An actual reference for Cuban salsa

under Posts / Tutorials / Dancing about Salsa

You cannot demand of an engineer to “not worry about the name or standard execution of each move – it’s all feeling”. LWYMMD. I systematised it.

In the last 2 months, I’ve begun taking Cuban salsa classes at the local designated club. I’ve gotten so hooked that I genuinely can’t remember what occupied my thoughts and free time in the 23.75 years prior to this, and of course, like all excellent students, I’ve been taking notes.

  1. A note on standardisation
  2. Basic terminology
    1. Elements of the dance
    2. Music
    3. Salsa styles
  3. Resources
  4. General principles
    1. Body movement
    2. Followers can’t and shouldn’t anticipate
  5. Posiciónes
    1. Posición abierta
    2. Posición cerrada
    3. Posición caida
    4. Others
  6. Figures
    1. Starting in abierta
      1. Ending in abierta
        1. Guapea
        2. Vuelta derecha
        3. Vuelta doble
        4. Caminala
      2. Ending in caida
        1. Enchufla
        2. Enchufla doble
        3. Sacala
        4. Cubanita + uno (1)
        5. Cubanito + dos (2)
        6. Cubanita y Cubanito + doce (12)
        7. Half-setenta (35)
      3. Ending in cerrada
        1. Vuelta derecha cerranda
    2. Starting in caida
      1. Ending in abierta
        1. Dile que no (DQN)
      2. Ending in caida
        1. Exhibela
      3. Ending in cerrada
        1. Dile que no cerrando
        2. Exhibela cerrando
    3. Starting in cerrada
      1. Ending in abierta
        1. Dile que no
      2. Ending in caida
        1. Aguajea
      3. Ending in cerrada
        1. Pal medio
        2. Paso son
        3. Paso basico
        4. Son montuno
        5. Cross-body lead (CBL)
        6. Vuelta derecha cerrada
  7. Longer sequences
  8. Final thoughts

Coming soon to this article: Leader and follower step diagrams.

A note on standardisation

One problem the more casual salsa community seems to have is that it doesn’t like to define standard names and movement patterns, because – as you would expect from artsy people – standardisation “kills creativity and feeling”. Obviously this is wrong; you need standardised names if you want to communicate about figures, and you you need standardised movements so that you know which guidelines to vary around when you inject your own feeling into the dance.

I’ve heard the “Dancing is a language – all that matters is that your bodies understand each other.” platitudes, but problematically, the Google search bar doesn’t allow me to dance with it so that I can ask it for the figure I’m looking to learn about, and similarly, without learning the grammar of a language, you won’t be a great writer in it regardless of the “feeling” you put into your writings.

So here’s a written reference for salsa knowledge, about the structure of the dance, with structure. As far as I’m aware, there has only been one other nerd, Martin Blais, who has constructed something similar. If you’re in my area and want to learn these things by doing, enroll at Sean Reniers’s Cuban Salsa Leuven.

Basic terminology

Elements of the dance

Salsa is danced as a couple, with a leader and a follower. They both execute figures that each consist of patterns of the arms, legs, torso and feet. The leader decides which figure he wants the couple to execute next, and signals this to the follower through motion. She interprets the signals and executes the patterns asked of her.

Music

Salsa is danced on music with a 4/4 time signature. The bottom 4 means that every quarter note in the sheet music is one beat; the beat is the unit of evenly spaced repetition in the music, and how fast beats follow each other is the tempo expressed as its BPM. The top 4 means that every four beats form a bar, which the melody indicates with a more pronounced note. Every two bars form a phrase in salsa music, like breathing in and breathing out. (Just like it feels weird to breathe cyclically starting on the exhale, it feels weird to start a figure in the second bar of a phrase.) Figures in salsa always take an integer amount of phrases to complete. The most basic figures take 1 phrase, which is why (Cuban) salsa beats are counted 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1-2-... Since (Cuban) salsa music and hence also figures are least stressed at the end of each bar, the 4 and the 8 are kept silent, and thus everyone counts 1-2-3-_-5-6-7-_-1-2-3-_....

The instruments used in salsa music are basically always the same. If the cowbell player does his job properly, you can follow him to find the 1-3-5-7. To practice recognising which instruments generally indicate which beats, check out the Salsa Beat Machine.

When a movement happens on a particular count, that means it finishes on that count. E.g.: if you “take a step on 1”, the foot hits the ground on 1, rather than starting to move on 1.

Salsa styles

When you research salsa dancing, you will stumble upon three prominent styles of salsa: Cuban, LA and New York. You can dance all of these to salsa music. Salsa music is a descendant of son music, just like salsa dancing is a descendant of the son partner dance.

Cuban salsa specifically is a collection of two types of figures: those that involve one leader and one follower (en pareja), and those that involve more than one leader-follower pair (en grupo). Cuban salsa en pareja, i.e. only the partner dancing figures, is what you will usually learn in dance classes. The collection of all Cuban salsa figures, i.e. partner dance expanded with group figures, is actually called casino, but since casino is the salsa danced in Cuba, “Cuban” also works and is more googleable. When you dance casino in a circle of couples, with one “supreme leader” calling out the name of the next figure, it is called rueda (“wheel”) or rueda de casino (“wheel of the casino”).

As far as I know, the fundamental differences between Cuban en pareja and the other styles are as follows:

  • Son: less complex figures, primarily closed rather than open, and danced a contratiempo, which means that the counts go 2-3-4-_-6-7-8-_-2-3-4-_..., stressing the 2 and the 6 rather than the 1 and the 5. This is a perfect example.
  • LA style: danced such that the follower (but not the leader) is restricted to moving back and forth on one straight line. See this and this and this and this.
  • NY style: also danced linearly like LA, but with different counting than LA. It is often said that LA is “on 1” and NY is “on 2” and that this is equivalent to saying that one is a tiempo and the other is a contratiempo, but as was pointed out to me by someone who knows more than I ever will about musical genres, this is actually a fallacy. This topic gets confusing, but note the following:
    • This video by Dance Dojo, a channel for non-Cuban salsa, distinguishes ON2 CT (on-2 contratiempo) from ON2 AT (on-2 a tiempo), which means that the “tiempo”s and “on”s are orthogonal dimensions to describe a style.
    • This video is fully a tiempo which means the feet pause on 4 and 8, and “on-2” here means that the feet move away from each other on 2 and 6 out of the counts when they aren’t paused.
    • This video says that differences are also made through “rhythm”, i.e. which counts are quickened and which are dragged out.
    • This video (a 1-minute summary of this video) seems to agree with all of the above that using the term “on 2” is underdetermined.
  • Rueda: more than one couple, and partner switching happens during the dance. The circle indicates which followers the leaders switch to next and the centre of the circle indicates the direction of many of the moves.

