Ballroom on Fire with Salsa

No Wonder Dancing Salsa Feels So Good......

Music and dancing has been a part of many different cultures for centuries. It is part of celebration and entertainment. Salsa dancer is always on fire !!!!



Origins

Salsa dance movements originate from the Cuban Son dancing of the 1940s more specifically through the beat of Son Moontun with strong influences from the dance of Danzon, Mambo, Guaguanco and other Afro-Cuban folkloric dancing.

Today there are many various styles of salsa dancing because of geographical dispersion and cultural syncretism. The most well-known styles are Cali-style (from Colombia), Cuban-style ("Casino"), LA-style, New York-style, and Puerto Rican-style.

Salsa is typically a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms (Floor Shines/ Shines), line dancing (suelta)^{[citation needed]}, and Rueda de Casino, where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine, choreography and freestyle.

Salsa Dancing Locations

Salsa dances are commonly held in night clubs, ballrooms, restaurants, and outside, especially if part of an outdoor festival. Salsa dancing is an international dance that can be found in most metropolitan cities in the world. Festivals are held annually, often called a Salsa Congress, in various host cities aimed to attract variety of salsa dancers from other cities and countries. The events bring dancers together to share their passion for the dance, build community, and to share moves and tips with each other. These events usually include salsa dance performers, live salsa

The Health Benefits of Salsa Dancing

Not only is dancing an exceptional way to let loose and have fun, but it also provides some terrific benefits for your health.

In fact, Mayo Clinic researchers reported that social dancing helps to:

* Reduce stress

* Increase energy

* Improve strength

* Increase muscle tone and coordination

Dancing the night away can burn more calories per hour than riding a bike or swimming.

And whether you like to kick up your heals to hip hop, salsa or country, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute says that dancing can:

* Lower your risk of coronary heart disease

* Decrease blood pressure

* Help you manage your weight

* Strengthen the bones of your legs and hips

Salsa dancing is a unique form of exercise because it provides the heart-healthy benefits of an aerobic exercise while also allowing you to engage in a social activity.

The amount of benefit you get from dancing depends on, like most exercises, the type of dancing you're doing, how strenuous it is, the duration and your skill level.

Mental Benefits of Dancing Salsa

Dancing is a unique form of exercise because it provides the heart-healthy benefits of an aerobic exercise while also allowing you to engage in a social activity. This is especially stimulating to the mind, and one 21-year study published in the New England Journal of Medicine even found dancing can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia in the elderly.

In the study, participants over the age of 75 who engaged in reading, dancing and playing musical instruments and board games once a week had a 7 percent lower risk of dementia compared to those who did not. Those who engaged in these activities at least 11 days a month had a 63 percent lower risk!

Interestingly, dancing was the only physical activity out of 11 in the study that was associated with a lower risk of dementia. Said Joe Verghese, a neurologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a lead researcher of the study, "This is perhaps because dance music engages the dancer's mind."

Verghese says dancing may be a triple benefit for the brain. Not only does the physical aspect of dancing increase blood flow to the brain, but also the social aspect of the activity leads to less stress, depression and loneliness. Further, dancing requires memorizing steps and working with a partner, both of which provide mental challenges that are crucial for brain health.



So clearly dancing salsa is excellent for your body, mind, and soul. Pick up a new heart healthy habit and learn to dance salsa.Are you become interesting to dance salsa? It can burn more than 420 calories per hour. The step and the rhythm are very simple but exiting. Check this!!

Footwork: Steps in all directions are normally taken first with the ball of the foot in contact with the floor, and then with the heel lowering when the weight is fully transferred.

Hip Movement: In Salsa, the hip action is usually relaxed and subtle, especially for men. Weight is normally placed onto a slightly bent knee.

Arm Styling: In general, arms are held at or slightly above waist level. Arm movements should always be a natural result of the movement of the rest of the body. When arms are deliberately positioned or waved around, they look contrive unnatural. Always allow the arms to react naturally to body movement

Dance position: When dancing Salsa, stand upright with weight held forward towards the balls of the feet. Like the basic Latin hold, the Salsa hold is compact, with partners standing slightly apart. The lady's right hand and man's left hand can be joined either in an upper-hand clasp, or with man underhand. The man's right hand is either placed on the lady's left shoulder blade or on her hip. The lady's left arm is rested lightly on his right arm. It should be noted that the Salsa hold is considerably more relaxed than the basic Latin hold, allowing for more freedom of arm movement.

Characteristics

Though the term salsa music is not necessarily precise in scope, most authors use the term to refer specifically to a style created in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Author Ed Morales has said the obvious, most common perception of salsa is an "extravagant, clave-driven, Afro-Cuban-derived songs anchored by piano, horns, and rhythm section and sung by a velvety voiced crooner in a sharkskin suit".
At its root, however, salsa is a mixture of African and Spanish music, filtered through the musical history of Cuba, and adapted by Latin jazz and Latin popular musicians for Latino populations, especially Puerto Ricans with diverse musical tastes. The basic structure of a salsa song is based on the Cuban son, beginning with a simple melody and followed by a coro section in which the performers improvise. Ed Morales has claimed that the "key staples" of salsa's origins were the use of the trombone as a counterpoint to the vocalist and a more aggressive sound than is typical in Cuban music; the trombone also carries the melody, while the rhythm is most generally provided by bongos, congas and timbales.^[26] Peter Manuel notes how New York and Puerto Rican salsa differs from the 1950s Cuban son in various ways, such as the greater use of timbales and trombones, the occasional use of Puerto Rican elements like the declamatory exclamation le-lo-lai, its frequent lyrics about barrio life in New York and elsewhere, the "smooth" sound of the "salsa romántica" style that emerged in the 1980s, and salsa's role as a soundscape for the Latino identity movement of the 1970s