When we dance salsa, we are dancing across 2 musical bars of 4 counts, so 8 counts in total. Normally, we don’t step on every count. This is why teachers are always shouting “1,2,3 …5,6,7…” at us. We can, in fact, step on any of these beats, especially when we are out of partner hold and a bit freer to play with the music. If you want to learn about this, you should try our Saturday Salsa Workshops! In this newsletter we will focus on how we dance with a partner. In partner work it is more important that we are on the same timing.
In Salsa Bangor we mainly teach Cuban Salsa. Cuban salsa is generally danced on1, or a tiempo (on time). This means our “break step” (the big one forward or back) is on the first beat of the bar. On1 is fun and forceful and bangs along with the track. If you have danced Son, however, you will have noticed that it feels quite different because the break step is on the second beat of the bar. In a Son class, you will hear “…2,3,4…6,7,8”, if the teachers are using numbers. If you have learnt on1 first, Son can feel like you’re dancing against the music because you have been programmed to emphasise the 1. Dancing on2 is called contratiempo (against time). It can feel smoother, more flowing, and somehow later, as if you have more time to play with.
Crossbody salsa, which is danced along a line, can be danced on1 or on2. Dancing crossbody on2 is slightly different again. It involves stepping on the first beat but emphasising the second and sixth beats – these are the break steps in on2. This gives you more time to execute complex and spinny turn patterns and still have time left for musical interpretation. Crossbody on2 is sometimes called New York salsa, or mambo. Crossbody on1 is sometimes called LA style. These names reflect the fact that the crossbody styles developed mid 20th century when there was mass migration to the USA from Cuba and Puerto Rico and when salsa became infused with jazz, big band music, and the dance styles that were popular in the US and Europe. In the last newsletter we looked at how salsa music developed in this time.
People often ask whether there is a difference between on1 and on2 music. Well, yes and no. You candance both styles to any music. However, there are tracks that lend themselves to on1 dancing and tracks that lend themselves to on2 dancing. This is dictated by the clave; the instrument which is key to all salsa music. The first strike of the clave falls on either the first beat or the second beat in the eight beats we dance across in salsa. There are many genres of music within what we call salsa, so, as with many things, it is better to think of it as a spectrum. It is difficult to dance on2 to some music, and difficult to dance on1 to other music, but most music falls somewhere in the middle, and you can dance either with varying degrees of ease. Knowing this might help you understand why you struggle to “find the 1” in some tracks. It could be because the music is more suited to on2.
Of course, the more styles you know and the more ways you can interpret the music, the better. Learning to dance on2 when you first learnt on1, or vice versa, can feel a bit like learning a new language; you are suddenly trying to express yourself in an unfamiliar way. It can take a while to grasp the difference and become fluent in both. Just knowing that both exist is a good thing. Son classes and cha cha cha classes are good introductions to dancing on2, if you are interested; they are covered in our change of style classes which happen on the fifth Thursday of the month, if there is one. Our next change of style classes are 29th May and will be cha cha cha.
There is a lot more to salsa rhythms and salsa styles, even to the clave alone. There is a lifetime of knowledge to gather! These newsletters are just the basics and just the beginning.