Rueda Formations (Part 2)

As discussed in the previous post, there are five structural formations in Ruedas that either start the Rueda (la Entrada) or end it (el Fin) or determine which type of handhold is being used. The Tiempo España formation uses a closed hand hold while the Para el Medio formation uses an open hand hold. The most common formation (Casino) uses a semi-open handhold where leaders and followers hold each other with one hand only giving them both enough space and flexibility to be able to execute the vast majority of Cuban salsa moves.

For each formation there is a plethora of moves although most moves require the Rueda to be in the Casino formation. After each move the Rueda automatically goes back into the formation that started the move i.e. if the Rueda is in the La Entrada formation and Mexicano is called then at the end of Mexicano the Rueda will automatically go back to La Entrada. Similarly, if the move Cero is called from Para el Medio then after Cero we go back to Para el Medio. For most moves this is fairly straight forward as they are usually designed for a specific formation so it makes intuitive sense to go back to the same formation afterwards. However, there are some moves such as Exhibela, Sacala, Pa Dentro Y Pa Fuera etc. which can be executed from various formations so dancers have to remember which formation started the move. I.e. Exhibela from Casino finishes with a Dile Que No such that the dancers end up back in Casino from where they started the move. However, Exhibela from Tiempo España will end in Tiempo España again so no Dile Que No is used at the end of the move.

Particularly, in Tiempo España, dancers need to be careful to remember not just the initial formation but also the direction of the Rueda i.e. if Pa Dentro Y Pa Fuera is executed while the Rueda is in Tiempo España going in the “Arriba” direction then after the move the Rueda should automatically go back into Tiempo España and continue moving in the “Arriba” direction. Similarly if we call Montuno while the Rueda is in Tiempo España going “al Centro” then this direction should be continued at the end of the move.

It is important to remember that whenever we lose, even just momentarily, the direction of the Rueda in Tiempo España we need to re-initiate the direction by taking the first step into the opposite direction to gain momentum and for leaders to provide a signal to followers. Therefore, this applies for moves like Exhibela or Sacala in Tiempo España while it is not applicable to moves like un Tarro where the direction is not lost while the move is going on.