Cuban Salsa: Casino based on natural Walking – Forward by Default

  1. Dancing without principles
  2. It’s about the Follow
  3. The roots of back-rocking
  4. No systematic approach
  5. Two sets of basic steps
  6. The roots of chaos
  7. Muddy Waters
  8. Forward by default
  9. What are the benefits
  10. Active Following
  11. Degrees of forward walking
  12. From “default” to “always”

We can divide Cuban Casino into sub-styles based on different criteria. The most fundamental division with huge consequences for how we dance, can be reduced to our perception of why and how we should dance Casino. Is our dance rooted in a dance specific idea or is it mostly haphazard dancing?

Most dancers primarily dance to have fun and a good time on the dance floor. The social aspect of “social dancing” is clearly the main thing. The dancing aspect of “social dancing” comes in second. These dancers seldom dance with a Casino-specific goal for their dance. Everything goes if it works in the situation. There is no systematic or comprehensive approach to Casino. Most dancers have no strong opinions about anything in their dance. They could just as well dance another dance style.

1. Dancing without principles

By far the largest group of Cuban Salsa dancers don’t believe in “forward be default” dancing because they don’t believe in anything of substance that can be spelled out. For that reason they are a little hard to define. It is a little unfair to call them “back-rockers” because they might not even be aware of their many back-steps for no good reason.

Back-Rocking is seldom a deliberate choice based on arguments and analysis but mostly something they have learned without knowing why: “My dance school or dance instructors told me”. Or back-rocking is something they have just gotten used to, and they can’t remember where they have it from.

Until this very day, I have never heard one good argument for back-rocking in all the situations where a Follow could just as well step forward. It doesn’t promote anything. It doesn’t make anything possible.

2. It’s about the Follow

What does “forward by default” mean? It is only about the Follow. The Lead can in principle step however he wants as long as he can make the Follow step exactly as his combinations of basic figures require. In practice there are strict limitations also on the Lead’s steps in order not to undermine the steps of the Follow.

Even in a full dance without a single back-step for the Follow, the Lead will take a lot of back-steps in Dile Que No and in the so-called Leader’s Paseo Steps, where the back-step is used to make it possible for the Follow to pass by the Lead, very similar to a Cross Body Lead in American Salsa.

The Lead might also use some figures where back-steps both for the Lead and the Follow are build-in like in Salsa “forward and back” or the the Cuban Son “forward and back” with three steps in each direction. The Follow should of cause step back when led into back-steps by the Lead.

The Follow should also back-rock in some situations by her own choice to avoid colliding with other dancers or to regain her balance. Some free-styling turns might also need to start by going contra. Any back-step from the Follow that is based on being led or out of necessity or for some good purpose is of cause more than welcome.

That is what forward by default means: “To step forward unless their are other overriding concerns or reasons to step back”. Back-Rocking first becomes an issue worth discussing in all the situations where they are done for no purpose or reason.

Back-steps are only “evil” when it could be argued that it would serve the dance better if the Follow stepped forward, keeping the dance alive and making the Follow more available for leading and turning. Or for the sake of consistency! It is always a good thing to honor “forward by default” to assure the Lead that he can count on the Follow to step in a predictable way in most situation.

3. The roots of back-rocking

Casino was developed without a systematic, comprehensive approach. A lot of local variations emerged. Not much logic, no solid system, no consistency. We are talking about Casino as a dance that really developed as a peoples “street” dance from down-up. Most of the originators of Casino were anonymous teenagers or in their early twenties!

One obvious root of Back-Rocking is that many dancers at beginner’s level use “forward and back” and a back-rocking Guapea as the foundation of the dance. To lead or press the Follow back is very common also at intermediate level. Back-rocking is so to speak build into the dance from the very start as point of departure for all other figures or moves and spill over into them.

If a Vacilala turn on “1-2-3” is needed like in all the common Setenta Hammerlock moves, “Dedo” figures and Sombrero based figures, or in Panqué, the Follow must be led forward on “1”. But all other figures has a tendency to start with a back-step if the couple starts them from “forward and back” motion.

Another root of back-rocking is after the half pivot turn in Enchufla and after the half pivot turn on “6-7” into Dile Que No start position. Many beginners are likely to have a bad weight transfer making the back-step on “5” of Enchufla and on “1” in Dile Que No almost a necessity in order to maintain the balance. These back-steps even when they are no longer needed, easily continues as a bad habit, as muscle memory.

