The move Ochenta y Quatro is a classic Cuban Salsa move, but it is so often used also in Rueda de Casino, that “Rueda.Casino.com”, the former “Norwegian Rueda Standard Organisation”, has included it in its Rueda de Casino Syllabus. On YouTube I have found surprisingly many videos showing Ochenta y Quatro, and many variations. It is a very popular move.
Read moreMany 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 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 Sí (say yes to her) is the twin sister to Dile Que No (say no to her). As a move Dile Que Sí 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
Read moreRainbow. Arcoiris means rainbow and is sometimes spelled Arco Iris. The move starts like other Setenta moves with Hammerlock, and for that reason the move is also called Setenta con Arcoiris. I prefer the short form, and there is a reason for the name. The figure clearly has a part that looks like a bow, a rainbow. There are a
Read moreA classic Cuban Setenta move and a must to train at intermediate level for learning the basic technique of going down under the Follow’s right arm. Abajo and por Abajo means down. The move is also called por a bajo (by a low), de bajo (of low) or debajo (under). I prefer Setenta por Abajo, it both sounds and looks
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