Salsa Counting Systems

Something that confuses the beginner is that three different counting styles can be used. I’ll call these three styles 1) Salsa on one. 2) Ballroom Mambo, and 3) New York club-style mambo on two. In salsa on one, the break step occurs on count one, the first beat of the measure. The replace step occurs on count 2 and the slow step occurs on counts 3 and 4. In Ballroom Mambo, the break step occurs on count 2, the second beat of the measure. The replace step occurs on count 3 and the slow step occurs on counts 4 and 1. In New York Club-Style Mambo on 2, the break step occurs on count 2, the second beat of the measure. The replace step is also the slow step and this step consumes beats 3 and 4.

The most popular way of teaching salsa is with the break step occurring on count one, the first beat of the measure. The replace step occurs on count 2 and the slow step occurs on counts 3 and 4. Most salsa dancers perform a tap step on the second half of the slow step. In other words, the tap step occurs on the fourth beat of the measure. The step timing could now be counted 123 TAP 567 TAP. The tap occurs on count 4 and on count 8. The tap step is optional and notice that this step does not entail a weight change. With the tap step included, we now do something on each beat of the four-beat measure. We step on counts 1,2, and 3 and we tap on count 4. Since steps are taken only on counts 123 and 567, patterns are normally counted out using the number series 123, 567, 123, 567.