On Cuban Salsa, aka Casino
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as Cuban Salsa. As mentioned in the entry on the history of Salsa, the genre developed from the 1960s on in New York, mixing together influences from various origins. In Cuba, however, another dance developed around the same time, the so-called Casino.
Development and Labelling
In the 1950s, in Cuba, people got together to dance popular dances of that time in dedicated community centres, the casinos. These dances were predominantly Son, Chachachá and Danzón. During these social happenings, people often formed circles (“Ruedas”) and exchanged partners while dancing, combining the previously mentioned dances (among other influences) into a new form. Over time, the name of these community centres stuck to the circular dancing pattern, which since then has been referred to as “Rueda de Casino”. Later, also a partner dance developed out of this genre, which is just called “Casino”. It is characteristically danced around the partner instead of in a line, such as we see in most salsa styles.
Casino vs. Salsa
As casino and salsa share common roots in terms of dances they evolved from and as both can be danced to the same music, people might be tempted to refer to casino as (Cuban) salsa. Most of the time it may also just be easier as many will not know the term casino but might have a notion of salsa. These are completely different genres, though, with their own characteristics and styles. So, whenever we refer to salsa and / or casino, we should make sure that we’re using the correct term. This will avoid confusion when talking to connoisseurs and help spread the knowledge that these are in fact two different styles of dancing.
In A Nutshell…
Casino, in its group form (Rueda de Casino) and as a partner dance, developed from the 1950s on in Cuba. The name derives from the community centres where people gathered to dance. It shares its roots with salsa, but is an entirely different genre.
Further Reading:
If you would like to read more about casino, I can highly recommend the blog Son y Casino. It offers a range of entries on different aspects of the dance and interesting perspectives on musicality, styling, song choice, … Most of the information about the history of casino (next to information received from various casino and salsa teachers), has been retrieved from here .
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