THE BASICS: Music, Timing, & Warm-Up Steps for Cuban Casino

This video goes over the basic rhythm of any "salsa" music, breaking down the clave, drums, and bass played in a typical son montuno (the rhythm that defines any music called "salsa"), then shows the cadence of how a dancer steps to the music, and unifies all these elements with the count (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) This specific video is focused on dancing on the 1 / atiempo, but the fundamentals of the music and cadence are true for any count.

WARM-UP STEPS
Set 1
• 2-step
• paso de son
• back rocks
• back crosses
• walk & pivot

Set 2
• forward and back
• side step

Set 3
• traveling forward and back
• side crosses
• side crosses with pivot
• around the clock / cross in front

The last portion of the video shows the warm-up we do in all our casino classes. The steps emphasize movement and proper weight transfer that are applicable to dancing all styles.