Salsa Dancing: Men's Cuban Step

Series Summary

Salsa is a Latin dance and musical style that was introduced to the United States during the Cuban and Puerto Rican immigration, between the 1940s and the 1970s. There is some debate as to the origins of salsa, but the rhythm is a fusion of traditional African and Cuban and other Latin-American rhythms, including the Mambo and the Rumba. Salsa dancing is one of the most popular dances worldwide, and because the rules of the dance allow for a lot of creative improvisation, many different styles have developed, including Miami style, Puerto Rican style, New York style, L.A. style and Cuban style. In this free salsa dancing video series, two dance instructors demonstrate several salsa dancing solo steps called 'shines.' See simple salsa steps like the front tap, toe taps and tightropes, as well as more involved footwork like the One-Two-Suzy-Q and the Cuban step. Learn all of these steps for both men and women, and find out how to personalize each step to make them more masculine or feminine. Get in the spotlight at the local night club with these great salsa dancing techniques.

Video Transcript

"Hi guys, we're going to do now, we're going to teach you now what's called the Cuban Step. Take a look, I'm going to demonstrate it first. With a basic five, six, seven. One, two, three, five, six, seven, one, two, three, five, six, seven, one, two, three, five, six, basic, one, two, three, five and stop. One time from the back. Five, six, basic, one, two, three, five, six, together, one, two, three, five, six, seven, one, two, three, five and stop. O.k., So guys, what we're doing here is we're doing the basic but we're now, instead of going forward and back, we're going to the left and to the right, o.k. So from here, we're going to cut the basic out, we're just going to go right in to the Cuban Step. What you're going to do guys, you're going to step to the left, on one, step in place with your right leg on two, together on three. For your second half, we're just stepping out with our right leg on five, in place six, together seven. So its one and place together, five and place together. O.k., so this one again guys, it's just like the basic, but with this one we want to add a little bit of flavor to it. O.k., so I'm going to do it looking at you guys. When we go out on one, guys I want you to take your shoulder and I want you to lean with your shoulder and together on three. Going to the right side, again lean with the shoulder, together on seven, o.k. So nice and slow it's one, two, three, five, six, seven. O.k., with the basic, five, six, seven. One, two, three, five, six, seven, one, two, three, five and step."