Cuban en pareja has two degrees of freedom for the movement of both leader and follower (unlike LA/NY), danced a tiempo (unlike son), and is improvised by the leader on a grid rather than being dictated in a circle (unlike rueda).

The rest of this article is about Cuban en pareja. Disclaimer: I have literally only danced Cuban salsa for 2.5 months. Read this article as “What I’ve observed” and not as “What I know to be true”. Assume that I’m just another idiot on the internet.

Resources

Most salsa videos on the internet are from the early 2010s. A handful of YouTube channels make trustworthy, high-quality, and most importantly systematised material.1

  • If you want a step-by-step explanation of basic figures, Amando Méndez’s Salsaficion has you covered. This is where I learnt my enchufla, DQN, and setenta.
  • If you want a much richer catalogue of figures, Michał Niezgoda’s La Suerte is an infinite resource.
  • If you want a more “tips and tricks” kind of approach relying more on beautifully shot demonstrations, Steven Messina has multiple helpful videos, including one where he shows the relations between figures. Unfortunately, most of the figures he teaches are behind a paywall, although he does provide an archive of dozens of livestreamed 1-hour salsa classes. He also teaches how to listen for instruments in the music.

All of these teachers dance casino. Daniel Rosas makes good videos on LA style, which can sometimes be incorporated into casino.

Like everyone else, teachers have their own “flavour” they add overtop the style of salsa they dance. That flavour usually does not have its own name, unless the teacher is called Yoel Marrero (the infamous “YM” you may see mentioned online), who calls his systematisation of casino “MCC”. The telltale signs for “YM was here” are cross-legged steps in closed position and a mandala-like foot diagram on the ground, like in this video of his students. I don’t like his system, but I appreciate that it’s a system.

General principles

Two general principles of dancing salsa before we get technical.

Body movement

Salsa is playful, not serious nor rigid. Movements are fluid and limbs should be in motion as much as possible.

When moving your arms, the impulse should come from your elbows (upper arms), whereas your hands (forearms) should lag behind and react to this movement. Think about how people do “the wave” at sports stadiums: they don’t stick their hand up, but move their upper arms and let their hands whip (with control) as a result.

For followers: always leave a gap open under your left armpit. Leaders need to be able to catch your back through that gap.

Followers can’t and shouldn’t anticipate

As a leader, when you transition to the next figure, the central principle to always remember is that the follower can’t read your mind. She does not know what you want to do next, so if the first bar of a figure looks exactly like the first bar of the last figure, she will repeat the second bar too, so to transition out of the figure, it is you who should change his second bar such that it stays compatible with her inevitable movement. More generally: if the follower does not move like you wanted her to, your signalling is always at fault.

As a follower, you shouldn’t try to anticipate the next figure, because if you guess wrong, you’ll lose track of what’s happening, and if you guess right, you’ll rush it. Letting go of control is difficult for many women at first, but what makes salsa both fun to dance and watch is that the follower is always slightly surprised. The man does the work of improvising a choreography, the woman pays attention and trust him by relinquishing control.

Posiciónes

All figures start with the leader and follower positioned relative to each other in one of three ways. If you’re a computer scientist, this may help: every figure in Cuban salsa can be interpreted as a transition between the 3 states of a finite-state machine, which are the positions described below.

Posición abierta

In posición abierta (“open position”), the leader and follower face each other. The leader’s left hand is holding the follower’s right. There is enough space between them for each to put the same foot forward at the same time.

Posición cerrada

In posición cerrada (“closed position”), the leader and follower also face each other, but now they are so close together that neither can set a foot forward. The leader’s right hand is on the follower’s left shoulder blade, and her left hand is on the leader’s right shoulder blade. Her arm passes over his, even if there is a height difference, and her elbow rests on his. The other hands are clasped together (or alternatively, the follower holds the leader’s thumb) while each elbow is held at 90° or more. If the leader wants to make it more intimate, he can move closer until his left forearm sticks to hers.

This frame has four points of contact (hands, elbows, two shoulder blades) and must be kept firm. The leader should be able to take the follower anywhere by pushing and pulling, without the frame distorting.

For a strong frame:

  • The leader has a slight, constant pull inwards with his right hand, and the follower leans back slightly to balance the force.
  • The follower’s right arm (held by the leader’s left) must be tensed such that it always makes a 90⁰ angle, allowing him to push her around.

Posición caida

In posición caída (“fallen position”), the leader sees the follower 90° to his right, such that the leader can’t move his right foot forward when she moves her left foot forward. Usually, the leader’s left hand is holding the follower’s right, and his right hand is supporting her back.

Naming this position is not usually done, but it is extremely useful. Allegedly, this naming is one of MCC’s contributions to the salsa world.

You may see caida appear in a different form: the leader and follower facing the same way, with the follower to the right of, but behind, the leader. There is more to be said about this (because people who dance like this also usually have an abierta that looks different from what I’ve described above), but for now, the only time I’ll use this parallel position is as the start of the second phrase of a sácala (see below).

Others

Depending on what you call a “figure”, there are more than three starting positions. For example, if you call the second phrase of a sácala or a Cubanita a figure in its own right, then they could be counted too. I don’t do this because the setup sequences to get there are so unique that they can just be considered part of the broader figure. (E.g.: I would say that sácala and Cubanita both start in abierta, with both partners facing each other.)

Figures

I will describe these figures as a teacher speaking to a leader (you) with a follower next to him (her), unless specified otherwise.

