When dancing Casino, particularly in Ruedas, we often hear
different words for the same move, especially when dancing in different
geographical areas. However, one thing that they all have in common is the fact
that a large proportion of the names are in Spanish. This is one of the many
aspects that has increased the popularity of this dance internationally as it
provides a common platform for people around the world to understand each other
and communicate basic Rueda commands without the need for dancers to speak the
same language as the caller.
Spanish being the language spoken in Cuba, was the original
language used to name Casino moves and this tradition has been followed to this
day even when moves are invented in non-Spanish speaking countries, aside from
a small number of exceptions.
That being said, many names have evolved over time to mean
something different in the dance context than the literal translation of the
Spanish word. Examples are the move “vacilala” which can literally be
translated as “to tease her” but has evolved in a Casino context to mean “show
her off” or “check her out”.
Moreover, some Cuban Spanish words have a different meaning
to begin with compared to the equivalent word in other Spanish speaking
countries. I.e. the move “tarro” means “affair” in Cuban Spanish and “head” in
most other Spanish speaking countries. When the move is called in a Rueda we
effectively move from one partner to the next. This is taken to mean that we
are cheating on our current partner by dancing with the next partner, so it is
the Cuban Spanish meaning of the word “tarro” that gives the move its humorous
context.
Finally, the fact that Ruedas have to be called quickly
while music is playing in the background has led to a number of names being
shortened leading to certain names not making sense from a grammatical
perspective or even just in terms of their literal meaning. I.e. the dance
formation “Tiempo España” can literally be translated as “Time Spain” which are
simply two nouns juxtaposed that would be hard to understand without analysing
the history of this move and the expression on its own is clearly wrong in
terms of grammar. However, the move refers to the time of Spanish colonial
control when Cubans observed the close hold Spanish people adapted when dancing
western dances which became popular in Son Cubano and eventually led to the
close-hold form of Casino. The name of the move is therefore a shortened
version of a description such as “Close-hold formation as was observed at the Time of Spanish colonial control when
Cuban dance forms were influenced by dance forms from Spain – a sentence that would be impossible to convey in a Rueda
other than condensing it to a short-form version such as the name we are
familiar with today.
