style pretty much on any surface in any footwear.
Some say that Cuban Salsa is more about the leader showing off than showing the follower off. Dancing is less demanding for the follower as in some other Salsa styles as spinning, keeping balance through quick directional changes and controlling your own momentum are kept to the minimum. Therefore, dancing Cuban Salsa is relaxing as you can just forget about all those technical things and let the music lead you.
Since Salsa has its roots in so many dances and is open to improvisation, Salsa styles are very fluid. They are associated with their original geographic area that developed that style (e.g. Cuba, New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Cali) but there are devotees of each of these styles outside of their home territory.
Characteristics that may identify a style include: foot patterns, body rolls and movements, turns and figures, attitude, dance influences, and the way that partners hold each other. The point in a musical bar music where a slightly larger step is taken (the break step) and the direction the step moves can often be used to identify a style as well. |
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| Salsa Steps - 1,2,3 |
The basic step of all styles of Salsa involves 3 weight changes (or steps) in each 4 beat measure. The beat on which you do not step might be used to tap or kick, or the weight transfer may continue with the actual step not occurring until the next beat. In the Habanaloko Cuban Salsa classes we use an actual pause. The option chosen depends upon individual choice and upon the specific style being danced. While dancing, the basic step can be modified significantly as part of the improvisation and styling of the dancers.
One of the steps is a 'break step' which is a little bit longer than the other two steps. Different styles of Salsa are often differentiated by the direction and timing of the break step (e.g. 'On 1' or 'On 2'). After 6 weight changes in 8 beats, the basic step cycle is complete.
As Salsa dancers change weight the upper body remains level and nearly unaffected by the weight changes while the hips move in a sensual way to follow the movement of the feet. Cuban Salsa especially is famous for its hip movement.
The arms are used to communicate the lead in either open or closed position. In open position the two dancers hold one or both hands, especially for moves that involve turns, or putting arms behind the back, or moving around each other. In closed position, the leader puts the right hand on the follower's back, while the follower puts the left hand on the leader's shoulder. |
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| Cuban Salsa Music |
The music developed in Cuba from Latin and African influences and the dance style itself takes elements from various sources such as Rumba and Son. Timba music follows the same course all Cuban music has taken for the last 300 years, mixing the diverse influences of the island's inhabitants in a way that is uniquely Cuban. Timba is the most popular music genre of the danceable music that is currently played in Cuba with Reggaeton following closely second. At Habanaloko Salsa classes you will get an opportunity to learn about these different styles of music and hear all the latest tunes from Havana. To take your Cuban experience further you can join the Habanaloko Cuba Dance Holiday for a holiday of lifetime and see the best Cuban groups play live.
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| Timba and Los Van Van |
What is now call Timba began with NG La Banda in the late 80s, but the musical concept at the heart of Timba, combining Cuban music with modern creative songwriting, began 20 years earlier with Los Van Van.
After the Cuban Revolution, Cuba adopted the Soviet strategy of testing young children for a variety of aptitudes including musical talent and offering promising students conservatory training from an early age. While this important seed began to grow, the existing generation of adult musicians began listening to American music in earnest and absorbing the influences of jazz and the explosion of creativity in rock and R&B in late 60s and early 70s.
The most important of these, and probably the most important figure in the history of Cuban music, was Juan Formell, who was the musical director of Orquesta Revé when he and a number of other members broke away to form Los Van Van in 1969.
Los Van Van has remained Cuba's most popular group for 40 years and still counting. Formell was fearlessly experimental and invented the term 'Songo' to describe the music stemming from his fusions of Cuban rhythms with synthesisers, all types of rock, rap, Brazilian music, merengue, and just about anything else that caught his interest.
Formell, now over 60, has never stopped to rest on his laurels and never allowed his music to become dated. He continues to write hits which capture the imagination of the young, dance-oriented public in Cuba. In one of his many revealing interviews he states that he gets his musical ideas from watching the dancers.
When NG La Banda and La Charanga Habanera started playing Timba, Formell caught on immediately and Los Van Van has subsequently produced five of the most important Timba albums and has written, among many others, the definitive Timba anthems, 'Esto Te Pone La Cabeza Mala' and 'Soy Todo'. |
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