A note on Spanish names for figures: when figure names come from verbs, they are always in imperative form (i.e. the name commands the leader to do something). Such an imperative is used interchangeably with and without a direct object, and hence you may see these names written two different ways. Here’s what you should know:

  • Spanish has only a few verb paradigms. The most common one is for verbs whose infinitive ends in -ar, e.g. hablar (“to speak”), and the imperatives for such verbs are formed by just dropping the -r, e.g. habla (“speak!”).
  • In Spanish, direct and indirect objects are glued to the verb they belong to. Since the follower is archetypally a woman, the direct object pronoun used in figure names is -la.

Here are some examples of figures with two name variations that are in use:

  • The verb guapear means “to show off”. You can either guapea (“show off!”) or guapeala (“show her off!”).
  • The verb vacilar means “to tease”. You can either vacila (“tease!”) or vacilala (“tease her!”).
  • The verb enchufar means “to plug in”. You can either enchufa (“plug in!”) or enchufala (“plug her in!”), which is mostly shortened to enchufla when spoken quickly and with no emphasis on either part of the command.

Starting in abierta

Ending in abierta

Guapea

The default step in open position. Used to relax, to synchronise to the beat, and to allow the leader to plan the next figure.

  • Etymology: guapear means “to show off”, related to the compliments guapo (“handsome”) and guapa (“beautiful”).

  • Leader counts:
    • 1: left back.
    • 2: right in place.
    • 3: left forward.
    • 5: right forward, but less than you went backwards.
    • 6: left in place.
    • 7: right in place. release right hand.

  • Follower counts: mirror the leader. That is: when his left foot steps back, her right foot steps back, etc…

  • Arms: your left hand moves around in a clockwise circle once every bar, starting downward. This creates some movement and tension. Also:
    • 5: bring right hand palm forwards against hers, like a “stop” motion with closed fingers.
    • 6: push a little to create connection and tension. Some people grab and squeeze too.
    • 7: break contact.
  • Feet alternatives:
    • Rather than pausing on 4 and 8, you can also do a tap against the other foot with the foot that is about to move. Rather than going backward/forward immediately, it then goes sideways on the pause count. This way, your feet are in motion for all 8 counts.
    • You can also end a guapea by aligning your bodies with the connected arms, facing outwards towards an audience on your right.

  • Signal from follower POV: none, or a relaxed (i.e. with no real tension) circular motion downward on your right hand.

  • Common mistakes:
    • Doing the step on 5 sideways. This is incorrect regardless of the styling. It is always straight towards the other person. The feet that step forward (leader right, follower left) should make a straight line and the end of each foot’s movement should be along this line.
    • Hands coming together on 5 crookedly or far away from either partner. From the side, the hands should look like the prayer emoji: (1) inside the plane that runs parallel and in the middle between both bodies, and (2) upwards.
    • Not pushing hands on 5. Leader and follower need to be pushing on each other. You meet, create compressive tension, and release. That’s three phases, rather than a hesitant touch. Both dancers should be trying to keep the hands in the same point in space. If one pushes harder than the other, the other should respond by pushing back. Tension is important for figures whose signal is communicated in the second bar. If the follower does not create that tension, it’s equivalent to plugging her ears.

Vuelta derecha

A simple clockwise 360° for the follower.

  • Etymology: a vuelta is a turn and derecha is right(ward), so “rightward turn”.

  • Leader counts:
    • 1,2: guapea.
    • 3: turn your left hand so your palm faces her and hers pushes against it.
    • 5,6,7:
      • Feet: guapea, but not stepping forward too much, because you’ll inhibit her turn.
      • Arms: your left hand goes over her head. Don’t grab her hand; let her slide inside your palm.
    • 8: since your hand is now up, “wax off” to the left so it lowers again.
  • Follower counts:
    • First bar: exactly like guapea. Importantly, as a follower, do not start your turn on 3. If we took a photo of your feet on 4, people should not be able to tell that you are about to turn.
    • Second bar: three-step clockwise turn.
      • 5: left foot in front of right foot pointing slightly to the right. Start turning your body.
      • 6: rotate right foot to point away from the leader.
      • 7: 180° spin, ending with both feet together. That is: when the music hits beat 7, your feet are facing the leader.
      • 8: pause.
  • Signal from follower POV: on 3, your right hand is raised up.

Vuelta doble

A vuelta derecha, except the leader also turns.

  • Etymology: doble means double, so “double turn”.

  • Leader counts:
    • 1,2: guapea.
    • 3: bring your right hand to the wrist of the hand you are holding (her right, your left), “grabbing” but without closing the hand.
    • 5: let go with your left, and push her clockwise with your right, as you turn counterclockwise.
    • 8: re-grip her hand to reset abierta.
  • Alternatives:
    • Some followers don’t offer their hand after a vuelta doble, and instead start freestyling (doing a shine) on their own for at least 8 counts. Be prepared for this. For example, do a lateral (also called timba by my Cuban teacher), which is like guapea except sideways, swaying your hips for balance. Offer your hand to her again on 8.
  • Signal from follower POV: on 3, he brings his right hand to your right arm and puts your wrist between his thumb (bottom) and index finger (top).

Caminala

8-count figure to add some variation to your stalling, rather than relying on only guapea.

  • Etymology: from caminar (“to walk”).

  • Leader counts:
    • On 7 of the previous phrase, hold on to her hand with your right and let go with your left. Turn your body 90° to the left.
    • 1: step out with the outer foot (left).
    • 2: right foot.
    • 3: left foot.
    • 4: keeping weight on the front foot, rotate to where you started, and make her do the same by flicking her hand right and grabbing the other one with your other hand.
    • 5: step out with the still-floating outer foot (right).
    • 6: left foot.
    • 7: right foot.
    • 8: either keep left foot floating to go again, or end with feet together to stop. Switch hands again.
  • Signal from follower POV: at the end of the previous phrase, the leader turns to your right, takes you by the other hand with his empty hand, and lets go of the connection you had.

There is actually another figure which is more commonly denoted caminala. It involves walking in a box rather than a line, with only 90° turns for the follower and 180° turns for the leader. This requires way more coordination, so I won’t cover it in this beginners article. My teacher from Cuba called the above steps caminala so I trust that.

