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Salsa is a pot in which several Latin and Afro-Caribbean dances melted.
Salsa is a difficult dance to define. Who invented it? The Cubans? The Portoricans? Each played an important role in its existence.
Salsa is similar to mambo as both have a basic model of 6 steps danced on a tune of 8 beats. The two dances share many similar movements. In salsa, turning around has become a salient feature, so the overall image and feeling are pretty different from mambo’s. Mambo consists of back and forth movements, whereas salsa tends to rely on lateral movements.
Salsa is not only a Cuban dance. However, we are duty-bound to give credit to Cuba for the origin of the dance. It is there, in Cuba, where Contra-Danze (Country Dance) from England / France, later on called Danz-n, brought by the French leaving Haiti, started to melt into African rhumba dances (from Guaguanco, Colombia, Yambu). Cuban’s son joined the equation, as a mixture of Spanish soneros and African drum beats.
The merger also occurred, to smaller extents and in various forms, in other countries such as the Dominican Republic, Columbia, and Porto Rico. The bands from these countries took their music to Mexico City in the era of the famous movies that were shot in Mexic (for instance Perez Prado). Shortly afterwards, a similar movement took the music to New York. It is in these two cities, Mexico City and New York, where this music was promoted and developed and which generated commercial music due to the investments made there. New York coined the term “salsa”, but did not create the dance itself. The term became popular as the nickname of a variety of tunes from some Hispanic-influenced countries: Rhumba, Son Montuno, Guaracha, Mambo, Cha cha cha, Danzon, Son, Guguanco, Cubop, Guajira, Charanga, Cumbia, Plena, Bomba, Festejo, Merengue, etc. Many of these developed independently, but some merged to create “salsa”.
Should you listen to salsa today, you will find a basic son, while also hearing cumbia and guaracha. You will also hear some old merengue, built into the rhythm of different songs. Among the modern tunes, you will get a chance to hear many old styles.
Salsa depends on the place where you are. For instance, in New York, the new instruments, alongside the extra percussion were added to some Columbian songs so that the New Yorkers – who dance mambo “on the two” – can feel comfortable dancing on the rhythm and beat of the song, since the original arrangement is not one they can easily recognize.
Salsa is like a tree: it has several roots and branches, but has a common body that unites them all. The important thing is that salsa is danced all over the Hispanic world and was influenced by many of these places. This is everybody’s dance and a telling example of our flexibility and evolution. If you think that one single place can claim the paternity of salsa, you are wrong. And if you think that a dance style is better, imagine that the best dancer of one style goes without his / her partner in a club where a different style is danced. He / she will not be as good as the locals. Each dancer is used to dance his / her own style.
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Last update:31/07/2010
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