I like Carousel figures where the Leader and the Follower swing around a common axis in between them. Similar to Adiós but instead of closed position we have half-open position. There are many variations. Many Leaders have been using the Carousel over the years with or without a meaningful name. With this tutorial I have generalized many of the variations
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The Exhíbela “turn” is one of the most misunderstood basic figures in Cuban Salsa. It is not a turn but a walk, a Casino Clásico variation. Exhíbela means “show her to the world”. Some dance schools teach Exhíbela as a sideways Vuelta right turn with back-rocking. Exactly like Salsa on One, LA style, would mimic Cuban Salsa. A turn is
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The classic Coca-Cola left turn is done as the last half of Dile Que No, on “5-6-7”, around the Lead. The classic way to proceed is for the Lead to add another Dile Que No and bring the Follow into the start position of Open Position. But we have many alternative ways to do Coca-Cola turns from Dile Que No.
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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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The figure name Dile Que Si is a good example of the anarchy and of the complete lack of a textbook authority in Casino, Cuban Salsa. Just because we have a figure called Dile Que No (Say no to her), many people think that there must be a corresponding figure called Dile Que Si (Say no to her). But there
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I first saw this sequence of basic figures deep inside a demo dance of a Polish couple, 2016. I don’t know if it was pure inspiration, or one of the standard moves of the Leader. I don’t know if he has ever used it again or if has a name for it. I link to the video below. I liked
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The name Vacilala Continuado seams so obvious and straight forward as a name of a figure that it must exist. But it doesn’t until now. At least not as a generalised figure, easy to replicate. Except that we do have a short “Continuado” called Vacilala Double. But even double turns are surprisingly rare iCuban Salsa. They are difficult on a
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For many years I have worked hard to reduce the use of named moves in my social dancing. Almost all named moves are fixed sequences of basic figures with a beginning and an ending, a mini-dance following the Rueda template for how to construct couple moves for use in Rueda de Casino. Just think of it! To base a social
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From the start position of Open Position almost all basic figures start a “right turning circular motion”, the Follow walks around the Lead. The Follow can just walk for the full count of Eight, or she can turn right or left on the first or on the second half of the walk or on both. By using different handholds, normal,
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