Abakua

Abakuá is a traditional Afro-Cuban brotherhood and cultural society originating from the Cross River region of West Africa and brought to Cuba by enslaved Africans in the 19th century. Its dances and music are connected to rituals of strength, loyalty, and masculinity.

In dance, Abakuá is characterised by grounded steps, sharp rhythms, energetic footwork, and animal-inspired movements that symbolise power and protection. Traditionally a male domain, the style carries a strong spiritual and communal identity. Today it is studied for its cultural significance and its influence on modern rumba and Cuban dance expression. It is a men only secret ritual from Cuba.

Afro Body Movements

Refers to foundational movement techniques derived from Afro-Cuban folkloric dances, especially those connected to the Orishas and rumba traditions. This style focuses on isolating and coordinating different parts of the body — shoulders, chest, hips, torso and spine — to express rhythm and emotion through the entire body.

Movements are typically grounded, circular, and fluid, often emphasising connection to the floor, breath, and musical accents. Afro body technique is essential in Cuban dance, helping dancers build rhythm, control, expressive power, and authenticity, and is widely used to enrich salsa and timba dancing.

Casino

Casino is the original form of Cuban salsa, developed in Havana social clubs in the 1950s. It is danced in a circular motion rather than in a straight line, emphasising natural movement, rhythm, and connection between partners. The style blends elements of son, mambo, cha-cha-chá, and Afro-Cuban body movements.

Casino focuses on fluid lead-and-follow technique, playful step patterns, turns, and rhythmic footwork that follows the music’s groove rather than rigid counts. It is characterised by elegance, musicality, and social interaction, forming the base for Rueda de Casino (group circle dancing) and modern Cuban salsa styles.

Casino con Estilo

Casino con estilo is an elegant and refined interpretation of Cuban casino (salsa cubana), emphasising posture, smooth movement, and clean partner connection. While it maintains the circular flow and playful nature of traditional casino, this style highlights graceful armwork, controlled turns, subtle body motion, and refined timing.

Movements are executed with precision and softness, giving the dance a polished and sophisticated look without losing Cuban flavour. The focus is on dancing with style, musicality, and clear lead-and-follow — elevating social dancing with elegance and personal expression.

Chango

Chango (Shangó) is the Afro-Cuban Orisha associated with thunder, fire, strength, drumming, and virility. In dance, Chango’s movements are powerful, energetic, and dramatic, reflecting his warrior and king-like character. Typical elements include strong foot stamps, sharp chest and shoulder accents, forceful arm strikes, and dynamic turns that evoke lightning and battle.

Dancers often mimic carrying a double-headed axe — Chango’s sacred symbol — and respond to the distinctive batá rhythms dedicated to him. The style expresses confidence, courage, and intensity, and its movements are frequently used to enrich Afro-Cuban technique and Cuban salsa styling.

Cuban Footwork

Cuban Footwork (Pasos Cubanos / Pasitos) refers to the solo step vocabulary used in Cuban dances such as son, cha-cha-chá, casino, rumba, and timba. It focuses on rhythm, coordination, weight transfer, and body groove rather than high speed or flashy tricks. Movements are grounded, rhythmic, and relaxed, emphasising natural hip motion, fluid torso movement, and musical timing.

Cuban footwork trains dancers to stay connected to the clave and percussion, improving timing, balance, and personal style. It is commonly used in shines during social dancing and helps develop a deeper understanding of Cuban musical structure and body language.

Eleguá

Eleguá is the Afro-Cuban Orisha known as the guardian of paths, beginnings, and crossroads. He is the messenger between the human world and the spiritual world, and every Afro-Cuban ceremony traditionally begins by honoring him. Eleguá represents opportunity, choice, destiny, and the unexpected — sometimes playful, sometimes serious.

In dance, Eleguá’s movements are lively, agile, and mischievous. Typical steps include quick, playful footwork, small jumps, bent-torso moves, shoulder shakes, and gestures that express curiosity and trickster energy. Dancers often mimic carrying a staff or wearing a small hat, symbolising his youthful, street-wise personality.

Eleguá’s dance teaches agility, rhythm, and expressive storytelling — connecting spiritual symbolism with joyful movement and musical interaction.

Funky Salsa

Funky Salsa is a modern fusion style that blends Cuban salsa (casino) with funk, street dance, and groove-based movement. It emphasises relaxed body motion, playful rhythm, and personal expression rather than strict technique. Dancers incorporate isolations, body rolls, shoulder grooves, slides, and syncopated footwork while maintaining the structure and timing of Cuban salsa.

