Salsa for Beginners

Students will learn the New York Style Salsa: it is danced on the second beat of the music ("on 2"), and the follower steps forward on the first measure of the music, not the leader.

Salsa on 2 is the modern version of the Mambo, a partnered dance created in New York city to the music of the same name composed by Perez Prado in the 1940's and 50's Cuba. Salsa dancers are joyous, passionate and fully immersed in the music and movement, whilst at the same time dazzling on-lookers with intricate spins and turns. The original mambo dance was intuitive and described as "feeling the music" in which sound and movement were merged through the body. New York Salsa on 2 was popularized in the 70s by 1st and 2nd generation Puerto Rican arrivals in New York , and amongst them Eddie Torres who designed the structure for contemporary Salsa on 2. Today, New York Salsa on 2 is danced in nightclubs, dance clubs and community halls all over the city.