SalsaSelfie.com 🇨🇺

Many Leaders use the Entrada step, that is to “Hook Behind” on “5”. Entrada means “Entrance” in English. It is a step that makes it easier to lead the Follow in the second half of many basic figures. The “Entrance” step opens a clear path for the Follow. The Entrada step is mostly used in right turning circular motion, depending on the situation.

When the Entrada step is used it is not necessarily in an explicit or planned manner. Many Leaders use it by chance without really knowing what they are doing. It just happens and they have no name for this special step. Other Leads, myself included, use “Hook Behind” by default in many situations and we consider it an important feature of the Lead’s dance.

To Hook Behind is strictly speaking only optional. But many Leaders regard it more as a must. They feel it helps their leading, and they like the look and feel of it.

Hook Behind or Back-Step

The Entrada step is often done like the beginning of a Hook Turn and the Lead might turn a little or even 90 degrees or more depending on the situation. But sometimes the Entrada step is more like a short back-step or the Lead could just collect the feet. The important thing is that Entrada somehow is there.

How exactly to step the Entrada step varies from Lead to Lead. Some prefer a strict “Hook Behind” each and every time. Other Leaders feel that explicit “Hook Behind” many times during a dance is too manneristic and that keeping the feet tight together in the hook could create unbalance. Instead they go for a short back-step or they just collect the feet.

The Entrada also depends on the speed of the music, the momentum created and on the relative size of the Lead and the Follow and on dance style. I often use more or less all the variations in one and the same dance.

Same video at YouTube

Why Entrada?

So why use Hook Behind on “5”:

1. The Hook Behind on “5” is in many situations the optimized way to transition from one figure to the next. The best way for a Lead to position himself and the Follow in the the last half of an Eight Count in order to both finish the last part of a figure and as preparation for the next figure.
2. The Hook Behind on “5” plays a special role in some figures, like in the Adiós Carousel where it is the standard way to continue and to exit the figure. Paseo and Saloneo walks are best done with Hook Behind or Back-steps on “5”, and in Paseo de Ola, the Entrada step is one of the ways for the Lead to create the waves.
3. The Entrada step also helps the Lead to structure and organize his stepping more consistently instead of walking around randomly or just stepping homegrown junk.
4. The Entrada Step also helps solve a practical issue. The Lead normally has longer legs and bigger feet than the Follow. In many figures the Lead is relatively stationary as the Follow is led around him especially in tight dancing. The Entrada step “hides” a step making better room for his feet.

Bonus feature

1. A bonus feature of Hook Behind on “5” is that it also works as a signpost telling the Follow exactly where we are in the dance.
2. Another bonus feature is when we watch videos of other dancers. If the Lead is using a lot of Hook Behinds on “5”, it is much easier to recognize and analyze the figures.

Follow’s Entrada Step

I only know of one common situation where the Follow uses Entrada step. In the Adiós Carousel, the Follow should Hook Behind on “1”. And in Adiós Inverso, the Follow should use Entrada step on “5”. For the Lead it is opposite.

I have heard a few dance instructors caught on video mentioning the Entrada step “en passant” or as an “after thought” or without any details. I believe that this tutorial and my video summary is more or less the only in-depth analysis of the Entrada step so far.

END