This style encourages individuality and musical interpretation, blending the flavour of Cuban dance with urban attitude. Funky Salsa is typically used in shines and partnerwork accents to add groove, character, and a stylish “bounce” into social dancing.

Lady Style

Lady Style in Cuban dance focuses on developing feminine expression, body control, and elegant styling within salsa and Afro-Cuban movement. The emphasis is on posture, fluid armwork, hip motion, turns, balance, and graceful transitions.

Dancers learn to add personality and musical detail through arms, hands, torso, and footwork, enhancing confidence and presence both in solo movement and partnerwork. Lady Style does not replace technique — it refines it — helping dancers move with softness, precision, and rhythm while maintaining clear timing and connection to Cuban musicality.

Leading & Following

Leading & Following is the core partner-connection technique in Cuban dance, where one dancer initiates movement (lead) and the other interprets and responds (follow). The focus is on clear communication through frame, hands, arms, and body movement rather than force.

In Cuban styles, leading is fluid and often circular, mixing gentle guidance with rhythm and body language. Following requires sensitivity to weight shifts, signals, and timing, allowing both dancers to move comfortably, safely, and based on the musically together.

Good leading & following is very vital for dancers to learn in order to understand their dancing partner on the dancefloor.

Music Interpretation

Music Interpretation with Live Musicians focuses on learning how to respond to live Cuban music in real time. Unlike recorded tracks, live bands can change energy, tempo, intensity, and accents unexpectedly — offering dancers moments to pause, hit rhythms, open into shines, or return smoothly to partnerwork.

This class teaches how to listen to instruments like congas, bongos, timbales, bass, piano and vocals, and translate what you hear into movement. Dancers practice reacting to breaks, “gear changes,” percussion calls, and dynamic shifts, sharpening timing, and creativity.

The goal is to develop musical sensitivity, confidence, and connection so that you dance with the music, not just to it.

Musicality & Music Interpretation

Musicality & Music Interpretation teaches dancers how to understand, feel, and express the structure and emotion of Cuban music through movement. In this class, dancers learn to recognise rhythm patterns, breaks, accents, and “gears” (energy changes) in genres like son, salsa, and timba.

Musicality focuses on how the music is built — timing, phrasing, instruments, and groove.
Music Interpretation focuses on how to respond — choosing when to move softly or sharply, when to pause, when to play with rhythm, and how to reflect melodies and percussion with body movement or partnerwork.

This training helps dancers move with intention and confidence, transforming steps into expressive, musical dancing instead of simply following patterns.

Oya

Oya (Oyá / Yansá) is the Afro-Cuban Orisha of winds, storms, transformation, and the cemetery gates. She represents powerful change, female strength, movement, and spiritual transition. Oya is a warrior and guardian spirit, associated with lightning, whirlwinds, and the sudden shifts of life.

In dance, Oya’s movement is energetic, swirling, and dramatic. Dancers use fast footwork, sharp directional changes, wide sweeping arm movements, and spinning motions that evoke wind and storm. The movement quality alternates between fierce, commanding force and fluid, storm-like flow, symbolising her dual nature — strength and transformation.

Oya’s dance teaches power, agility, and emotional expression through motion and breath, connecting dancers to rhythm, nature, and inner force.

Palo

Palo is an Afro-Cuban spiritual and dance tradition with origins in the Congo and Central African Bantu cultures. It developed in Cuba among enslaved Africans and their descendants, preserving ancestral beliefs, rhythms, and ceremonies despite oppression and cultural suppression. Palo carries stories of survival, resistance, and spiritual connection brought across the Atlantic during the slave trade.

In dance, Palo is characterised by low, grounded posture, strong and earthy footwork, sharp torso movements, and decisive arm gestures. Movements often evoke strength, protection, work, and ancestral force, accompanied by powerful percussion rhythms. The dance expresses resilience, rootedness, and connection to the earth and the spirit world.

Palo teaches grounding, rhythm, power, and historical awareness — honoring the cultural memory and strength of those who carried these traditions into the Caribbean and the Americas.

Pilón

Pilón is a Cuban rhythm and dance style created in the 1950s in the eastern region of Cuba, named after the town of Pilón. It reflects Afro-Cuban cultural roots and carries the legacy of communities shaped by African heritage, including those who worked in the rural coffee-growing regions during and after slavery in Cuba.

