Posts tagged Salsa

Five couples from the dance team for Strictly Street Salsa demonstrate some freestyle Cuban Casino Rueda dancing at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) on July 30, 2010. In case the video is not clear enough for you to tell, the Salsa band and the dancers are actually performing just a few feet away from large dinosaur skeletons in one of the Museum’s main exhibit halls! It has become a tradition for the HMNS to sponsor a series of “Mixers & Elixirs” every summer, with live bands appearing each Friday evening inside the Museum. At least a few bands each summer play Salsa music, including Yelba & Latin Fire on July 30th. And, whenever a Latin band plays, an instructor from Strictly Street Salsa usually teaches a basic Salsa/Merengue lesson for the crowd to learn a little about how to dance to Latin music. This time Strictly Street Salsa added a Cuban-style Rueda demonstration after the dance lesson, just as the band started its second set. The song is Yelba & Latin Fire’s version of “El Cuarto de Tula,” which is a Cuban classic. The song was made most famous by the Buena Vista Social Club. This style of dancing Salsa in a circle format is called “Casino Rueda” or “Rueda de Casino” or “Salsa Rueda.” A caller shouts the names of (or gives hand signals for) specific moves, then the dancers execute them in unison. Casino Rueda is often described as “the Salsa version of square dancing” — but with a little more excitement. This improvised freestyle is being called …