Walks in Salsa-Casino
Walks is one big mess in Cuban Salsa. So many names, Paseo, Paséala, Caminala, Caminando, Saloneo, etc, not used consistently. Hardly anyone agrees about anything, no systematic approach, only a few dance schools teach them at any length.
In My Casino, “Casino based on natural walking”, walks are all important because we walk most of the time and we even treat many basic figures as mini-walks, like Paséala and Exhíbela. E.g.: We love to add Vacilala and Coca-Cola turns to Paséala and Exhíbela just like we can add them to any other Walk. This is unheard of in Back-Rocking sub-styles of Cuban Salsa where walks are used very little often not at all.
The following is my proposal for how to classify walks:
- Paseo Walk
- Caminala Walk
- Caminando Walk (Side-by-side)
- Half Sombrero
- Sombrero
- Arm-in-Arm (Cásate)
- Both hands in front (Skater)
- Scoops (led by hip, waist or shoulders)
- Saloneo Walk (Promenade)
- Closed Position Walk
- Paseo de Ola
- Rodeo Walk
- Carousel Walk
- ?
Paseo Walk
A common walk used by almost all sub-styles of Cuban Salsa. A regular square pattern mostly clockwise, starting from Open Position like after DQN, etc. But can also be started with the Follow at the Lead’s right side (DQN start position) as a contra clock-wise Walk.
The Paseo Walk is done over one or more Counts-of-Eight. The side of the square is three steps long. That is, the Follow is walked forward on “1-2-3”, step three and seven with a slight right angle as preparation for the directional change.
The Follow walks forward on each and every step but the Leader uses the so-called “Lead’s Paseo Steps”, a very important step pattern that the Leader can use in many situations. See links to videos below.
Leader’s Paseo Steps is to walk forward on one, turn around to the left 180 degrees on “2”, step back on “3-5” and then forward again on “6-7”. The idea is similar to Salsa’s “Cross Body Lead”: To make a passage for the Follow. Leader’s Paseo Steps can also be used the opposite way around, “Inverso”, starting with the Follow at the Lead’s right side, but less common.
The basic Paseo Walk is just to walk with or without shifting hands for each directional change. The next level is to add Reína (Queen), often as preparation to exit from the walk, but it is also common to continue the Paseo Walk after Reína.
One can also add figures like Vacilala, Coca-Cola, Rodeo Inverso, Panqué, etc., to the Walk. I often do the Paseo Walk as a “three figure combo”: “Paseo Basico, Reína, Coronala”. Coronala (Crown Her) is a Vacilala on “3-5-6”.
Some dancers, mostly for training purpuses, but can also be used in social dancing, like to walk the Paseo patterns in Sombrero or “Half Sombrero” positions, or with Gancho Arm, etc, and the Leader is sometimes seen adding Hook Turns (Ronde, Giro de Son).
| 1 | Paseo Clásico, Reína, Corónala |
| 3 | DQN con Coca-Cola with Lead’s Paseo Steps |
| 4 | Paseo Guapea – Guapea Walk |
| 5 | Grapevine in Casino |
| 6 | Two Handed Echeverría from Paseo Walk |
Caminala Walks
Some dancers call Paseo Walks for Caminala. I propose that Caminala walks are reserved for more advanced, lively, irregurlar walks, like “Caminala con Coca-Cola”. Another example is for the Lead to do Arm Juggling (a so-called Terremoto) as he walks randomly around. But everything we see in Paseo Walks can also be used in Caminala Walks.
Caminala Walks are advanced level because the Follow is mostly led by good instincts for the directional changes.
Caminando Walks
Almost all side-by-side walks belong to the Caminando category. I use them a lot because they are moments of first class connection, the Leader and Follower can look at one another and they can even small talk, and they are excellent in social dancing because they are easy to lead.
- Half Sombrero
- Sombrero
- Arm-in-Arm (Cásate)
- Both hands in front (Skater)
- Scoops (led by hip or shoulders)
The Leader can do traveling Vacilala and Coca-Cola turns within the Walk so-called “Neck-to-Neck” Turns or at the end of the walk, so-called “End-of-Walk” Turns, or the Lead can continue the Caminando walk into other walks or figures.
Caminando walks most often starts with the Follower at the Leader’s left side but the opposite is also common. The walks are mostly a more or less irregular walk-around in a free-styling manner. They can be short or long depending of how well they work and on the space available on the dance floor.
I use Caminando Walks, mostly the Half-Sombrero and Cásate, in each and every dance.
Saloneo Walk
The Saloneo Walk is a closed position type of walk with a “V”-shaped frame, that is in Promenade Position. It has always existed without a name but in recent years made popular by dancers that have picked it up from the so-called MCC-dance system where it plays a major role. It has even become popular as a Rueda de Casino Call.
The Saloneo done on its own is a basic figure of one count of eight, starting and ending in the Promenade Start Position also called “Caída“, “the Follower at the Leader’s right side” or the Dile Que No start position. This basic Walk can be done one or more times.
There are many options and ways to add turns to the Saloneo walk. In order to add the turns the walk is transformed into a mostly U-shaped walk often continued into an “endless” oval shape until the Leader breaks out of it.
Closed Positions Walk
Paseo de Ola
Paseo de Ola (Wave Walk) is old and found with that name on SALC DVD #1#18 from Santiago de Cuba in the late 1990s. It is a unique walk, there is nothing like it, with mutual crossed, one-handed Wrestler Handhold. It is good for social dancing because the Lead can teach the Follow while dancing just by using it gently the first couple of times.
Like Saloneo, it is a walk from Promenade Start position into Promenade start position on “7-8”. When the Lead has made the Follow fall into the pattern, right turns can be added on “3-5-6”.
Rodeo Walk
Rodeo is a figure of one or two counts of Eight to bring the Follow all around the Lead or a position the Follow passes through during other figures. E.g.: Enchufla can be walked “1-2-3” and already on “5-6-7” the Follow passes around the Lead in a way that resembles Rodeo. But Rodeo and Rodeo Inverso can also have the look and feel of a Walk more than just being a figure.
Carousel Walk
When Side-by-side walks in Half-Sombrero or Sombrero position are done like a Carousel around one axis, I call them Carousel Walks. They are great, simple walks for social dancing.
Last updated August 3, 2025
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