4. No systematic approach

There is no recognized Textbook anywhere for Cuban Salsa, often not even local homegrown Textbooks for how to step basic figures and moves. Most dance schools and instructors just teach what they happen to do themselves, with huge variations from dance school to dance school. It is very common that we don’t even have consistency within a dance schools. Each instructor are allowed to teach their own sub-style within certain limits.

In some basic figures some Follows step forward, others step back on “1”. In some figures they also step back on “5” and in some figures the Follow is supposed to step in place on “5-6-7” (thread water). In other figures some instructors teach for both the Lead and the Follow to step back diagonally.

No wonder that a lot of meaningless back-steps for no purpose is by far the most common way to dance Casino today and at any time in its history. Back-steps can take the form of back-rocking with huge back-steps, or it can be more like stepping in place or a very short back-step in many figures.

Back-steps with no purpose are mostly common at the start of Enchufla, and often also on “5” in Enchufla, especially if continuing into Enchufla Doble and in figures like El Uno and El Dos. Back-steps are also very common at the beginning of Dile Que No and in other figures starting from the Dile Que No start position like Exhíbela and Paséala.

Even if a dancer do Enchufla with forward steps, the same dancer might have a preference for back-rocking in similar figures like El Uno and El Dos or the opposite. And they might still back-rock in DQN or step forward! There is so many ways to combine forward stepping and back-rocking in X number of figures that almost any combination is likely to be common in social dancing.

Even dance schools that teach back-rocking in figures like Enchufla and DQN are not consistent about it. If the Follow is led into DQN from left tuning circular motion, like a Rodeo Inverso, the Follow is likely to continue forward into DQN. And Enchufla is likely to continue forward on “5” if the Lead wants to add a Coca-Cola turn or for some other reason. Forward steps are also likely to take over in good flows with a lot of momentum.

5. Two sets of basic steps

Some non-Cuban Salsa styles like Salsa LA style don’t have a back-rocking issue because their most common dance pattern is not the circle but a rectangular slot. The by far most common dance figures are “Cross Body Lead” and “Forward and Back” both with build in back-steps for the Follower.

Back-steps is an issue in Cuban Salsa because the circular motion makes it possible for both the Lead and the Follow to walk forward at all times. It dramatically complicates the dance to have two different sets of steps, one set for half of the figures and another set of steps based on other principles for the other half of the figures and on top of it with little consistency allowing for plenty of exceptions.

‘Why? Because in social couple dancing, the Follow have no knowledge like a Rueda Call of what figure comes next. Many Follows even boast that they don’t know any move but rely entirely on being led. That is, in theory, a Lead must know at any time what figures he is using and what steps to apply to them, and at any time the Lead must also convey that knowledge to the Follow.

But contrary to what many dancers think, leading is often absent in most of a dance for a good reason.

In a song having 180 BPM (most salsa dancing is faster) gives us three beats per second. That is approximately three steps in a second. There is no way a Follow can be told to step forward or back confidently with good momentum by leading alone in many situations. A Follow must rely on her own instincts and default steps in very many situations.

A Follow that believes she should start half of all figures with back-rocking has no default to guide her in all the situation where there is no clear leading and in all the situations where the dancing has become stationary, or the Lead himself is not really sure of what he is doing.

6. The roots of chaos

Apart from the problem of not having a solid default behavior to rely on, we have two additional problems.

The first problem is that Back-Rocking is mostly a convention. There are no arguments for why back-steps benefit the dance in all the situations where the Follow could just as well step forward. For that reason there is no strong incentive to actually Back-Rock in the situations where it is only a convention. That is, back-rocking in a lot of common figures is a recipe for inconsistency because there are no good arguments or incentive to actually do it.

The second reason for chaos is the fact that if you have two sets of how to step basic figures, you must keep track of each and every figure you step, and you must know in advance exactly what figure you are going to step next in order to choose the corresponding set of steps. But this is unrealistic. Many Follows are not interested in the details of moves, and many Leads have a poor understanding of the different parts of a move. They often do classic Moves based mostly on muscle memory and on a general concept for what the move looks like with no detailed understanding of the figures it consists of.

On top of it most Leaders have problems remembering their repertoire in the heat of a dance. They dance with a lot of hesitation and without proper leading when it really could have made a difference.

7. Muddy Waters

In Back-Rocking sub-styles of Casino, the decision of stepping forward or back must be taken over and over again more than 50-75 times during a dance, and the Lead must pass on the decision to the Follow. Just the question of “forward or back” requires a lot of focus that can overloads the process of leading and following. Most dancers are not even aware of this because it is mostly unconscious.

