Chapeando Cuban Club

CUBAN SALSA-CASINO
The appropriate name for Cuban Salsa is Casino, as it is known throughout Latin America. The name Casino has its own history. After 1959, gambling Casinos were closed and some of them reopened as dancing halls. At the beginning, people kept calling the dancing halls casinos and, as a result, the type of dance done there was called Casino. Dancing Casino is an expression of popular social culture. Latin Americans consider casino as part of social and cultural activities centering around their popular music. Casino traces its origin as a partner dance from the Cuban Son dancing and its rhythmic body motions from Afro-Cuban Rumba heritage. Casino has a very independent development and free from. Over the years, Casino has undergone different changes, with elements of Rock and Roll, Cha-cha-cha, mambo, son and other rhythms created in Cuba. It is really a combination of all the Cuban Popular Dances.

RUEDA DE CASINO
In the 1950s Salsa Rueda or more accurately Rueda de Casino was developed in Havana, Cuba. Pairs of dancers form a circle (Rueda in Spanish means "Wheel"), with dance moves called out by one person. Many of the moves involve rapidly swapping partners. This kind of dance is excellent for creating a social environment among the dancer or the people watching. At the same time, the dancers having lots of fun!

CUBAN SALSA SOLO DANCING-SUELTA
Cuban Salsa Solo Dancing (Suelta) is dancing salsa without having a partner. It originates from stage singers and dancers who setup routines during orchestra and live performance. Dance singularly or in a group (usually male facing females on the dance floor) the movements are based on a-tiempo or contra-tiempo with intricate footwork and lively body movements.

CUBAN SON
Son comes from the mountainous regions of Cuba, from the rural areas. Son arrived in Habana City in the 1920's, due to the internal migration of sugar cane workers. It is an original dance that devirves it's from folk music. In the Eastern, most part of Cuban Son was known as "Changui2", and in "Isla de la Juventud "it was called "Sucusucu" and in Habana "Son Habana". Son increased in popularity greatly between 1920 and 1940 having a great effect upon all of the popular Cuban dances.

RUMBA
A Spanish work which Cuban ancestors choose to name to their interpretations though rudimentary instruments and songs. This type of dance has three forms, "Yambu”, "Guaguanco” and “Colombian”. It's a dance were the woman and man represent theatrically different occurrences from their everyday lives.
With “Yambu” and “Guaguanco” the rhythm is slightly faster as are the movements. It is characterised by the actions the man carries out towards the woman, known as “Vacunao”, a movement the man carries out towards the pelvis of the woman. “Columbia” which is only danced by men, demonstrates all the virtues of the dancers: agility, capability and skill in carrying out all movements.

AFROCUBAN DANCES
Nearly one million Africans from West and Central Africa were captured by Cuba's Spanish colonists and brought to Cuba during the 16th through to the 19th centuries. As Cuba's plantations expanded in the late 18th and 19th centuries, so did the slave trade. Most enslaved Africans in Cuba were Yoruba from Nigeria.
In the Cuban religion of Santeria, the Orishas are the emissaries of Olodumare or God almighty. They rule over the forces of nature
and the endeavors of humanity. They recognise themselves and are recognised through their different numbers and colors which are their marks, and each has their own favorite foods and other things which they like to receive as offerings and gifts. Each of the Orishas has a specific dance or set of movements and music associated with them.
Most of the dances are from the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria. These dances originate from Yoruba traditions imported by enslaved Africans into Cuba. These slaves were controlled by the spanish and were forced to speak Spanish and convert to Christianity. In order to preserve their native religious traditions, the slaves gave their African dieties the names of Christian saints and thus continued to worship them. This religion is known as Santeria, and under disguise, many religious rituals, dances and musical traditions from Africa were preserved. Santeria is still practised in Cuba today. Afrocuban Dances involve many pelvic and torso movements.Some of the most popular Orishas are : Elegua, Chango, Oggun, Ochun, Yemaya, Obatala, Oya.

CHA-CHA-CHA
The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a Latin American dance of Cuban origin. Cha-cha-cha is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorin in 1953. This rhythm was developed from the danzon. The name is onomatopoeic, derived from the rhythm of the guiro (scraper) and the shuffling of the dancers feet. Cha-cha-cha may be either danced to authentic Cuban music, or Latin Pop or Latin Rock. The Cuban cha-cha-cha is sensual and may involve complex polyrhythms.
Styles of cha-cha-cha dance may differ in the place of the chasse in the rhythmical structure.

MERENGUE
Merengue is the national dance of the Dominican Republic and, to some extent, its island-sharing neighbour, Haiti. Merengue has existed since the early years of the Dominican Republic, around the time of the Spanish-American War (1898). Partners hold each other in a closed position dancing with a two-step beat. The leader holds the follower's waist with the leader's right hand, while holding the follower's right hand with the leader's left hand at the follower's eye level. Partners bend their knees slightly left and right, thus making the move left and right. The hips of the leader and follower move in the same direction throughout the song. Partners may walk sideways or circle each other, in small steps. They can switch to an and do separate turns without letting go each other's hands or momentarily releasing one hand. During these turns they may twist and tie their handhold into intricate.

BACHATA
Bachata dance was said to have originated from the Dominican Republic. It is danced by couples usually in a romantic and sensual story-telling style. The Bachata dance was also, at some point, considered to be a passionate and sensual kind of expression of love through dance. Aside from the romantic-side of the Bachata dance, its story-telling humor also depicts women overpowering men. At that time, the Bachata dance was performed by servants after a hard days work. The dance was used as a means of merrymaking of the people in the village.

REGGAETON
Reggaeton actually developed from Jamaican Reggae, but was certainly influenced by various other musical directions, like for example, North American Hip-Hop and Puerto Rican rhythms. In Puerto Rico, one began calling reggaeton " Under", mainly due to its often coarse lyrics and unvarnished language and also because it used to be distributed secretly among young people. Young people in Latin America, Cuba, Miami etc, dance reggaeton with sexy movements, in the clubs or in concerts. Shaking hips and shoulders they create a fantastic party atmosphere!