The movement is inspired by grinding coffee beans in a wooden mortar — a traditional everyday practice. Dancers use circular hips, rolling torso motion, and rhythmic arm gestures that mimic stirring and grinding. The style has a grounded, continuous pulse that feels playful, earthy, and communal.

Musically, Pilón rhythms appear in many Cuban songs and timba arrangements, especially as breaks or groove sections. Recognising Pilón rhythm helps dancers hear Cuban music more deeply and connect traditional movement with modern musical expression.

Reggaetón

Reggaetón is an urban music and dance style rooted in Afro-Caribbean culture, shaped by influences from reggae, dancehall, hip-hop, and Latin rhythms. Emerging in Puerto Rico and Panama in the late 20th century, it has deep connections to Black Caribbean expression, street culture, and social commentary. Over time, it has become a major part of Cuban youth culture and blends naturally with Cuban musical energy and movement.

In dance, Reggaetón is characterised by strong hip isolations, body rolls, chest pops, rhythmic torso movement, and grounded footwork that follows the iconic dembow rhythm. The style combines groove, attitude, and sharp body control, often incorporating elements from hip-hop, Afro-Cuban body movement, and street dance.

Reggaetón encourages freedom, personality, and playful expression, allowing dancers to embody rhythm with both power and flow. Its influence appears frequently in modern timba and Cuban social dancing, adding contemporary flavour and urban energy.

Rumba Abierta

Rumba Abierta refers to an open, communal rumba gathering or jam, rooted in Afro-Cuban tradition. “Abierta” means open, indicating a social and participatory circle where dancers, singers, and percussionists come together to share rhythm, movement, and call-and-response energy. This setting reflects the cultural and historical heart of rumba as a community expression born in Afro-descendant neighbourhoods and working-class patios in Cuba.

Participants clap, sing, and play percussion (often cajón, claves, and congas), while dancers take turns entering the circle to improvise. In Yambú and Guaguancó, movement can be playful, flirtatious, or ceremonial; in Columbia, it can be swift, powerful, and competitive. The focus is not performance but connection, rhythm, spontaneity, and shared cultural experience.

Rumba Abierta teaches listening, respect, musical dialogue, improvisation, and cultural awareness — inviting dancers to interact with the music and each other in an authentic Afro-Cuban way.

Rumba Columbia

Rumba Columbia is a fast, energetic, and highly improvisational style of Afro-Cuban rumba, traditionally danced by men and rooted in Congo-Bantu cultural heritage. It emerged in rural areas and later flourished in Afro-Cuban neighborhoods, carrying stories of identity, strength, and spiritual resilience passed down through generations after slavery in Cuba.

The dance is characterised by quick footwork, sharp torso movements, agile turns, and explosive gestures, often reflecting strength, agility, and playful challenge. Dancers respond directly to the rhythms of the tres golpes pattern on the congas, interacting with the drummer in a lively “dialogue.” Acrobatics, balance, and rhythmic creativity are common, and dancers often symbolically reference machete movements, animal spirit gestures, or elements of Afro-Cuban warrior spirit.

Rumba Guaguancó

Dating from: late 19th to early 20th century Cuba (post-slavery period, especially 1880s–1920s)

Rumba Guaguancó is a playful, rhythmic, and flirtatious style of Afro-Cuban rumba that developed in Afro-descendant working-class neighborhoods in Havana and Matanzas after the abolition of slavery. It carries deep African roots, especially from Congo-Bantu traditions, and evolved as a social and cultural expression of freedom, identity, humor, and community life.

The dance depicts a teasing courtship game: the leader attempts the vacunao — a symbolic pelvic gesture — while the follower playfully evades or protects. Movements are grounded and rhythmic, with rolling hips, expressive torso work, and musical interaction driven by percussion and call-and-response singing.

Salsa con Rumba

Salsa con Rumba is a Cuban fusion style that blends casino (Cuban salsa) with Afro-Cuban rumba movement and rhythm. The dance combines the circular partnerwork and flow of casino with rumba’s expressive body movement, playful energy, and rhythmic breaks.

Dancers switch between partner steps and brief solo rumba elements — using hip rolls, torso waves, shoulder accents, rumba walks, and rhythmic pauses — especially during musical breaks and percussion moments. The style encourages a deeper connection to Cuban rhythm and heritage while adding flavour, groove, and personality to salsa dancing.

It trains dancers to combine elegant partnerwork, Afro-Cuban body movement, musicality, and playful interaction, bringing Cuban cultural roots into modern social dancing.

