I hardly use named moves any more, small mini-dances, couple choreographies made for Rueda de Casina mostly. The reason is obvious. If we want playful, inspired dancing, if we want creative and music driven dancing, the dancers must be able to catch the moment, to modify, change and develop their dance step by step. That is, we must mostly use
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This is one of my favorite Casino videos on YouTube, more than 10 years old. The style of Carlos Rafael Gonzalez is mesmerizing at moments, especially in this video with Jennifer as Follower. Jennifer is a forward dancer, forward by default, no back-rocking, she only takes a back-step if the Leader clearly leads her into doing so. This is right
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Coming from Dile Que No into Open Position, I mostly skip Guapea: I don’t want to stop-up, I don’t want to do the “back-and-forward” Guapea Horror Show, or to suddenly go sideways using Cruzado Guapea. I do use the versatile “forward-forward” Guapea (Cruzado), the traditional Guapea GOAT, from time to time and in certain situations as an ordinary figure in
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The Grapevine is a universal dance pattern used in many dance styles. It is not common in Cuban Salsa. I don’t know of any named classic move containing a Grapevine figure. I have wanted to use such a figure in my Casino for a long time. Fortunately, Grapevine figures are common in Cuban Son. I have looked at a lot
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Double turns are one of a relatively small number of ways to put the spotlight on the Follow and make her stand out. This is important because only if the Lead manages to make the Follow do extraordinary things can he himself also do extraordinary things without stealing the show, as is, sadly to say, very common for Leads from
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The move Siete Unisex Complicado is attributed to Henry Herrera, at least it is on his CD, “Henry Turns 4”, published around year 2005. I have not yet seen Henry’s version, but many others have made videos with the move and uploaded to YouTube. It is a good move to practice in class at intermediate level, because both Lead and
Read moreAlarde Complicado is Cuban all the way but it is not a typical Cuban salsa move. I regard it more like a better dance school combo, good to practice at advanced level with several difficult basic figures. The most important part is the Alarde section, one of the hallmarks of Cuban Salsa. The Alardes in this tutorial is the relatively
Read moreNudo means “knot” and this is not a good name because we have less knot in Nudo than in so many other Cuban Salsa moves. The basic Nudo move is short, two counts of eight. Most Complicado versions are not at all Complicado, they just add an Exhibela to the baseline. When very Complicado, they even repeat themselves after the
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In the tutorial for the Arcoiris move, I said that we can start the Arcoiris part, not just when getting out of the Hammerlock but in very many situations on count five. We just need to get into starting position on 5-6-7. In the following Video 1 from “Son De Habana”, Bogata, Columbia, 2015, the Lead uses the man’s hook
Read moreDile Que SÃ (say yes to her) is the twin sister to Dile Que No (say no to her). As a move Dile Que SÃ is a handheld Vacilala. The Follow is lead forward on one, she turns on 1-2-3 in order for the Lead to bring her into closed position on 5-6-7. That is what the name means: bring
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