Rueda Hand Signs (Part 30) Setenta Y Cinco

Setenta Y Cinco is one of the four Setenta moves taught at level 3 of the Tiempo España Dance Academy Syllabus. Like all Setenta moves taught in our dance school it starts with a Mini Setenta and ends with an Enchufla Ronde. The key element, however, that makes this move different from other Setenta variations is that at the end of the Mini Setenta, leaders will go to the right hand side of the follower keeping all hands connected. This puts both dancers in a nice position where they are joined together using both hands but without being too restricted and still being able to look at each other. In this position the couple turns clockwise for one 8-count continuing to look at each other before the leader turns out of this position underneath their own right hand.

While this move is not particularly difficult to learn, it looks and feels nice to both followers and leaders. The key element described above, that is introduced in this move, is included in various more difficult variations so it is a good feature to get used to. While social dancing many people may repeat this feature various times due to the fact that it is easy enough to achieve and looks and feels nice as well as giving leaders the time to think about their next moves although it is recommended not to exaggerate the turn as multiple repetitions will quickly become monotonous and less enjoyable for everyone unless they are at least varied by the use of alardes, creative footwork etc.

The move name “Setenta Y Cinco” has no special meaning and is simply a number given to this move to distinguish it from others. I.e. while the move can be translated as 75, the meaning is more like saying “the fifth variation of Setenta”. It is in essence one of the many moves in Cuban salsa where no clever name was invented initially so it simply became known by this number to differentiate it from other moves. That being said, many dance schools and Rueda groups have categorised their own variations of Setenta as Setenta Y Cinco so this move name has become very ambiguous in terms of what is meant by it in the dance community internationally.

The name of the move consists of the hand sign for Setenta, followed by the hand sign of Cinco which is simply the palm-side of the hand being displayed to the Rueda such that the amount of fingers shown signal the number five.