Salsa New Style – Yoyo Flow

Salsa New Style – Yoyo Flow is the personal signature style of Yoandy “Yoyo Flow” Villaurrutia. It evolves from Cuban casino, but is uniquely defined by Yoyo’s artistic voice and movement language. His approach blends Cuban roots, Afro-Cuban body movement, street-dance energy, and contemporary flow, resulting in a style that is instantly recognisable and widely admired in the Cuban dance world.

Salsatón

Salsatón is a modern Cuban fusion style that blends salsa (casino) with reggaetón and urban dance influences. It keeps the timing and structure of salsa but adds the groove, attitude, and grounded power of reggaetón. The movement is characterised by rhythmic hip and torso isolations, expressive body waves, and playful use of pauses and accents that follow changes in the music.

Dancers move between partnerwork and solo moments, using fluid motion mixed with sharp hits and street-style flavour. Salsatón reflects today’s Cuban music and youth culture — energetic, rhythmic, confident, and full of personality — while staying rooted in the essence of Cuban salsa.

Son Cubano

Son — also known as Cuban Son — is one of Cuba’s most important traditional dance and music forms and the direct ancestor of modern Cuban salsa (casino) and many Latin dance styles. Originating in eastern Cuba (Oriente) in the late 19th and early 20th century, Son developed from the meeting of Afro-Cuban rhythmic traditions and Spanish string and vocal music, later becoming a symbol of Cuban cultural identity.

As a social dance, Son is characterised by elegance, timing, and musical interpretation rather than showmanship. Partners move in a close, conversational structure, responding to the clave rhythm, melodic phrasing, and subtle accents in the music. The dance embodies a dialogue between tradition and modernity: rural roots transformed into an urban salon practice that helped shape Cuba’s popular culture.

Son remains essential for dancers who want to understand Cuban music history, cultural heritage, and the foundations of salsa and timba. Learning Son strengthens musical awareness, historical perspective, and rhythmic sensitivity — providing a deeper connection to Cuban social dance culture today.

Son Moderno

Son Moderno is a contemporary evolution of Cuban Son, developed and formalized by Cuban dancer Danger Rodríguez. It maintains the traditional musical structure and cultural foundation of son — including its connection to the clave, partner dialogue, and Afro-Cuban rhythm — while introducing modern body movement, expanded footwork, and expressive musical interpretation.

Son Moderno bridges traditional son, contemporary dance principles, and modern Cuban social dance, offering dancers a deeper understanding of timing, flow, and partner connection. It is widely regarded as an innovative method for studying the roots of Cuban dance while developing a refined, updated movement vocabulary relevant to today’s salsa and timba scene.

Son Urbano

Son Urbano is a modern, urban-influenced interpretation of Cuban Son that developed within Havana’s contemporary dance and music scene. It preserves the rhythmic foundation, contratiempo timing, and cultural roots of traditional son, while incorporating street-style movement, modern musical phrasing, and a more relaxed, urban social dynamic.

The style reflects how young Cuban dancers naturally blend heritage, city culture, and contemporary music influences, creating a version of son that feels grounded in tradition yet connected to today’s Havana dance language. Son Urbano offers dancers a way to explore authentic Cuban timing and musicality while expressing a modern social identity.

Timba

Timba is a modern Cuban popular music and social dance culture that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s, building on Afro-Cuban rhythm traditions, jazz harmony, funk influences, and the foundational structure of Cuban Son. It is known for its complex rhythmic layers, powerful percussion, dynamic “gear changes,” and call-and-response vocals, creating a highly expressive and improvisational musical environment.

As a dance, Timba emphasizes musical interpretation, spontaneous interaction, and expressive dialogue between dancers and the band. Rather than relying on fixed step patterns, dancers respond to breaks, accents, vocal cues, and rhythmic shifts, moving fluidly between partnerwork, solo groove, and rhythmic pauses. Timba reflects urban Cuban identity and connects heritage with contemporary street culture.

Key Timba bands associated with the development and international recognition of the genre include Los Van Van, Havana D’Primera, Maykel Blanco, La Charanga Habanera, Issac Delgado, Manolito y su Trabuco, Pupy y Los Que Son Son, and Elito Revé y su Charangón — among others. These orchestras shaped the sound and cultural evolution of timba and continue to influence global Cuban music and dance communities.

