Casino Popular – Dance
Rooted in Havana’s bustling 1950s dance halls, Cuban Casino mixes tradition and flair in a partner dance style that spread worldwide.
Casino at a glance
- Origin: late 1950s in Havana (EcuRed), named after the casinos deportivos (social clubs).
- Style: Partner dance blending Son, Mambo, Cha-cha-chá, and Rumba.
- Modern influence: Forms the basis of what's globally known as "Cuban Salsa".
- Despelote
- 1.Arriba
- 2.Exhibela
- 3.Exhibela double
- 3.Dile que no
- 3.Guapea
- 4.Enchufla
- 4.Enchufla double / Enchufla triple
- 4.Pa ti, pa mi ( por arriba )
- 4.Pa ti, pa mi ( por abajo )
- 4.Pa ti, pa mi ( por dos manos )
- 4.Adios con la prima
- 4.Adios con la prima Y la hermana
- 4.Vacilala
- 4.Sombrero
- 4.Cubanito
- 4.Cubanita
- 4.Setenta
👣 The basic: guapea
The basic step of casino is called guapea (also pausa). The leader steps the left foot slightly back instead of forward, as in many other salsa styles. Partners face each other and move in a circle around each other, not in a straight line.
⏱️ Timing: a tiempo or contratiempo
- A tiempo: you step on beats 1 and 5. This is how casino is danced most today.
- Contratiempo: the traditional way. You do not step on 1 and 5, and stress 4 and 8 instead. Your feet add an extra rhythmic layer to the music.
🔄 Figures
Casino is a led improvisation dance: the leader chooses the figures on the spot, to the music. Common basic figures are:
- Dile que no: from closed to open position.
- Enchufla: partners swap places, with a turn under the arm.
- Vacílala: a turn for the follower.
- Sombrero and Setenta: well-known combinations with arms over the head.
Figures are danced in closed or open position. In rueda de casino several couples dance in a circle while a caller calls the figures.
🎶 Casino and timba
Casino was made for Cuban music, and timba is its natural partner:
- Marcha: in the "normal" gears, such as marcha arriba, you dance casino with your partner.
- Bomba and masacote: in the heavy, bare gears many couples let go and dance suelta, with despelote or reggaetón moves.
- Back again: at a new coro or a new gear you pick your partner up again.
🌍 Rueda and spread
According to EcuRed, casino is an anonymous dance of the urban working classes that is not tied to one genre: it is danced to any fashionable music that allows the basic step. Partner swapping gave rise to the rueda de casino, in which two or more couples follow the calls of a leader. With the international salsa boom from the late 1970s, casino spread across the world as "Cuban salsa". On 5 May 2024, more than 2,900 dancers across Cuba danced in 142 simultaneous ruedas, most of them at La Piragua on Havana's Malecón; in June 2024 the first international rueda de casino school opened in Havana.
💃 Tips
- Listen first: where is the beat, and which gear is the band in?
- Dance circular and relaxed, with room for your own styling.
- Learn the basic figures well, so you can give your attention to the music.