Hi, my name is John and I'm a salsaholic...

My name is John and I'm a salsaholic! I came to dancing pretty late in life but I've enjoyed every moment of it.

My first encounter with dancing was cross-body salsa but although I was fine during classes and picked up the routines quickly, I didn't get to grips with freestyle and so for me it fell by the wayside.

I've spent the last 10 years involved with Ceroc, including crewing for them in Leeds and competing at national level over the last four years or so.

I discovered Tiempo España Dance Academy by chance as there was a class held at one of my Ceroc venues. I went to my first Cuban Salsa class with a completely open mind without any preconceptions.

Well, what I could not have been prepared for was the very detailed instruction I received from Ben and Aimi. It felt quite alien at first as each step was broken down into constituent parts and gradually put back together again, first in partner hold and then in rueda. After the first class I was unsure if this was for me but I decided to stick with it and to see what the next few weeks would bring!

I wasn’t disappointed! After the second week, I got into the routine of breaking down the moves and recognising the Spanish names and was surprised by how many moves I'd actually learnt! After a few weeks I decided that my next step was the Leeds venue where there would be people much more experienced than myself!

It was great! There was no pressure and everyone was so friendly. I was soon progressing through Level 2 to Level 3 thanks to Ben and Aimi sneaking more advanced moves into my classes without me really noticing! I felt comfortable in Level 3 and confident I could cope with the moves and keep up pretty well with everyone else in rueda.

However, I was now hungry for more and so eventually plucked up the courage to leap into Level 4, hoping that my previous experience would stand me in good stead for more advanced moves. Well, thankfully I knew most of the Level 3 moves called in Level 4 but wow, the L4 moves were a challenge! However, once I'd mastered a few of the moves and I knew I could pull them off, it felt fantastic in rueda!!

I then progressed to Confusion (role reversal) and subsequently to levels 5 and 6. Now that is serious stuff, but so much fun and I've since trained to teach up to Level 2/3 which I enjoy so much! So this is how an average rueda went for me as I was learning:


The music starts #

Straight into basic step (I'm quite comfortable at this point) The first Dame (that's fine too).

The next three moves are pretty basic so no problem there (firmly lodged in muscle memory).

The next half a dozen moves or so I've done loads before so okay so far).

Uh oh, this next one we haven't done for a while and I have 3 beats to remember the move (Yes, I've got it – nice one!)

No time to relax, here’s another move we haven't done in a few weeks (quick, dig deep, remember the start and you’ve got it. Yes, that’s the one)!

Okay, this next one’s tricky! I know I've done it before but can't remember the start – 2 beats left to remember it ! (I take a chance on a sombrero start and keep one eye on the Cantante...... bingo, I’ve got it).

Not quite so lucky on the next move – I have no idea! (I just blag it and as long as I finish on the right beat I'm okay - I'm not the only one who's gone wrong this time so maybe no one noticed! You can't win ‘em all!)


And so it continues throughout the track, forcing you to stay alert and focused every second! The result is that everyday cares just fade away because you have no time to bring them to mind. For that few minutes there's the dance and only the dance! That's the magic of Cuban Salsa!

Tiempo España Dance Academy Is Growing

We have certainly had our ups and downs and it has not always been easy to run a Cuban salsa school in Yorkshire. Nonetheless, the trend has been upwards from the beginning and our classes and events are busier than ever. Particularly our Leeds class has attracted a lot of new students lately culminating in one evening recently where we had more than 40 people join us for our various classes.

What has been particularly enjoyable to watch, however, is the fact that some of our regular students have reached such a high level of dancing that they are increasingly interested in aspects other than just learning new moves. We have been able to teach different Rueda structures such as Confusion, Rueda Pa’ Fuera, Rueda Espejo etc. as well as working increasingly on musicality by introducing such concepts as dancing Contratiempo. Many of our students use Guapea as a basic step and add additional steps or other forms of styling to make their dance look better which is a huge shift even from just a year ago.

This has resulted in an increased demand for more advanced classes which we have responded to by introducing new level 6 classes at the start of this month as well as increasing the frequency of our level 5 classes to Wednesdays and Saturdays. We now run 6 classes (level 1 to level 6) every Saturday from 6pm to 8pm as well as running level 2 to level 5 every Wednesday with an additional new level 1 beginner’s class being offered on the first Wednesday of each month from 7:30pm to 8:30pm.

We are very excited about our students having reached a level where we can offer level 6 as it is a major milestone both for our students as well as Tiempo España Dance Academy as a dance school. It is at this level that we want to introduce students to performing and focus on perfecting the moves they have learned to date to be able to showcase what they have achieved to others. We will be adding elements of related Cuban dances to the performance so will be increasingly offering classes that focus on dances such as Rumba, Mambo, Son etc. We won’t push anyone into performing with us but we will teach the same background to everyone who has reached level 6 and whether they end up performing this or not it will hugely improve their social dancing as they become more comfortable with all aspects surrounding Cuban salsa.

Tresillo (Part 5)

In the Western world Tresillo can be traced back to ancient Greece where it is believed to have entered European music and where it first appeared under the name dochmiac rhythm aka dochmius. It was originally a metric element that first appeared in the works by Aeschylus. It soon became a widespread rhythmical structure that rose to such popularity as to be considered a signature rhythm by the time Renaissance music was developed.

Through its historic relationship with Cuba, tresillo rose to popularity in New Orleans in the 1800s where it eventually helped to form ragtime with its subsequent influence on American music. It helped to shape jazz syncopation, lent itself to R&B music and became so popular in New Orleans music that the famous musician Wynton Learson Marsalis considers it to be the New Orleans "clave".

In terms of modern Cuban music, the rhythmic pattern has become particularly important in salsa songs as it denotes the 3-side of the son clave pattern. As such it is inherent to the vast majority of salsa songs whether it is played out or implied. It is the tresillo pattern that creates tension in the clave and is therefore referred to as the strong side of the clave irrespective of whether the clave pattern is 2-3 or 3-2. By comparison, the two side of the clave is often called “debil”, meaning the weak side of the clave which has the function of releasing the tension created by tresillo.

Moreover, tresillo is also the rhythmic basis of the bass and the conga drum in Afro-Cuban music which led to its use as the rhythmic pattern in son montuno, mambo and salsa dubbed “tumbao”. Sometimes the tumbao pattern is played by carrying the last beat over to the next measure leading to a rhythmic structure where only the two offbeats of the tresillo pattern are sounded. In this form the pattern is often called the bombo-ponche tumbao with bombo referring to the first off-beat and ponche referring to the second off-beat. While there are many variations on the tumbao rhythm based on the tresillo structure two main categories of this rhythm have emerged: Tumbao that coincides or emphasises the clave tresillo pattern is called clave aligned whereas a tumbao rhyth that does not fulfil this condition is usually referred to as clave neutral.