Orishas (Part 1)

Orishas are gods of the Yoruba religion practised predominantly in the area known as Yorubaland (parts of Nigeria, Benin and Togo). This religion comprises various traditions and has influenced other religions and traditions such as Santería, Vodoun (Voodoo), Trinidad Orisha, Anago, Oyotunji, Umbanda, Macumba, Winti, Obeah and Candomblé.

The name Orisha is an English spelling of the word “òrìṣà” from the Yoruba language which is also seen as orisa, oricha, orichá or orixá in Latin America. The etymology of the word is supposedly derived from the Yoruba words “orí” meaning “head” and the verb “sà” which means “to choose”. The translation of “head” can be seen figuratively as “mind” or “spirituality” chosen by god which is an almost litteral description of what Orishas personify as will be discussed over the course of this blog series.

Particularly through its influence on Santería, Orishas have had a huge impact on Cuban traditions, cultures, religions and life in general. The reason we will analyse this subject deeply in this blog series in particular is its impact on music and dance which over time has reached modern musical culture by featuring in various Cuban salsa songs not just via the lyrics but also the instrumentation and the form of dance associated with it.

The rise of Cuban salsa into mainstream global culture has seen an increasing amount of “orisha workshops” as people are trying to try out more and more aspects of the dance but there is a danger of this subject being mistreated and marketed like yet another dance fad with little context. However, through its religious background and association, it is important to apply context to this dance and understand where it comes from and what it means, particularly when incorporating it in a dance such as salsa, as it is a hugely controversial subject that can easily offend someone if treated too lightly.

Orishas are a common source of confusion for many dancers when they get to a stage where they are happy to explore workshops outside of their normal dance class as outside of Cuba the context and culture associated with Orishas are usually not obvious to dancers and on the contrary introduces them to an entirely new and alien concept.

In this series I will endeavour to clear up some of the confusions around this subject that dancers face when they come across occasional Orisha movements included in various classes and workshops without the context or significance of these movements being explained.

Tiempo España Dance Academy on Holidays

For the past year we have been working continuously to provide classes every week across all our locations and have never taken a holiday aside from a small break at Christmas. We make a lot of effort to provide our students with consistent classes and generally do not cancel classes even on bank holidays as we appreciated the dedication from our students and understand that cancelling classes can massively impact on everyone’s learning progress.

Thanks to the hard work of our teachers we have been able to provide classes consistently even in cases where Aimi and I were not available and it has helped us a lot to reduce the holiday time for our dance school overall. Moreover, we have increased the amount of classes offered at various venues with our highest level class being level 5 in Leeds on Saturdays which has been very successful and a lot of fun since we started teaching it a few months ago.

When we do close our school for a little while to go on holidays it is amazing to hear how many of our students regret not to be able to dance salsa in our classes and there seems to be an increasing demand to keep things running all year long. We will strive to train our teachers to the point where they can keep things going completely by themselves even when Aimi and I are not available for some time to reduce the overall holiday time even further going forward.

For this year our summer holiday period will be from 12th July until 31st July. So our last class will be Wednesday 11th July in Leeds and our first class back will be on 1st of August in Leeds as well with a brand new absolute beginners class for any newcomers who want to dance with us. To get things started again after the holidays we are having our next party on 2nd August at our usual party venue in Leeds so save the date and join us for another night of Cuban salsa fun.

We have another 4 classes left before we go on holidays so come and join us at any one of our venues before the summer break and we are looking forward to dancing with you all again when we are back.

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.

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

Hi my name is Stephen and I’ve been dancing Cuban salsa with Tiempo España Dance Academy since 2016. I didn’t come from a dance background like some of my peers, but that hasn’t impeded my development in anyway; nor would I expect it to hinder yours if you’re considering joining us. I’ve always been an active person and have taken part in various activities and sports; the most regular of which prior to salsa being basketball, which I played for several years.

I stumbled across Cuban salsa as most people do through word of mouth. My basketball team had recently disbanded and I had a bit of free time on my hands. I decided to give it a go as a laugh, as I had previously enjoyed a brief period of time trying out line dancing (after a holiday to Texas) which I had enjoyed, but found the demographic of dancers far different from that of the American youth.

When I first started at Tiempo España I found it a strange environment to be in; a mirrored dance studio was far from the norm for me at the time. Ben and Aimi were very welcoming however, as were the other students and I soon felt at home. Within a matter of weeks I felt as though I belonged here and the sense of family that has only strengthened since then started developing. When I see beginners joining us now I often see how nervous or intimidated they appear as they walk through the door. It's humbling to think back to that time and I always try and put them at ease empathising with them and explaining we have all felt that way; after all it's only natural to be nervous when trying something new.

My enjoyment of Salsa has only gained and gained since the beginning. The more I develop as a dancer the easier and more enjoyable it seems. I still have moments of frustration when struggling with a complex move, but that is only natural and we all go through it. I sometimes forget that temporary failure is simply learning and is the only way to really improve. These moments are thankfully fairly rare for me now and I spend most of my time laughing and having a good time.