Without the discipline, rule of thumb or declared dance policy of “forward by default”, it is easy to understand that social Cuban Salsa is bound to be an uphill battle with plenty of room for misunderstanding and errors or “Muddy Waters” for short. Talented dancers, and dancers that mostly dance with the same few partners, and dancers with a lot of experience can still take their dance to the next level, but it is somehow against all odds!

Just think of how much easier it would all be if almost all moves and figures followed the same principles: That the Follow should always step forward by default keeping the momentum alive and making herself optimal available for leading and turns! That is: The Follower should never take a back-step unless it serves a good purpose.

“Forward by default” immediately sweeps the dance floor from most of the clutter, uncertainty, hesitation and misunderstanding so abundant in sub-styles based on no clear or mixed principles. But we must also reduce the use of figures that contain back-steps like “forward and Back” and a back-rocking Guapea.

8. Forward by default

Let us take a closer look at the fascinating prospect of a social dance based on forward walking. Most non-Cuban Salsa styles are based on “forward-and back” in a rectangular slot. “Doesn’t it sound a little primitive”? In Bachata the main pattern is side-crabbing, to step sideways! How weird is that? Tango tops them all! Here the Follow is led into walking backward for major parts of the dance!

Cuban Salsa has the circle as main pattern, and that makes it possible for both the Lead and the Follow to step forward at the same time. Not just part of the time but all the time, if they want to. The other patterns of Cuban Salsa is to walk tangents to the circle like Exhibela and Paséala. Cuban Salsa has many type of walks outside the circle like Paseo, where the Follow is led around in a square pattern, or Caminala, where the Follow is led around the Lead as he walks, like Caminando where Lead and Follow walk side by side, or the Saloneo walk where the Lead and Follow walk side by side in Promenade Position.

All the major patterns of Casino have one surprising thing in common. They can be walked in such a way that both the Lead and the Follow walk forward simultaneously all the time! Just think of what flows and momentum that can be created continuing in and out of all these patterns!

To base a dance on forward walking sounds revolutionary and sensational. Even in theory, on its face value, it seems much more potent as the basis for a dance style than anything else we can come up with like “forward and back”, “sideways” and “backwards”.

“Forward by default” is so simple as concept and yet so logical and powerful that it has to open up for more movement and flows, more momentum, more complex leading and following, and more variation that any other concept we can come up with.

9. What are the benefits?

Stepping forward by default means:

  1. That the Follow almost always has six forward steps at her disposal within a Count of Eight. The couple can easily make use of most of the dance floor or walk quite a distance even with ultra short steps. In contrast, if the Follow back-rocks both on “1” and “5”, the Follow only moves two steps forward in a count of Eight because she needs another two steps to recover from the back-rocking.
  2. “Forward” makes it possible to create long flows with a lot of momentum. Ideally it has the potential of turning the whole dance into one long move with one beginning and one ending. For musicality reasons, the dance will often be divided into sections matching the music.
  3. “Forward” makes the Follow more leadable than in any other social dance style, because directional change require movement. A ship with no motion and a lot of stop-ups has lost its steering.
  4. Forward steps also make it possible to add turns anywhere in the dance with very little preparation. The Lead doesn’t need to make sure that the Follower steps forward first.
  5. And when coming out of turns, the Lead knows that the Follow continues forward ready for more turns.
  6. Both the Lead and the Follow have full view of what comes at them at the dance floor. And both are at any time aware of spatial opportunities and limitations.
  7. “Forward” means that all basic figures use the same principles, and that they are easy to lead and read because they are unfolded into their full glory. In Back-Rocking Cuban Salsa many figures often become blurred or less distinct and the dance has a tendency to be very compact, stationary.
  8. Having “forward” as the basic dance mode makes it possible sometimes to go into stop-ups and stationary dancing with good contrast as an exception to the rule. Back-Rocking sub-styles are much more “always the same”: Stationary or semi-stationary.
  9. “Forward” as the main principle and dance mode doesn’t exclude other supplementary dance modes or potpourri dancing for that matter: from Hip-Hop to Reggaeton, Afro and Rumba.

By focusing on continuation, on keeping flow and momentum alive, forward dancers tend to reduce the use of classic moves and hard-wired Rueda mini-dances. More and more, the dance has mostly the smallest possible building blocks as foundation in order to make it easier to adapt to any situation: Basic figures of one count of eight and even half counts. This makes creativity, spontaneity, musicality, playfulness and variation much easier.

