The basic step of casino is called guapea (also pausa). The leader steps the left foot slightly back instead of forward, as in many other salsa styles. Partners face each other and move in a circle around each other, not in a straight line.
⏱️ Timing: a tiempo or contratiempo
A tiempo: you step on beats 1 and 5. This is how casino is danced most today.
Contratiempo: the traditional way. You do not step on 1 and 5, and stress 4 and 8 instead. Your feet add an extra rhythmic layer to the music.
🔄 Figures
Casino is a led improvisation dance: the leader chooses the figures on the spot, to the music. Common basic figures are:
Timba dancing is Cuban popular dance at its most intense — improvisational, Afro-Cuban in its movement vocabulary, and directly responsive to the music's gear changes, coros, and rhythmic explosions.
Cuban rumba is an Afro-Cuban music and dance genre characterized by complex rhythms, call-and-response vocals, and expressive, often flirtatious movements, rooted in African and Spanish traditions.
Havana, the cultural heartbeat of Cuba, played a central role in the creation and evolution of several iconic Cuban dances. Some were born directly in the capital, while others were transformed there into the forms we know today.
Cha-cha-chá was created around 1953 in Havana by violinist Enrique Jorrín, who simplified the danzón-mambo of the charanga orchestras so dancers could follow it. Named after the sound of the dancers' triple step, it became an international craze in the 1950s.
Mambo grew out of danzón and son in late-1930s Havana, through musicians like Orestes López and Arsenio Rodríguez. Dámaso Pérez Prado turned it into an explosive big-band sound in Mexico City, and in the 1950s it became a worldwide dance craze centred on New York's Palladium.
Casino is the Cuban partner dance born in the social clubs (casinos deportivos) of Havana in the 1950s. It is what Cubans call their own social dance — distinct from, and older than, what the rest of the world calls "salsa."
Son dance is the foundation of all Cuban popular partner dancing — smooth, intimate, grounded, and musical. Every Cuban dance style that followed (mambo, casino, timba) builds on the body vocabulary and structure established by son.
Reggaetón moves have become a regular part of timba dancing. You see them mostly during the bomba and other heavy, bare moments in the montuno, when dancers break away from their partner.
Despelote is the most explosive individual dance style in timba — a full-body release of energy that happens during the high-intensity bomba sections of a timba song.
Suelta is dancing apart from your partner, solo — in son, casino and timba. In timba it is more grounded and contained than despelote — a cooler, more controlled individual expression that still responds directly to the music.
In open position partners stand apart, holding one or two hands or briefly letting go altogether. There is room for bigger figures, turns and styling, which suits the energetic parts of the music, such as the marcha arriba.
In the 20th century New York was the second home of Cuban music. Here Afro-Cuban jazz and the mambo craze of the Palladium Ballroom were born, and later salsa.
Known for its complexity and rich fusion of musical influences, incorporates a variety of rhythmic and stylistic shifts known as "gears" or "cambios de marcha". These gear changes are pivotal in adding dynamism and excitement to the music, often leading to a heightened response from the audience, especially dancers. While Timba gears can vary widely from one band or song to another, reflecting the genre's emphasis on creativity and innovation, there are several identifiable types that are commonly employed:
The bomba is the peak of a timba song: a heavy, funky groove in which the bass takes the lead, the piano steps back, and the conga and timbal play at full power. For dancers it is the moment for despelote and free movement.
In timba (a Cuban music style related to salsa, but with stronger influences from funk,
Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz), a "masacote" usually refers to a powerful, rhythmic burst in the music.
It is a short, intense moment where the instrumentation — especially the rhythm section — becomes extra groovy, syncopated or funky.