Cuban popular dances born in streets, solares and dance halls: timba, casino, son, changüí, pilón, guaracha, bolero, kiribá and nengón. More ›
- Timba
How to dance timba: Cuban popular dance at its most intense. Despelote, the bomba, reggaeton and how dancers react to the gear changes of the music.
- Casino
Casino, the Cuban partner dance from 1950s Havana: closed and open position, figures and turns, and how it relates to timba.
- Changüí
Changüí, the rural dance and music of Guantánamo and an ancestor of son: danced without clave, with a gliding step to the tres and the marímbula.
- Son
Son dance, the foundation of all Cuban partner dancing: smooth, intimate and grounded, danced close to the partner. The roots of mambo, casino and salsa.
- Pilón
Pilón is a cheerful Cuban dance and music from the early 1960s, created by composer Enrique Bonne and singer Pacho Alonso, both from Santiago de Cuba. The arms imitate pounding coffee in a pilón (wooden mortar).
- Guaracha
Guaracha dance is son dancing at a faster tempo and with a lighter, more playful attitude — the physical expression of Cuban popular music's great comedic tradition.
- Bolero
Bolero dance is the slowest, most intimate expression of Cuban partner dance — a close embrace, subtle movement, and complete surrender to the emotional weight of the music.
- Kiribá
Kiribá is an old peasant dance and music from Baracoa (Guantánamo), which together with nengón is a forerunner of changüí and son.
- Nengón
Nengón is an old peasant form of son from eastern Cuba, rooted in Baracoa (Guantánamo) and with its own variant in the Cauto, the nengón del Cauto. Together with kiribá it is considered a forerunner of changüí and son.
Cuban salon dances descended from European ballroom forms: contradanza, danza, danzón, danzonete, cha-cha-chá and mambo, and how they shaped later Cuban dance. More ›
- Contradanza
Contradanza is the earliest Cuban salon dance: a European group dance that, in early 19th-century Cuba, picked up a rhythm of its own with African colouring.
- Danza
Danza is the evolutionary step between contradanza and danzón — Cuba's first true couple's dance, more intimate and more African in character than the European formations it replaced.
- Danzón
Danzón is Cuba's national dance, premiered in Matanzas in 1879 by Miguel Faílde. An elegant, unhurried couple's dance that grew out of the danza, it blends European salon structure with Afro-Cuban rhythm, built on the syncopated cinquillo.
- Danzonete
Danzonete is the sung evolution of danzón — the bridge between the purely instrumental danzón of the 19th and early 20th century and the vocal popular music that would follow.
- Cha-cha-chá
Cha-cha-chá is a Cuban dance and music that violinist Enrique Jorrín created, according to EcuRed, as early as 1948, based on the danzón. La engañadora became a huge hit in 1953. The name comes from the shuffling sound of the dancers' feet.
- Mambo
Mambo: grown from danzón and son in late-1930s Havana, made a big-band sound by Pérez Prado, a 1950s world craze centred on the Palladium.
Cuban rumba, the Afro-Cuban music and dance of guaguancó, yambú and columbia: complex rhythms, call and response, and the vacunao. More ›
- Columbia
Columbia is the fastest rumba style: a virtuoso solo dance in a triple pulse (6/8 or 12/8), rural in origin and traditionally danced by men. Its hallmark is the dialogue between the dancer and the lead drum, the quinto.
- Guaguancó
Guaguancó, the best-known rumba style: a flirtatious couple dance with vacunao and botao, over three congas, palitos and rumba clave.
- Yambú
Yambú, the oldest and slowest rumba, from Matanzas and Havana: a calm couple dance without vacunao that feigns frailty, on cajones or congas.
- Mimetic Rumba
Mimetic rumba is a narrative form of rumba in which the dancer uses mime and acting to depict what the song is about.
Afro-Cuban dances rooted in African traditions: Orisha dances, Abakuá, Arará, Congo and tumba francesa, the sacred movement behind Cuban dance. More ›
- Abakuá
Abakuá is an Afro-Cuban secret society of men. It arose around 1820 among enslaved people from Calabar (the Carabalí, in present-day Nigeria); from 1836 the potencias spread across Cuba from Regla. Its ceremonies, drums and masked íreme dancers have strongly influenced Cuban music, especially rumba.
- Arará
Arará is the name given in Cuba to enslaved Ewe, Adjá and Fon people from the former kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin). Their religion, the Regla Arará, now survives only in Matanzas, according to EcuRed.
- Congos Bantu
The Congos-Bantú tradition covers the language, religion, music and dance of enslaved people from the Kongo region and other Bantu-speaking peoples in Cuba. Its religion is the Regla de Palo Monte; its best-known dances are makuta and yuka.
- Franco-Haitian
The Franco-Haitian tradition of eastern Cuba, brought by Haitian migrants: the processional gagá, the Yoruba-rooted nagó and the sacred vodú dances.
- Orishas
Afro-Cuban Orishas are deities from the Yoruba religion, brought to Cuba through the transatlantic slave trade, who embody natural forces and human traits, and are honored through music, dance, and ritual in Santería.
- Tumba Francesa
Tumba francesa is music and dance that French colonists and their enslaved people brought to eastern Cuba after the Haitian Revolution: West African music, mainly from Congo and Dahomey, combined with French salon dances. UNESCO recognised it in 2003 as a masterpiece of intangible heritage.
- Güemilere
A güemilere (also wemilere, tambor or toque de santo) is a public ceremony for the orishas in santería, with batá drums, song and dance. Sometimes an orisha takes possession of a believer.
Moves shared by several Cuban dances: closed position, open position and suelta, danced in son, casino and timba. More ›
- Closed position
In closed position partners dance close together in the casino hold. It is the foundation of timba dancing and suits the calmer, groove-based parts of the music, such as the marcha abajo.
- Open position
In open position partners stand apart, holding one or two hands or briefly letting go altogether. There is room for bigger figures, turns and styling, which suits the energetic parts of the music, such as the marcha arriba.
- Suelta
Suelta is dancing apart from your partner, solo — in son, casino and timba. In timba it is more grounded and contained than despelote — a cooler, more controlled individual expression that still responds directly to the music.