Many useful rules of thumb can be derived from “natural walking” and the “forward” principle:

  1. The Follow should always place the next step in front of the previous on the same curved or straight trajectory, continuing forward.
  2. The Follow should be led into directional change, using the pause as anchor point. Directional changes should be on “3-4-5” or “7-8-1”, giving us two half walks of three steps. Using DQN to lead the Follow into Open Position is one of the few exceptions.
  3. Turns should by default use traveling turn techniques: The steps of a turn should always land in the footprints of the steps the Follow would have stepped without the turn, and each step of the turn should bring the Follow forward on a straight or curves line. The turns must not skip forward steps.
  4. All figures and moves are Walks to which turns can be added. E.g.: Vacilala and Coca-Cola can be added to Paséala and Exhíbela. And turns can be added to most directional changes.
  5. The basic model is logical forward continuation. Like figur-8 ice skating. No stop-ups or threading water except for musicality, no “backing into a garage”, no “wait and see – what’s next” mentality, no sharp L-shaped trajectories or pointless side-crabbing.

By contrast, in Back-Rocking sub-styles, in Cuban Salsa based on no solid or logical principles, there are very few rule of thumbs for anything, because there is nothing they can be based on. Dancers basically fend for themselves with a lot of homegrown private stepping.

10. Active Following

The biggest benefit of the Follower’s “forward by default” is that it simplifies leading and following. The Follow knows that she should be an ACTIVE FOLLOWER, never to wait or hesitate, but always continue forward keeping the dance alive. Except when the Lead as a rare exception to the rule blocks her way or makes her step back for some reason. And the Lead knows that he can count on the Follow to almost always step in a predictable manner.

Active Following has “forward by default” as its foundation.

Just think of it. A Follow has to adapt to hundreds of very different Leads. Some dance with determination and clearly have a plan, some dance like they are lost in a wilderness or with a lot of hesitation. Some turn them too early, some too late, some with too much force some with too little, some are almost stationary, some dance with a lot of movement, some with small steps, some with long. And Leads always use moves differently with a lot of variations.

A good dance requires a strong, robust and independent Follow with good default behavior and instincts. There is no way a Follow can rely on muscle memory having danced with a hundred Leads in very different dances. A Follow must rely on being able to read the Lead and the dance, on being smart.

A Follow must step her own steps, do her own turns, be in perfect balance and motion on her own terms with as little interference from the Lead as possible. Even if the Lead times turns badly or lead them with too much power or with too little support, a good “active” Follow turns with perfection anyway. The Lead is only there to indicate turns and directional changes, the Follow should dance the Lead’s dance as if it is her own dance as much as possible within the frame of the Lead’s choreography.

The more the Follow is capable of doing on her own, based on experience and situations awareness, the better. A good Follow turns as if she decided to turn herself, and despite the quality of the leading, because that is the only way a Follow has enough time to properly engage her core and turn proudly and elegant with determination and momentum.

11. Degrees of forward walking

We have degrees of “forward walking”. Some Follows simply have it as a private style always to seek to step forward in many situations where other Follows tend to step back. Some Follows are mostly forward walkers by chance, they often don’t even know it themselves. Such Follows will benefit from it when dancing with any Lead simply by helping him by being more available and by keeping the dance alive.

Some Lead’s are declared forward walkers, and they benefit from it even when dancing with Follows that have not even heard of “forward by default” as an option. These Leads have passion for Casino, they have goal and purpose, and they are likely to give any Follow different and more interesting dances than what they are used to.

Forward walking as concept becomes a much more explosive cocktail if both the Lead and the Follow have it as guiding principle and as foundation for their dancing. The Follow’s “forward by default” becomes the most interesting when dancing with a Lead that wants it, seeks it, and try to make the most out of it.

12. From “default” to “always”

“Forward by default” fast becomes “always forward”. There are so many figures and moves to choose from, so one can just as well get rid of the few that requires back-rocking like “forward and back”. No reason to undermine your own dance by sending mixed signals, when it can so easily be avoided.

A Follow can only have “forward” as default behavior because she must accept the leading and repertoire of Lead’s that mix everything together. A Lead can go for as much forward walking as possible with any Follow to the degree that connection doesn’t suffer. But dedicated “forward” partners and local dance communities that believe in the wonders of forward walking are likely not to have a single back-step in a full dance except for errors or when loosing the balance.

“Forward by default” or “always forward” doesn’t make you a better dancer. Back-rockers can be equally good or better. Good dancing is about purpose, talent, fitness level, training and the creation of common ground between the dancers. By reducing unnecessary complexity to a minimum, the forward dance mode only unlocks the full potential of Casino and makes many aspects of a couple dance easier.

“Forward walking” as declared policy makes Casino exciting and unique, unlike any other social dance style. It might even turn Casino into the number one of all social dances when it comes to computational richness, of repertoire, of creativity, improvisation, musicality, playfulness and variation.