Linear vs Casino: were you given a choice?
- Thread starter Chris_Yannick
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There are many who do both. Esp in Europe. Many started when Cuban as their first dance. Once you have sufficient experience you can dance or wing both.
As a leader I can tell the way follower is moving when dancing with her that she is not comfy following and then I will switch to Cuban or how South Americans dance. Which is not in straight line.
My experience has been the same. The two styles of dancers don’t mix. But there are socials where they do mix. Based on reports on the forums.
Yogalholic
Changui
I think everyone knows the difference from the beginning in France because we always (wrongly) call Line Salsa as Portorican Salsa but line Salsa is very niche in France
It was in Europe that I heard term portorican salsa or New York salsa for on1/on2 straight up salsa. To distinguish it from Cuban salsa.
It might be changing now, especially since segregation is becoming more popular. Also, the incursion of Sensual dancing at general mixed parties is really messing up the Salsa vibe. The term 'Sensual' is now in fashion, which to me is a very glib catch-all term. I have no idea what goes on at those parties labeled as 'Sensual' nor do I care to find out.
I could see people dancing only sensual now whereas in the past, you were usually dancing Salsa first (either Linear or Cuban/Casino), then branched out later.
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Now and then - we are talking about different eras. Might not be relevant to talk about time when salsa was the only scene. The Kizomba, Bachata, Zouk, came up much later as their own independent scenes. For dancers who started when these other dances had established scenes, would probably not have taken any salsa classes. Or took a few and gave up.
I am sure today new students taking a salsa class, discover very fast Bachata and Kizomba options.
But it is relevant if we're talking about dance segregation.
Starting with Salsa vs starting with Sensual have different repercusussions.
We are seeing what happens when another dance takes over in popularity. The other one suffers.
Small Salsa scenes pretty much go extinct as Sensual cannibalizes the Salsa scene
bailar y tocar
Son Montuno
Oh wow. I had no idea that Salsa Portoricaine in France means linear on1. I saw the listings but never went to any event with that name.
The story I've heard is that French dancers first got in serious contact with linear salsa at an early congress that happened to take in place in Puerto Rico, whence the name for the style
Yogalholic
Changui
If you speak Spanish this article written by a Portorican guy is very funny and interesting about "Salsa Portoricaine" in Paris. Unfortunately it's under a paywall which was not the case a few years ago. There is a French translation published here which has always been free. As far as I know, there is no English translation.
La ultima Salsa en Paris what a nice title!
The term 'Salsa Portorican' also made it to Eastern Europe. Nowadays it's simply called Linear but when I first arrived the word Linear was still not in fashion. People were still debating what to call it, whether it was Salsa Linear, Crossbody Salsa, or LA style.
Is it settled now ?
When I joined the forums all above terms started popping
When I started it was very simple. Salsa and Casino (or Timba). There was no confusion.
LA and NY were salsa styles. Sometimes styles got synonymous with breaking on1 and on2. However people understood the context. Whether you were using LA to refer to flashy big moves or on1.
On my first visit to EU I encountered NY, LA, “Portorican” references on the dance floor. I immediately understood they meant salsa and non-Cuban, studio trained salsa. Which also excludes Cali style, South American vernacular style and all others that are not straight up on1 or on2. And “Cubano” for casino, timba, and Cuban style dancing.
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bailar y tocar
Son Montuno
When I started salsa in Chicago in 1998, there was LA style, NY style and Casino. LA style meant linear on1 with flashy moves and dips and tricks. NY style meant on2 and Casino meant Cuban. What is sometimes referred to as "South American" was called cumbia style as it had the backrocks of cumbia. I believe those terms are still in use in common language in many salsa scenes today. I have rarely heard anyone use the word linear in the context of salsa in regular conversation in real life outside forums. It actually sounds a bit mathematical and stiff which the version of dance is not (in most cases). Salsa caleña was unknown at that time back in 1998. The first time I saw salsa caleña en vivo was at a salsa congress that brought dance groups from Cali. I don't remember which congress or year that was. It had to have been after 2009.
bailar y tocar
Son Montuno
Hmm. I think I was at that congress. The Bacardi Puerto Rico Intl Salsa Congress was in summer of 2001. I went with some friends from Chicago. There were so many French dancers there and I could not figure out why. They all danced on1. As opposed to most of the NYC and PR high level dancers who all danced on2.
That said, when I am in Cali nowadays, there are many French dancers who dance salsa caleña and they are very good at it. Francy Barahona, an instructor from Cali, had moved to Paris, married her French fire fighter boyfriend and started a dance team that even entered one of the "who has got talent (or something like that)" tv shows.