Rueda Hand Signs (Part 27) Enchufla Ronde (Con La Mano Izquierda)

Ronde is a right turn for the leaders on beats 5, 6 and 7 which is a small elementary feature that is a part of many moves. It can be added to many complex turns to make the move in total look more stylish. There are many variations on this move but in its basic form it is usually added to a right-handed Enchufla (Enchufla Con La Mano Derecha).

For the followers the addition of a Ronde makes little difference as they are led into a basic Enchufla which they continue to complete whether or not the leader decides to add a Ronde into their move. Leaders will usually switch their hands while doing this move to end up in a right-handed Dile Que No instead of the left-handed version so it is important for followers not to forget to put their left hand onto the leader’s right shoulder to maintain contact when finishing the move.

The description “Ronde” is a foreign element that has been introduced to Cuban salsa where any turns are usually just referred to as Vuelta such that this move is still referred to as Enchufla con Vuelta in some Rueda groups. However, as there are many different types of turns for the leaders, the description “Vuelta” is somewhat ambiguous and has over time been replaced by the word “Ronde” to describe this particular right-turn where leaders will use three beats (5, 6 and 7) to complete one full turn.

The origin of Ronde is not known but it is a common description in various dances as diverse as Cross-Body Salsa, Tango and Ballet and has probably been borrowed from other dance styles to differentiate this turn from other Cuban salsa turns categorised as “Vuelta”. It may have come from the Spanish word “ronda” meaning “round” commonly seen for instance in Tango with the spelling “ronda” and “ronde” but it is also possible that this is a loan word from ballet referring to “ronde de jambe”. Either way, while this description is seen in various dance forms it describes a distinct and separate motion in every style of dance that is completely unrelated to the Cuban salsa Ronde.

At Tiempo España Dance Academy the move Ronde is a particular important move to learn well as all Setenta variations are taught to finish with a Ronde to make Ruedas synchronised across all dancers. While it is sometimes necessary to turn on the spot when executing Ronde moves in Ruedas such that the leaders finish their Dile Que No towards the centre of the circle, this move looks particularly good when travelling as much as possible while turning to the right hand side. Particularly when dancing “en parejas” the fact that dancers travel during Ronde is one of the key distinctions between Cuban salsa and Cross-body salsa and should be aimed for at all times. Cuban salsa is about creating as much motion as possible and turns in general should not be executed on the spot unless there is so little space available that dancers cannot possible travel anywhere during the turn.

For the hand sign the caller makes the hand sign of Enchufla follower by a right circle with their index finger describing the move Ronde itself.

To see a video of the move Enchufla Ronde Con La Mano Izquierda as well as the hand sign, please click on: https://youtu.be/tejmp86ABCk

Salsa Statistics (Part 2) Types of Moves

There are generally speaking 3 types of moves in Casino: Moves classified as Suelto (dancing without a partner), En Parejas (dancing in couples) and En Rueda (dancing in a circle with other couples). There are more types if we consider formations such as Dos Parejas (2 couples dancing together) or Salsa Trios (3 people dancing together) etc. which have their own sets of unique moves although these can be viewed as special sub-types of the above i.e. Dos Parejas is a sub-type of En Rueda and Salsa Trios is a sub-type of En Parejas.

Dance schools will usually teach a mix of moves from the above categories although many groups have emerged that will only teach one of these types of moves such as focusing exclusively on partner dancing. Due to the lack of documentation around Cuban salsa moves it is impossible to say how many salsa moves there are in total or how many of them fall under each of the above category. Rather than searching for the impossible this post is trying to establish the split between these types of moves instead of making a claim on the actual number of moves themselves.

In order to get an idea of this split I have used the Tiempo España Dance Academy syllabus as a sample population. Like most statistical sample populations this will contain some selection bias due to the fact that many of these moves are popular in the UK as this is where we learned them in the first place although we have taken care to admit as many internationally recognised moves on our syllabus as we could find from the various workshops we attended. That being said we did not set out to favour any category of moves over another so if we have for instance a higher level of Rueda moves than Suelto moves than that is a clear indication that these are taught more frequently and widely and that there is a larger number of such moves in existence.

At this moment in time we have 413 moves on the Tiempo España Dance Academy syllabus out of which 19 can be classified as “Suelto”, 210 can be classified as “En Parejas” and 184 can be classified as En Rueda.

While some of the Suelto steps encompass larger free-style categories that contain significantly more moves this shows that the vast majority of moves taught and performed are in the other two categories. Despite the fact that Ruedas are not as commonly observed social dancing as En Parejas moves these two categories are almost on par in terms of the number of moves in each category.