Many or most Rueda callers use Dame Directo a handful of times in each Rueda. For Dame Una, the Lead goes to the first Follow behind his back, that is opposite of the direction his facing and opposite of the direction the Rueda is moving. For Dame Directo, the Lead goes directly to the next Follow in the direction he
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The short and highly recommended Rueda move, La Babosa, means “slug” in Spanish, a group of slimy snails without shells. I don’t see an obvious reason for the “slug” figure name except that Babosa is also Spanish slang for “fool”, “idiot”. That is true from the Follow’s view point: the Lead is an idiot, curling her in just to pass
Read moreGuapea (handsome, looks good) is one of the very first figures we learn at the dance school, and it is often called the basic steps of Casino, of Cuban Salsa, but that is flat wrong. It is not uncommon to have a whole social dance at advanced level without a single Guapea. Compare that to the “forward and back” Salsa
Read moreThis is a nice little move with several Alardes good to practice. It is called El Dedo (Finger) because it starts with a hand-held Vacilala as in other El Dedo moves. In this case right-to-right handed because it is followed by a right-to-right handed Enchufla. The right-to-right handed Enchufla, how we get into it, the Alardes, and how we get
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
Read moreExhibela means “exhibit her”, show her to the world. It is one of two original Cuban Salsa right turns on 5-6-7. The other is the walking right turn called Habanero. As a relatively new trend, Exhibela is today often called Sacala instead, meaning “take her out”. That is annoying because we now have to use both words in the same
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