Casino (Cuban salsa) has its roots in several dances, including danzón, chachachá and son (although some would also add Cuban mambo and swing, which did indeed play a role).
Among these 3 main dances at the origin of casino:
- Danzón: seen more as a “seniors’ dance”, better suited to the older generation.
- Chachachá: although popular in the 1950s, it hasn’t really lasted as a social dance. Most people don’t know how to dance chachachá through a whole song. Most often people slip the chacha basic step into a dance and nothing more.
- Son: this is the dance that has stood the test of time as a social dance. It has surely lasted because son is very similar to Cuban salsa (casino). Let’s not forget that salsa is also danced to son music.
So how can learning son bring something to your Cuban salsa (casino)?
Son and casino (Cuban salsa) are two different dances, but son can benefit the way you approach the music you dance Cuban salsa to.
The benefits of son for Cuban salsa
Let’s look at the main benefits of knowing how to dance son for your Cuban salsa.
1- Travelling across the floor
While in dance schools you learn moves and turns, son influences Cuban salsa by bringing travelling steps: moving your partner around the space while dancing, rather than just dancing on the spot.
In the following video, you can see the dancers literally cross the whole room while dancing, thanks to these travelling steps:
These walks (or “paseos”) can easily be integrated into your Cuban salsa, sometimes transformed as in the “tornillo”, a move where the man stays in the same spot while the woman walks around him, making him turn, as in this video:
Adding son steps to your casino makes it more beautiful and more varied.
2- Dancing contratiempo
The other benefit of adding son to your Cuban salsa is that you will learn to dance contratiempo (off the beat).
Dancing on the beat is dancing tiempo, in time, on the beat. So when you dance contratiempo, you dance on 2. Son is therefore a dance danced on 2 (or “on two”).
Why is it important to learn to dance contratiempo, or on 2?
Well, beyond the count you dance on, son has a link with musicality.
The structure of a son song is as follows:
- Largo: slower introductory section
- Montuno: faster section than the largo
Musicians dance the largo contratiempo (on 2), as in the following video (up to 1:09):
There is a real difference between the two sections, not only in the way each instrument is played, but also in the dance, as here in this dance between Sony and Daybert Linares:
In the video, the largo ends at 1:28, then the montuno comes in, then they go back to dancing on 2 at the end of the song, when it slows down.
Knowing how to dance on 2, contratiempo, lets you interpret songs even better when you dance to them. Once you have learnt contratiempo and started trying to dance on the largo of a song, you will notice a big difference in how your dance feels and how well it matches what the instruments are doing (especially the bass and the congas).
3- Son as music
Learning son lets you dance to music you may not dance to yet. We are talking here about music that isn’t played at salsa parties.
Indeed, some casino or Cuban salsa dancers may not be able to dance to certain songs.
Here is a son dance to salsa music:
Conclusion: the benefits of knowing the basics of son for your Cuban salsa
Learn to dance son, not only because it will help your Cuban salsa (casino) by giving you new moves to add to your dance, but also because it will help you interpret, musically, the songs you dance to.
Dance son, too, to discover loads of great songs from Cuba that you otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to dance to.
