Cuban Style

This is to discuss those amazing cuban style dancers, these are the guys who dance truly from their heart

Earthy, rustic, great, natural dancers -- but here's a critique: compared to crossbody (LA or NY), heavy to lead. Also, read somewhere on this site someone's query about dancing in flip-flops etc... Cubans do that a lot. Mainly because this was really danced on the street -- and they dance flat-footed, quite stompily... with lots of arm-twisty patterns. Fun if you get a good partner -- else, god help you, s/he could break your arm!

AnandMajumdar wrote:rueda casino over time has become a very refined dance.. in fact at times i would feel it is easier because all the moves are already KNOWN to both man and lady.. its just that the order, or what comes after what, is decided by the caller..

but once called, there are no ugly surprises about which way the man is gonna lead.. it is definitely easier on the lady because she, having seen the call, would know more or less what the man would be planning.. one just needs a reasonable bit of practice to quickly respond to the calling and adjust the space to keep it a circle all the time and make space for everyone..

anand

My comments were about Cuban salsa, Anand. Not reuda, specifically, which is only one of the things they do. Like you say, you know what's coming when you are doing the reuda, what when you are dancing 'general' cuban salsa -- which is what mostly you would dance in any cuban place (the reuda is mostly done to only reuda tracks, which are played a lot lesser than general cuban salsa music).

Not sure about refined. I think the cubans take pride in keeping their dance rustic and earthy. Just as ballroom looks down on salsa, the cubans are allergic to 'stylised' salsa (they are severely snotty about LA/NY, from what I know). The nature of the dance means -- the tight circles -- their leads cannot be shaping leads, but physical, come-here-woman ones (also, I am theorising here, but I think there's something cultural about it -- men-women equality etc). Cuban women dancers expect stronger leads and it can all get a little too push-pully, compared to crossbody.

Looks like there's some terminology mix-up here. My point -- besides what I said above, that is -- is that reuda is only part of cuban salsa, not the whole.

hi Chindu,

Your views are much appreciated and informative.. however, as your post only said that you are discussing Cuban salsa
so i moved your post here..
do keep posting..

cheers!!

Ashish,

Thanks for that... Didn't quite realise it was in the wrong place -- just responded to a thread. :-)

Chindu

based on whatever i have seen of cuban salsa, i can say that the patterns involving the arms are more intricate... since the basic motion of the follower is going around the leader rather than across him, the leader can get in and out of all sorts of knots... it looks like great fun! also i have seen cross body style patterns 'cubanised' but trying to incorporate some of those complicated cuban arm movements in the cross body style is not an easy task (altho slightly modifying these cuban patterns to suit the cb style could end up in the creation of some really cool combos), especially since it seems common practice for the leader to turn the follower on the 1-2-3 count, opening a whole new range of possibilities, but its something we don't do often (if ever) in cb style. also, i have seen quite a few videos of 'salsa triples' in cuban style salsa where one guy leads two girls, this again, seems very difficult to do in cb style, mostly due to the different 'round' basic steps which enables the leader to duck under the followers arm or ravel and unravel the knots as she goes around him, making life easier to manage 2 followers at the same time. i think people who, like me, enjoy complicated turn patterns (u'd imagine most should, but then some like to stay away from moves such as tunnel) should take an instant liking to this style of dance... anyway check out this guy here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5QFQFaaa8 try out some awesome super duper complicated cuban turn patterns... u can't help but smile while watching some of the tricks he executes, and i guess it should inspire some to want to learn the cuban style

The link provides information on different styles of salsa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_(dance)#Salsa_styles