Ending in caida

Most complicated figures end in posición caida since it’s quite difficult to untangle into posición abierta directly, whilst we have the perfect tool to go from caida to abierta (di-le que no, see below).

Enchufla

8-count figure relying on a counterclockwise 180° for the follower to get from posición abierta immediately into posición caida. Best explained by teaching the half-enchufla first.

  • Etymology: from enchufar (“to plug in” or “to make settle in”) and shortened from enchufa-la (“make her settle in”).

  • Leader counts (half-enchufla):
    • The idea is that she stays put while you walk past her on the left, spinning her counterclockwise while you turn 90⁰ to 180⁰, and then undoing the process.
    • Feet:
      • 1: left back.
      • 2: right large step forward (NOT in place), crossing diagonally to pass her on her right (your left).
      • 3: let left join right and rotate on the ball 180⁰.
      • 5: right back.
      • 6: left large step forward.
      • 7: let right join left and rotate 180⁰.
    • Arms:
      • 1: switch to an overhand grip and give a heavy tug left-downward (kind of like a tricep kickback).
      • 2: move her hand across the center line, so that while your body passes her on the left, your hand passes on the right.
      • 3: put your right hand on her shoulder blade to stop her.
      • 5: push her back into position. The key to a good half-enchufla is the right arm immediately stopping her from stepping away.
  • Leader counts (full enchufla):
    • Feet:
      • 1, 2, 3, 4 of half-enchufla.
      • 5: right back.
      • 6: left in place; we’re NOT returning to where we came from, and instead stay on her left side.
      • 7: let right join left and rotate only 90⁰ back. You should now be at a 90⁰ angle with the woman, who is in the position you were in at 1, and she’s hence ready for a di-le que no (without requiring a push on 1).
    • Arms: left is always touching, with maximum tension on 5 causing (especially if you pull) a bounce back on 6; right arm scoops her armpit on 7 (and can be extended from 5 as a kind of “come give me a hug” gesture).

Enchufla doble

Sequence of a half-enchufla and an enchufla.

Sacala

24-count figure where the leader forms an arch for the follower to walk under, and then she makes a U-turn after.

  • Etymology: sacar means “to extract”, “to remove out of”, like you would “take out” trash from your house (sacar la basura) or like a doctor takes blood out of your veins. You also use it figuratively for “taking the dog for a walk” (sacar al perro).

  • Leader counts:

    • Phrase 1:
      • Feet: enchufla, but on 7, you turn an extra 90° counterclockwise so you turn your back towards her. (In her head, you are doing a normal enchufla, so it is up to you to not end in caida, not her!)
      • Arms: on 4, hand her off to your right hand and push her behind you so that rather than ending 90⁰, you both end facing the same way with your right arm extending in front of the center of her body.
    • Phrase 2:
      • Feet: guapea, but reversed and mirrored, i.e. you go forwards with your left in the first bar, and end backwards with your right in the second bar.
      • Arms: Right arm:
        • 1: push back.
        • 2: pull forward until your arm reaches your side.
        • 3: raise arm up.
        • 4: she walks under the arm.
        • 5: she does a vuelta derecha and you start lowering the arm behind her.
        • 7: punch to your side to give her extra rotation to end where she started.
    • Phrase 3: start with the same 4.
      • 5: bring her hand to your left hand.
      • 6: switch hand.
      • 7-8: turn 90⁰ clockwise, and move your right hand onto her back. She will still reset into place for a hypothetical third turn, but your turn now makes it the end position of an enchufla.

You usually open the position with a DQN in the phrase after this. Note that you can repeat phrase 2 as many times as you want, as long as she doesn’t become bored or dizzy.

  • Video: Retomando el Son Bailando Casino (although note that their DQN doesn’t start in caida).

  • Signal from follower POV: he does an enchufla but ends up showing his back to you, then uses his arm to push himself forwards and off you.

Cubanita + uno (1)

24-count figure where the leader walks back and forth behind the follower, while the follower faces away from the leader and does the same but in opposite directions, so that she can look over her shoulder to smile at him. One of the funner ways to connect, in my experience.

  • Leader counts:
    • On 8 of the previous bar, switch to your right hand.
    • Phrase 1: feet of enchufla, except for two changes:
      • You only turn 90⁰ on 3 (not 180⁰), and you don’t turn on 7, doing a paso basico on the second bar. You end up in your usual enchufla position, she ends up in front of you.
      • For the arms, you bend her arm behind her back, and on 4 you grab her left with your left.
    • Phrase 2: she does the feet of half-enchufla (like aguajea but with her back facing you), while you do paso basico, holding both her arms. (This is the repeatable part.)
      • Alternatively, both can do paso basico.
    • Phrase 2’: set up the exit by altering the second bar (you can do this during any repeat of phrase 2, perhaps even phrase 2 itself). There are two slightly different ways to do this:
      • Offset: if you observe the end position of a half-enchufla, you’ll see that you have a tendency to end up offset from her rather than landing exactly in abierta again, and you already know how to do an enchufla from there.
        • 6: once her momentum is leftward, release your LEFT HAND.
        • 7: give yourself and her extra spin so that you rotate counterclockwise by 90⁰ and she rotates clockwise 90° so she can see you to her northeast.
      • Stepping into abierta: this is more difficult, but also possible.
        • 6: while she moves left, take a big step forward towards where she was, rather than your paso basico in place. Also release her LEFT HAND.
        • 7: join your right foot with your left and rotate 90⁰ counterclockwise. You end up facing her like in an enchufla from abierta, except right-on-right.
    • Phrase 3: right-handed enchufla.
      • You can switch hands in the second bar to make it very obvious what to do next, or you can do an exhibela, or you can do a right-handed DQN where you pull her with an arm perpendicular to her path (but this is confusing).
  • Alternatives:
    • You can also not release the hand during your last repeat of phrase 2, and still go into the enchufla with your right arm. You’ll end up with your arms crossed in the second bar of the enchufla. By then doing a “crown” (where you raise both her hands and put one behind your head and the other behind hers), Cubanita turns into el uno (“1”). You are forced to do a DQN after this due to being too close to her.
  • Signal from follower POV:
    • On 8 of the previous figure, the leader swaps the hand he’s holding you with (right-on-right, crossing the middle).
    • On 1 of the next figure, he will pull on it like in an enchufla, but keep pulling down rather than starting to raise your arm overhead.
  • Video: this video includes both Cubanita and uno.