I started teaching level 1 towards the end of 2017 and soon after passed my level 2 teaching assessment. Teaching at these levels has given me a better understanding of the dance at large and a deeper appreciation for it. In order for me to become a teacher, I had to revisit these beginning stages myself and dance as a follower. Being able to dance as both leader and follower has improved my personal dancing considerably but also helps me understand and break down partner moves; this in turn helps my teaching. I initially wasn’t convinced that I wanted to take the step in becoming a teacher but I soon changed my mind. I love to see the excitement and satisfaction on my student’s eyes when they complete a new move correctly for the first time or suddenly understand a concept. It fills me with as much satisfaction as when I first learnt the moves and I can’t help but feel proud of my students and thankful to be where I am.

Two years on from joining Tiempo España Dance Academy I can’t picture myself being anywhere else. The friends that I’ve made here have become my extended family and I don’t know what I'd do without them. While dancing I forget about my day job, my worries or stresses; I simply just dance and feel better because of it. If you are reading this and debating whether or not to give salsa a go I urge you to do so. It's changed my life for the better, it can do the same for you if you let it.

Tiempo España Dance Academy Blog

Since we started this blog on 26 February 2016 we have written over 100 blog posts, publishing a variety of articles around the culture, history, musicality and other aspects of Cuban salsa on a weekly basis every Friday evening at 7pm (GMT). We have received very positive feedback from our students who are interested in the dance as a whole rather than just learning new moves every week and the blog has allowed us to focus on more practical aspects of the dance in class while discussing theory in more details via this platform.

Some of the most popular blog posts have been the introduction of our teachers which have so far been the only blog posts to date that were not written by either Aimi or myself but have been a very good resource especially for new students to learn more about the teachers they would meet in class.

It has been a lot of fun to write this blog and Aimi and I have learned a lot in the process while gathering resources and researching the various topics we have published to date.

The topics we discussed via this platform have been predominantly centred around areas that we identified as being useful to our students but we do want to continue to encourage any students who want to learn more about certain Cuban salsa related topics that we do not have the time for in class to let us know and we will endeavour to add this to future blog posts.

Over the last year our dance school has grown considerably and we currently teach over 15 classes per week across 5 different locations. We continue to invest heavily into our dance school and want to grow it further as much as possible but due to being limited in terms of how much time we have available for this project we have decided to start publishing this blog only once every two weeks instead of weekly going forward. Our regular series on Cuban Salsa hand signs which link to a new move that we publish on YouTube will be published once every 2 months going forward rather than monthly. We do not want to take away this resource from our students as we have had very positive feedback and do feel that it perfectly complements our classes but we are keen to invest our time in new activities and projects this year that will bring our passion to the attention of an even larger audience. We do feel that publishing the blog on a biweekly basis is a good compromise for this purpose and hope to be able to publish it more frequently again in the future.

Rueda Formations (Part 3)

While we usually distinguish between the structural formations discussed in this blog series so far, particularly in the recent history of Rueda de Casino many other variations have emerged. These fundamentally change the way the overall Rueda is set-up in one small aspect often making it possible to do all moves from the new position but giving them a new look and feel. For a lack of a better description these are often referred to as formations as well or sometimes also Rueda “structures” and they share the feature with structural formations that once they are initiated all moves have to end up in the same formation again. I.e. if we are in a Rueda Pa’ Fuera and an Enchufla is called then at the end of the Enchufla we should still be in Rueda Pa’ Fuera. The fundamental difference between these new formations and the traditional structural formations is the fact that we can usually still do all the traditional formations after the overall Rueda has changed, meaning that these newer formations change the Rueda generically rather than certain parts of it almost like dancing a different type of Rueda. For instance, if we are in Rueda Espejo then the entirety of the Rueda including all structural formations (La Entrada, Tiempo España, Casino, Para el Medio, El Fin) can be done without having to leave the Espejo formation.

Some of these type of generic formations include:

• Rueda Para El Linear
• Rueda Pa Fuera
• Rueda Espejo
• Rueda En Cruz
• Rueda Contrario
• Rueda Confusion
• Rueda Contratiempo
• Rueda Con Dos Hombres
• Rueda Con Dos Mujeres
• Rueda Combo
• Rueda Dos Parejas

Some of these formations are better known then others and certain differences have arisen internationally as to what people understand with respect to the above names but generally speaking only very advanced Ruedas will know of the existence of these formations and attempt to include them in their calls.

The difficulty of Ruedas including these generic formations increases almost immediately and while it is not necessarily obvious to amateur spectators that something has changed for formations such as Rueda Espejo it is actually tremendously harder to do even simple moves with this additional feature then adding some advanced moves into a standard Rueda.

The Norwegian Rueda standard is arguably one of the best resources for having documented most of the existing formations as well as inventing some new and exciting formations into their Ruedas some of which have caught on internationally. Their current list of formations can be viewed at http://ruedastandard.salsanor.com/rueda-structure.