A Description of Salsa

Salsa is danced by stepping on 3 consecutive beats of music and then pausing for 1 beat, then repeating. The step timing can be thought of as step, step, step, pause; step, step, step, pause. Dance teachers count the step timing as quick, quick, slow; quick, quick, slow. Each quick consumes one beat of music, each slow consumes two beats of music. Depending on how you hear and feel the music, you may start the dance on any beat of the measure you wish. Most beginners start the dance on the first beat of the measure.

Though salsa is danced at approximately twice the tempo of the Rumba, the two dances share much in common. Salsa and Rumba music are both written in 4/4 time, with four beats to each measure. Two measures of music are required to complete one full basic step. In the music, the heavy beat is the one beat, the first beat of the measure. While the music tempo of rumba is typically 104 beats per minute, the music tempo of salsa is typically 180 to 210 beats per minute.

In both dances three steps are taken during each measure of music. In other words, three steps are taken to four beats of music. Recall that the step timing is counted quick, quick, slow; quick, quick, slow. Learning to count the music correctly is the first big hurdle for beginners. Students are seldom able to understand the dance fully until they are able to count the music and the step timing correctly. Notice that the cow bell sounds on the first and third beats of each measure.