Cubanito + dos (2)

Like Cubanita, but the positions are now reversed.

  • Leader counts:
    • Phrase 1: enchufla, but you make sure to end in front of her (not next to her like a sacala). Stick out your left hand palm up behind your back, offering her to grab it.
    • Phrase 2: paso basico.
    • Phrase 3: when you want to exit, you need to prepare this at the start of the phrase.
      • First bar: momentarily let go of her right hand, turn your hand 180⁰ clockwise (elbow pit is now pointing away from her; from pronated grip to supinated grip) and let her regrab on 3. Her hand is in the same position, yours is now switched.
      • Second bar: enchufla yourself (a.k.a. enchufate) by licking your right bicep while doing a 180⁰ turn counterclockwise. You should end with crossed hands.
    • Phrase 4: let go of the left hand, and then do an enchufla like in Cubanita.
  • Alternatives:
    • You can replace the last phrase by a sombrero, which is a two-handed vacilala with a crown at the end, in which case Cubanito turns into el dos (“2”). More on the latter figure in a future article. Like in Cubanita: this variation forces you to do a DQN after.

Note: mental cues are super important in Cubanito. Stay focused. The hand switch on 1-2-3 takes planning and the enchufate + enchufla can also get confusing because the enchufate feels like an enchufla at first. To get into the sombrero for dos, you should keep your right hand raised after the enchufate for an easier vacilala.

Cubanita y Cubanito + doce (12)

You can connect a Cubanita to a Cubanito (or connect uno to dos) by turning Cubanita’s third phrase (enchufla) into Cubanito’s first phrase (enchufla ending with you in front). On the second bar of the enchufla where you exit Cubanita, make these changes:

  • Don’t hand her off to your left hand. Keep holding her with right.
  • Don’t step back to end in caida. Step forwards to walk in front of her.

In total, this figure is 6 phrases (48 counts):

  • Phrase 1: get into Cubanita.
  • Phrase 2: Cubanita.
  • Phrase 3: exit Cubanita (first bar), enter Cubanito (second bar).
  • Phrase 4: Cubanito.
  • Phrase 5: exit Cubanito.

  • Phrase 6: enchufla (making it Cubanita y Cubanito) or sombrero (making it doce (“12”)).

  • Video: Steven Messina summarises uno, dos and doce.

Half-setenta (35)

A beginner-friendly two-handed sequence consisting of a turn, an enchufla and a DQN, holding both of the follower’s hands from the start until the 6 of the enchufla.

Because the first 12 counts are identical to those of the 24-count “vuelta-setenta” (see a later article), you could2 call this a half-setenta (and, since setenta means 70, one of my follower friends joked that you could3 hence call this figure treinta y cinco, meaning 35).

  • Leader counts:
    • On 8 of the last phrase, initiate by not letting go with your right hand.
    • Phrase 1: vuelta derecha, but on 3, you move your right hand leftward and down, while the left goes up to signal a vuelta derecha. She will end with her left arm behind her back, forearm parallel to the ground.
    • Phrase 2:
      • The first bar of the enchufla untangles her.
      • In the second bar, your left hand pulls her as usual. For the right hand, move straight up while making a “server hand”, then when close enough to her, move it leftward and onto your left shoulder. (Two mental cues: “brush your left cheek” and “lick your right bicep”.) She will rest her hand there and now you’re in caida.
    • Phrase 3: DQN. Although you’ve ended in caida, the hand work prevents you from doing any other figure that starts in caida (e.g. exhibela) straight after, so you are forced to do (any variation of) DQN.

If you’re dancing with a short girl, adjust your “server hand” in two ways:

  • Bend your knees while raising your hand.

  • Instead of putting her hand behind your head, just throw it upwards and let her do the rest.

  • Signal from follower POV: all you’ll know is that he won’t let go of your left hand, so you’re now dancing with both arms connected. You still need to follow his next signal; in this case, that’s raising your right hand for a vuelta derecha, but you can’t know that just from him holding both your hands.

  • Video: Callesol shows phrase 2 and 3. They replace phrase 1 by a two-handed vacilala (which won’t be covered in this article).

Ending in cerrada

Vuelta derecha cerranda

A vuelta derecha, except for transitioning from abierta to cerrada.

  • Etymology: I made up the name. cerranda means “(while) closing”.

  • Leader counts: rather than keeping distance from her by stepping in place on the second bar, close the distance with
    • 5: right forward.
    • 6: left forward.
    • 7: right forward, and scoop her up with your right arm when she returns.
    • 8: optionally, left forward to align with your right. Not necessary, although cleaner than starting the next figure with feet diagonal.

  • Signal from follower POV: to you this is the same as a vuelta derecha, but you’ll notice that he is much closer to you when you turn around and feel his hand on your back.

  • Video: Donde Bailo in the three seconds after the linked timestamp.

For followers: make your armpit accessible, or even better, decorate your vueltas derechas with a horizontally stretched ballerina arm that automatically lands on the leader’s back in case he closes the distance.

For leaders: immediately after this, push her into paso basico (mental cue: LEFT FOOT BACK).

Starting in caida

Ending in abierta

Dile que no (DQN)

The way to open the position again. The basic idea is that in the 1st bar, you indicate the line along which she will be walking, you set her up in that direction, and then she walks past you in the 2nd bar. Online, people abbreviate it to “DQN”.

  • Etymology: interestingly, there is some debate about what the phrase “di-le que no” means. The Spanish pronoun le is the indirect object form for both male and female, meaning both “to him” and “to her”. Di-le means “tell him” or “tell her” and que no means “that no [I don’t want you]”. You would think that since this opens the position, the meaning is that the woman is telling the man she no longer wants to give the man attention from up close, so she pulls away and walks past him. However, in rueda, where enchuflas are often used to switch partners, DQN is never used for this (in fact, it is used when accepting a new follower), so some say that it is the man who tells the next follower that he doesn’t want to dance with her and will stick with the current partner for now. This matches the fact that salsa figure names command the man rather than the woman, and that it is the men who yell “No!” in rueda, not the women.