Timba con Afro

Timba con Afro blends modern Cuban timba with movements and rhythmic language from Afro-Cuban folkloric traditions. The style keeps the dynamic structure, tempo changes, and energetic drive of timba music, while integrating expressive body phrasing, grounded rhythm interpretation, and symbolic movement vocabulary rooted in Afro-Cuban heritage.

This fusion teaches dancers to understand timba not only as social dance music, but as a form deeply connected to Afro-Cuban identity, call-and-response rhythm, and expressive musical conversation. Dancers shift between partnerwork or footwork typical of casino and short Afro-inspired phrases that respond to drum breaks, vocal cues, or changes in musical “gears.”

Timba con Afro strengthens rhythm awareness, cultural understanding, and movement versatility — building a connection between contemporary Cuban dance floors and the island’s ancestral musical traditions.

Timba con Flow

Timba con Flow is a signature contemporary Cuban dance style developed and popularized by Cuban Flex, rooted in the musical structure and cultural energy of modern Cuban timba. It blends timba musicality, Cuban social dance foundations, and urban movement aesthetics, emphasising fluid motion, groove, and rhythmic sensitivity rather than forceful or overly formal execution.

This style focuses on flow — smooth movement transitions, playful improvisation, and expressive response to musical “gears,” breaks, and percussion cues. Timba con Flow reflects the language of today’s Cuban street culture, showcasing a relaxed, confident, and rhythm-driven interpretation of timba that preserves Cuban identity while embracing a modern, youthful dynamic.

Timba Fonts Style

Timba Fonts Style refers to the distinctive artistic interpretation of timba created and developed by Maykel Fonts, one of the most internationally influential Cuban dancers. This style blends the rhythmic complexity and cultural identity of Cuban timba with Afro-Cuban spirituality, contemporary dance influence, and theatrical expression — resulting in a uniquely powerful and refined movement language.

Rather than focusing only on casino technique, Timba Fonts Style emphasizes musical depth, emotional intensity, controlled dynamics, and spiritual presence. It integrates Afro-Cuban ritual gestures, rumba energy, modern body articulation, and elegant stage-influenced movement, making the dance both culturally rooted and artistically elevated.

The approach is less about executing patterns and more about embodying rhythm, character, breath, and dramatic storytelling within the framework of timba music. It encourages dancers to move with precision, passion, discipline, and cultural intention, blending popular Cuban social dance with a performance-level artistic sensibility.

Timba Musicality

Timba Musicality refers to the study and practice of understanding and responding to the complex rhythmic structure, dynamic “gear changes,” and expressive phrasing of Cuban timba music. Unlike more linear salsa forms, timba is built on layered percussion, sudden energy shifts, breaks, vocal calls, and polyrhythmic tension, requiring dancers to interpret the music rather than rely on fixed patterns.

In this approach, dancers learn to identify instrumental cues, anticipate rhythmic changes, and adapt movement quality to match the emotional and energetic character of the music — shifting between tension and release, stillness and power, softness and explosive motion. Timba Musicality trains dancers to move with conversational timing, cultural nuance, and sensitivity to Afro-Cuban rhythmic logic, allowing improvisation to emerge naturally from the music.

Rueda Atómica

Rueda Atómica is an advanced, fast-paced form of Rueda de Casino (Cuban salsa danced in a circle with a caller) characterised by rapid transitions, surprise partner changes, and high-intensity calls. It builds on the traditional rueda structure but expands it with dynamic, playful, and sometimes unpredictable sequences that challenge dancers’ timing, attention, and teamwork.

Rueda Dos con Dos

Rueda Dos con Dos is a specific formation within Rueda de Casino where the circle is structured around two pairs dancing together as a unit, rather than each dancer changing partners individually. This configuration allows for more complex figures, coordinated movement between two couples, and a deeper focus on timing, communication, and group awareness.

The style retains the communal and playful essence of Cuban rueda but introduces tighter partner coordination, enriched call vocabulary, and increased spatial awareness. Because dancers must stay synchronised with both their partner and the other couple, Rueda Dos con Dos encourages precision, fluid transitions, and enhanced cooperative rhythm within the rueda format.

Pasos Libre

Pasos Libre refers to free steps or solo footwork sequences in Cuban social dance, performed without a partner. The term is used in Cuban salsa/casino to describe moments when dancers break away to express individual rhythm, musicality, and personal style. Unlike structured figure patterns, Pasos Libre emphasizes improvisation, timing, and cultural vocabulary, drawing influence from Son, rumba, Afro-Cuban movement, and contemporary Cuban street dance.