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."
Casino emerged in the late 1950s in Havana's social clubs — casinos deportivos that served the Cuban middle class. These were not gambling casinos but social-athletic clubs where people gathered to dance, socialize, and compete. The name casino stuck to the dance style practiced there.
Casino grew from son dancing but absorbed the faster tempos and showier figures of the mambo era. It developed as a circular, improvisational, highly social dance form — different in character from the linear, slotted style of New York mambo/salsa.
What distinguishes Casino from other Latin partner dances:
Casino's greatest contribution to world dance culture is the Rueda de Casino — a group format where multiple couples form a circle (rueda), and a caller (cantante or líder) shouts figure names, and all couples execute the same figure simultaneously.
Rueda de Casino is:
When Cuban music and dancers reached New York and other diaspora communities in the 1960s–70s, Casino became part of the foundation from which "salsa" dance developed. But Cubans draw a clear distinction:
The debate over which is "authentic" is somewhat beside the point — both are valid traditions. But for dancers working with timba music specifically, Casino is the natural partner: the dance was developed for Cuban music, by Cuban dancers, in Cuba.
Casino remains the dominant social partner dance in Cuba. In the diaspora, Casino awareness has grown enormously since the 1990s, driven by timba music and Cuban dance teachers traveling internationally. Many "salsa" dancers internationally have discovered Casino as a distinct tradition worth learning in its own right.