  • Leader counts:
    • 1: left forward to replace her right foot, which she moves backward at a 90⁰ angle.
    • 2: sideways step with your right (to clear the runway).
    • 3: left foot moves to the right foot, while right foot rotates 90⁰. At the same time, you drag her 90⁰ in the same direction, so that she ends up with both feet at the end of the runway, where you put your foot on 1.
    • 5: right sideways while you pull her past you with both arms.
    • 6: left crosses your right (technically in front but you can do it behind too).
    • 7: right joins left (untangling your legs) and rotate 90⁰ in place. Since she turns 180⁰ on this same count, you are now facing her in posición abierta.
  • Follower counts:
    • 1: right foot backward.
    • 2: left foot forward.
    • 3: rotate your body 90° counterclockwise, pivoting on your left foot, placing your right foot next to it.
    • 4: shift your weight to your right foot, and optionally use the ball of your left foot to tap the tip of your right foot.
    • 5-6-7: walk forwards (left, right, left) while turning 180° counterclockwise.
  • Alternatives:
    • People who end their guapea sideways usually do DQN not starting from caida, but starting with the follower one step behind the leader’s right side, facing the same way as him. In that case, the leader only turns 90° in the second bar, without turning 90° in the first.

  • Signal from follower POV: leader pushes on you while he steps forwards in your path. He is indicating “walk here please”.

  • Videos: from caida and the alternative. Note that both use perfect 90° rotations nevertheless.

  • Common mistakes:
    • By leaders:
      • Not pushing her towards where her foot needs to go on 1. You can do this push upper-handed or lower-handed, but it needs to guide her body, not just be free-floating.
      • Stomping/falling forward on 1. Your centre of mass should not move forward too much. As a check: if you can’t keep your right heel touching the ground while you step forward with left, you’re overdoing it.
    • By followers:
      • Mistaking the signal for exhibela or aguajea.
      • By far the most common mistake is to cross your legs on 5 by hooking the left leg behind the right. (My guess is that beginner followers do this because their brain thinks the tension on their back during the pause of DQN feels like posición cerrada, and hence this is a paso basico; it also happens when the follower is not paying attention while in paso basico.)
      • The second-most common mistake is to grab onto the leader’s body with the left arm on 5, which prevents him from opening the position. Don’t grab his shoulder. Don’t grab his waist. Don’t grab his arm. Do not grab. Keep sliding contact, but do not inhibit the leader’s movement.

Ending in caida

Exhibela

Also called “sacala cruzado”. Another 32-count enchufla-based figure.

  • Etymology: exhibir means “to exhibit”, with imperative exhibe, so “exhibit her”.

  • Leader counts:
    • Phrase 1: enchufla ending in caida, except you don’t end by putting your hand on her back but instead you hold her hand in front of her.
    • Phrase 2: you do a cruzado and she does a sacala in front of you.
      • Feet: cruzado.
        • 1: left foot left.
        • 2: right foot back.
        • 3: left foot right, crossing your legs.
        • 5: right foot back together with left foot.
        • 6: left foot back.
        • 7: right foot left, crossing your legs.
        • On the next 1, left foot back together with right foot.
      • Arm:
        • 1: push her back.
        • 2: pull her forward.
        • 3: up so she can walk under. Same L-shaped movement as sacala.
        • 7: push her hand away from you to create extra rotation that brings her into caida again.
    • Phrase 3: she walks the exact same line (she doesn’t know when the exhibela stops!) while on the 5-6-7 you change from cruzado to the end of an enchufla to untangle your left-over-right crossed legs (or you muddle your steps in place; I do the enchufla because it makes sense).
  • Alternatives:
    • You can do the turning with your left hand, your right hand if you transition like sacala, or even both of your hands.
  • Signal from follower POV:
    • Before the movement: you have just ended in caida, but there is more distance between you two because he is not holding your back, and he may have switched hands.
    • At the start of the movement: he pushes you back while moving his left foot sideways rather than in your path.

For leaders, make sure to prepare your mind for the exhibela in advance. At the end of the first phrase (the enchufla), you should already have the mental cue SHIFT WEIGHT LEFT in mind. Muscle memory from DQN and sacala will tell you that you should shift your weight forward, and when you decide to go into exhibela too late into the enchufla, muscle memory will take over by stepping forward, and then your body will commit to doing the exhibela, which causes you to trip on 2. If need be, you can do a wide cruzado to really give momentum.

For followers, make sure to arrive where you started on 7. You should be able to do any amount of sacalas until the leader stops you.

Ending in cerrada

We have seen only one way to go into cerrada so far (apart from just starting your dance there and never coming back to it), which is by modifying a vuelta derecha (abierta to abierta).

Dile que no cerrando

You can do a DQN (caida to abierta) to close the position. Just keep holding her shoulder blade with your right hand, and let your hands move into closed grip on 5-6-7. It just kinda works.

Exhibela cerrando

Another way to get from caida to cerrada is to meet her face-to-face at the end of an exhibela (caida to caida) by turning 90° counterclockwise in the last bar.

This shows that it is possible to close an exhibela, but is a very bad example because the follower cannot know that this exhibela is the final exhibela nor that you want to close rather than go into caida. If the leader in this video closed properly, he should have actually ended up with his back towards the camera at the end, and the follower with her face towards the camera.

We have now seen three figures that can be modified to close the position. You may have noticed that there was no figure tagged as “(abierta to caida)”, the fourth possible combination. There is no figure in this article that fits this description: except for sácala, all the abierta-to-caida figures end in an enchufla, and closing the second bar of an enchufla goes against the flow of the dance.4 To close a sácala, the leader would have to awkwardly turn 180°. In a future article, we will see that there actually is a fourth figure that fits this description and can be closed (vacilala, which becomes dile que si).

Starting in cerrada

Ending in abierta

Dile que no

See above.

Push the follower to the right on 1, causing her to step back with her right foot to your right rather than opposite you. You have now basically forced her into a tighter version of posición caida.

  • Signal from follower POV: he gives you a hard push so that your right foot lands to his right on 1, turning your body 90⁰, while he steps in your path.
    • Do not confuse this with the signal for an aguajea (see below). Yes, he will push you away while holding your back in both cases, but his left foot moves sideways in aguajea and in your space for a DQN. (And for an exhibela, he will have created distance, will have let go of your back, and may have even switched to his right hand.)

Ending in caida

Aguajea

She does an exaggerated paso basico (potentially, the full 180° turns she does during a half-enchufla), you do a cruzado.

  • Etymology: this figure has many names.
    • aguajea: imperative form of the non-existing verb aguajear, from el aguaje meaning “the tide” or “the motion of the ocean”.
    • paseala en frente: “make her pass in front of you”.
    • entrada: “entrance”. Rarely used (see e.g. here), might be a sex reference.
    • abajo / para abajo / pa’bajo / llevala pa’bajo: “(carry her) backwards”. Some people use this term to denote a more low-key version of aguajea, see e.g. here and the video here.
    • paseala: do not call this figure “paseala”. The name paseala without modifier is severely overloaded. There are at least 2 other figures called the same (one is just rotating the couple 180⁰ in posicion cerrada, the other is the woman passing in front and/or behind you like di-le que no). This problem is known. “Paseala en frente” is less known but is unambiguous. In this rueda video, you’ll see a llevala abajo and one of the other meanings of paseala.
    • guapea: obviously, do not call this figure guapea, despite what Salsaficion says.
  • Leader counts:
    • Feet: cruzado. As for exhibela, to go into aguajea, you should commit to it in advance and have the mental cue SHIFT WEIGHT LEFT in mind.
    • Arms: on 1, push her rightward like in a closed DQN. Then pull her to the middle. On 5, when you put out your right foot in the cruzado, push her leftward. Move your upper body enough to hold frame.
  • Signal from follower POV: he gives you a hard push so that your right foot lands to his right on 1, turning your body 90⁰, while he steps sideways and keeps holding your back.
    • It differs from exhibela because he’s still holding your back. It differs from DQN because he doesn’t step into your space.

Since aguajea ends in caida on 7 with the follower expecting to step back on 1 (rather than ending in cerrada), enough distance is created to do any move that starts in caida which can’t be done from cerrada (i.e. most moves that aren’t dile que no). For example, you can immediately go into exhibela this way (without needing an enchufla) by letting go of the frame and pulling her on 2. You can also switch hands for easier signalling.

  • Video: Salsa Cork for a very exaggerated 180° aguajea, followed immediately by exhibela.

Ending in cerrada

Pal medio

Half-tempo sidestep in cerrada.

  • Etymology: short for para el medio (“towards the middle”), referring to how this figure is used to synchronise couples at the start of a rueda (see e.g. the start of this flashmob). Sometimes it’s called al centro.

  • Leader counts:
    • On the 7 of the last phrase, spread your legs by moving your right foot outward.
    • 1: left foot inward.
    • 3: left foot outward.
    • 5: right foot inward.
    • 7: right foot outward.
  • Follower counts: mirrored.

Note that pal medio does not start with feet together, unlike other figures. The legs are put together as the first step, on 1. Spreading your feet as the first step is not correct.

Pal medio is not really used between figures, but it is a great way to synchronise your follower to the beat at the start of your dance. The usual approach would be to go into either paso son or paso basico once she is with you, so that you are dancing on all 8 counts and in sync.

Paso son

Full-tempo pal medio. Every time a foot is joined by another foot, it steps in-place.

  • Leader counts:
    • On the 7 of the last phrase, spread your legs by moving your right foot outward.
    • 1: left foot inward.
    • 2: right foot in place.
    • 3: left foot outward.
    • 5: right foot inward.
    • 6: left foot in place.
    • 7: right foot outward.
  • Follower counts: mirrored.

Leaders, beware: paso son followed by cruzado, e.g. when going to aguajea or exhibela, is even more difficult than paso basico followed by cruzado. There are two reasons for this:

  1. The first count of paso son moves the left foot rightward. The first count of cruzado moves the left foot leftward.
  2. The last count of paso son spreads your legs apart, whilst usually it is the first count of cruzado that also spreads your legs apart. When your legs are spread more, it is more difficult to lift any foot because gravity has a better moment arm to make you fall over, and hence you will lose balance.

To remedy this issue, do not step left by any amount on 1. Instead, step rightwards to close your legs by any amount so that your balance increases again. In other words, you need the complete opposite mental cue to the one you normally have to go into cruzado: SHIFT WEIGHT RIGHT.

Paso basico

Simple backstepping in cerrada.

  • Etymology: paso is “step” and basico is “basic”. The English name for this figure is “Cuban basic step”.

  • Leader counts:
    • Feet: similar to guapea, but with three changes:
      • The 5 is backwards instead of forwards.
      • When a foot moves back, it is placed behind the other.
      • When a foot moves back, you rotate your body 45° such that your legs stay open despite putting one foot behind the other.
    • Arms:
      • 1: you can either choose to push forward (in the sagittal plane) or downward pointing to the ground (in the coronal plane). Either way, you stretch your left arm.
      • 3: return to your initial position.
      • 5: you will naturally slightly raise your left hand in the coronal plane.
      • 7: back in starting frame.

  • Follower counts: mirror the leader.

  • Alternatives:
    • For the feet, you can tap (not step) on 4 and 8 with the foot that is about to move, similar to the 8-move guapea. You can do this by flexing your ankle down when accelerating backward, grazing the ground rather than tapping in-place.
    • For the arms, see above.
  • Signal from follower POV: he will step back while either pushing you back or pushing your hand down.
    • Even when the push is backward, it’s hard to confuse with DQN since the push for DQN is harder and puts you at 90° from him, and he steps forward rather than back.

Son montuno

Paso basico is backwards. Paso son is left-to-right. Son montuno is front-to-back.

  • Etymology: as far as I know, “son montuno” literally means “mountain sound”. Perhaps the name derives from the son, the dance, and perhaps this is how villagers in the mountains used to dance son rather than using paso son.
    • Salsaficion calls this step pa’ti, pa’mi, but as we will see in a future article, that name is used much more commonly for a different figure.
  • Video: Dance Papi

Cross-body lead (CBL)

Some backstory: LA-style salsa does not have a DQN, because during a DQN, followers make a 90° turn in their walk at some point, which is illegal in LA. Instead, the equivalent in LA style is the cross-body lead (CBL), which has the exact same leader steps as in casino, whilst the follower does not turn in the first bar.5 If this was casino, it would be problematic for the leader to do his 90° turn whilst the follower doesn’t. However, since a figure in LA style cannot start/end in caida, CBL starts with both facing each other, so the fact that the follower doesn’t turn whilst the leader does is no problem.

You can do a CBL after any of the closed steps above (except pal medio, since it’s half-tempo).

  • Leader counts:
    • First bar:
      • 1: left in place.
      • 2: right in place.
      • 3: turn 90° away from her, pivoting on your right foot.
    • Second bar: exactly like a dile que no cerrando.
  • Follower counts:
    • First bar: whatever step you were doing before.
    • Second bar: walk like the second bar in DQN, turning 180°.

  • Signal from follower POV: he turns away from you, as if his body is a door that opens, offering you a walkway.

  • Video: Addicted2Salsa, who dance LA style, and Steven Messina, who dances casino.

Vuelta derecha cerrada

Finally, something that isn’t just stepping!

Despite being in cerrada, nothing is stopping you from raising your left hand on 3 by loosening the frame. She turns clockwise, and returns back into your frame at the end.

  • Leader counts: paso basico, but breaking frame on 3 and pushing onto her back on 5.

  • Follower counts:
    • First bar: paso basico.
    • Second bar: either a turn in-place (like vuelta derecha) or a walking turn (like exhibela).
  • Video: Salsaficion (although they call it sácala) and La Suerte (although they call it la chica).

Longer sequences

As a leader, it helps to have pre-built sequences in mind so that you don’t have to improvise after every 8 counts. From the above figures, here are some bigger building blocks to insert into any dance:

  • Close, exhibela, open:
    1. Guapea
    2. Vuelta derecha to cerrada
    3. Paso basico
    4. Paseala en frente (aguajea)
    5. Exhibela from cerrada
    6. Dile que no
  • Cubanita and/or Cubanito
    • If you end these with an enchufla + DQN, you can do an exhibela in between.
  • Double turn, double enchufla, double sacala:
    1. Vuelta doble
    2. Vuelta derecha
    3. Half-enchufla
    4. Enchufla
    5. Sacala
    6. Dile que no
  • Setenta lite:
    1. Guapea
    2. Vuelta derecha with both hands
    3. Enchufla with both hands
    4. Dile que no cerranda
    5. Dile que no, possibly after aguajea + exhibela

I attended my first salsa party after 5 classes, knowing only guapea, the two vueltas, the two enchuflas, dile que no, and paso basico. With just that very reduced instruction set, you can already start stringing infinite sequences together, where vuelta derecha is a 3-way decision point (close, stay open, or go into one of the enchuflas and a DQN) where all the surprise happens. It worked.

Final thoughts

Salsa is perhaps the best hobby I’ve taken up since photography. It is cerebral (for leaders) since we have to systematise, memorise and improvise, and it gives a neat excuse to mingle with women who want to be mingled with – that is, when you offer to interact with them, they almost always happily accept, and at parties, they either don’t drink at all or do it with enough moderation to be able to still follow the lead. It’s also a light cardio workout (depending on the BPM of the songs).

Regular night life is literally the opposite of this, filled with women who (strangely) go out with the attitude of wanting to be engaged with as little as possible, drinking themselves into a state of impeded cognition, and flailing their limbs, alone, to the same early-2010s pop hit being played wherever the floor is sticky from spilled beer stinking up the place. Salsa is dignified. Sign up to salsa classes now!

  1. What it means to systematise dance is to convert figures from one continuous motion (which is what dance is, and what it looks like on video) to sequences of reusable building blocks that are discrete in time (e.g. one phrase is only 8 counts, one figure consists of one or more standalone phrases, …) and in space (feet locations exist on some kind of grid with a finite amount of possibilities; in salsa, that’s a rectangular grid). The system gives one canonical way of doing each figure, and styling happens around those canonical rules. The alternative to a system is that all figures are learnt through “feeling” and require memorising the full continuous movements. The debate between system vs. feeling is like the debate between phonics (words contain syllables containing letters, and there are patterns in how words are formed) vs. look-say (there is no pattern in how words are formed, and you should just memorise them in their entirety by association with what they look like in the physical world). ↩︎

  2. SalsaSelfie proposes the name setenta con alarde, but I don’t like this because (1) it is an ambiguous search term since many people use this name for different figures (see here and here for two), (2) the figure I am describing here is clearly too short to be called a setenta, and (3) I disagree with SalsaSelfie that the movement where the leader hands off the follower’s hand over his head should be called alarde, because (3a) that movement is already unambiguously called a coronate by Salsaficion, and (3b) the name alarde is already in use to mean a kind of single-handed hook turn where the leader switches hands behind his back (see here and here and here). ↩︎

  3. There only exist a couple of videos on the internet with figures supposedly called “35”. I could find three: one seems to be two two-handed vueltas dobles followed by an exhibela (but it is French and gay), another is an insane choreography, and the last one coincidentally has the exact same initial 12 counts as what I’ve called 35 in this article; the last 4 counts end in cerrada rather than ending in caida. Not a bad idea to call it 35 after all! ↩︎

  4. Notice how the leader closes a vuelta, exhibela and DQN. In all three cases, he “appears” in front of the follower somewhat unexpectedly, since she wasn’t moving towards him. In an enchufla, she is already being pulled in and/or walking towards you. La Suerta says you can do it, but to me, this violates the flow. ↩︎

  5. If I’m not mistaken, the proper term for this figure in LA style is “CBL without open break”. (An “open break” just means going from closed position to open position, since you “break open” the frame.) ↩︎