CUBAN SALSA classes in medellin
Salsa dancing has long been one of the most important and influential social dances in Medellín, Colombia.
Before 2012, most salsa dancing in Medellín took place at local salsa bars, crossover bars, viejotecas, neighborhood gatherings, and social events where salsa was one of the primary genres played. The city’s best-known salsa radio stations were, and continue to be, Latina Stereo 100.9 FM, known for salsa brava and salsa classics, and El Sol 107.9 FM, which focuses more on mainstream and contemporary salsa.
At that time, many people who danced salsa had learned socially rather than through formal training at dance schools. The salsa most commonly danced socially throughout Colombia was part of a broader Colombian salsa tradition. However, as Medellín’s dance community expanded, internationally recognized Cuban social dance traditions increasingly influenced the local scene. One of the most important of these is Cuban salsa, internationally known as casino, often referred to as salsa casino or Cuban style salsa.
The term casino originates from the Casinos Deportivos social clubs in Havana, Cuba, where the dance developed in the mid to late 20th century. Casino evolved through Cuban social dance traditions and was influenced by Son Cubano, Danzón, Cha-Cha-Chá, Mambo, Guaracha, and broader Afro-Cuban musical culture.
Cuban salsa, casino, salsa casino, and Cuban style salsa all refer to the same underlying partner dance system. The dance is characterized by circular partner movement, rotational dynamics, rhythmic body movement, improvisation, and continuous interaction between partners. Unlike linear or slot-based salsa styles, both partners continuously rotate around a shared center point, creating fluid and constantly changing movement dynamics.
Because Cuban salsa developed as a social dance, it emphasizes musical interpretation, partner connection, adaptability, and enjoyment of the music rather than fixed choreography or stage performance. It is widely danced in social settings such as clubs, parties, festivals, and community dance events around the world.
Casino is also closely connected to rueda de casino, commonly called rueda, which is the group format of Cuban salsa. In rueda, multiple couples dance casino in a circle while responding in real time to calls made by a leader, known as the cantante or caller. While Casino focuses on couple dynamics, rueda expands the same movement system into coordinated group patterns.
Before the growth of Medellín’s formal social dance scene, there were already salsa schools offering private and group classes, as well as performance companies focused on training professional dancers. However, outside of niche performance environments, Medellín still had a relatively limited organized social dance scene for dancers interested in structured partnerwork training and internationally recognized Cuban salsa traditions, including Casino and rueda de casino.
In 2012, DANCEFREE began offering free group salsa and bachata classes followed by social dancing. During its first two years, DANCEFREE focused exclusively on free dance classes before later expanding into paid private classes, group classes, practices, and socials.
For private classes, DANCEFREE offered multiple dance styles, including salsa on1 (Los Angeles style), salsa on2 (New York & Puerto Rica style), Colombian style salsa, Cali style salsa, Cuban salsa (casino), bachata, tango, porro, merengue, kizomba, bolero, hip hop, and more. For group classes, DANCEFREE focused primarily on salsa and bachata. While group salsa classes often emphasized international partnerwork structures such as salsa on1, DANCEFREE’s social events welcomed dancers from many salsa backgrounds and styles, including Cuban salsa, casino, and rueda de casino. At DANCEFREE socials, it is not uncommon for a rueda de casino circle to form on the dance floor, where dancers follow the caller through synchronized Casino patterns, partner exchanges, and circular group movement.
DANCEFREE’s first salsa and bachata social was held every Thursday and quickly became one of the most recognized weekly social dance events in Medellín. Over time, DANCEFREE expanded to offering salsa and bachata group classes six nights per week, dance practices multiple nights per week, and socials several nights per week, sometimes continuing until 4:00am. DANCEFREE became an important meeting point for students, instructors, performers, and social dancers, contributing to the continued growth of Medellín’s salsa community.
Here is some basic information about Cuban salsa, casino, and rueda de casino to help you get started:
Each salsa dance basic uses 8 beats organized into two 4-beat measures. Dancers often count these as 1-2-3-4 and 5-6-7-8, while musicians typically organize the structure as repeating 4-beat measures counted 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4. This shared 8-beat cycle forms the rhythmic foundation that organizes timing between dancers and music.
Most foundational casino step patterns involve 6 weight changes distributed across these 8-beat cycles, with stylistic variations such as pauses, taps, and syncopation depending on the dancer, instructor, musical interpretation, or regional tradition. In casino, dancers may step a tiempo or contratiempo depending on regional tradition, musical interpretation, and personal style.
Cuban salsa emphasizes circular partner movement, rotational flow, musical interpretation, body movement, improvisation, and partner connection. Both dancers continuously move around each other and a shared center point, rather than remaining in a fixed linear slot.
The casino vocabulary includes foundational movements such as Guapea, Dile que no, Enchufla, Exhíbela, Setenta, and Sombrero, along with many regional and stylistic variations developed across Cuban social dance traditions.
As dancers gain more experience, they may develop more complex partnerwork including multi-hand turns, knots (nudos), body movement integration, and Afro-Cuban movement influences associated with rumba traditions.
Rueda de casino builds on this same system but adds group coordination. A caller, known in many traditions as the cantador or líder de rueda, directs the group using verbal commands and sometimes hand signals, and dancers execute synchronized partner changes and circular formations in real time.
In rueda de casino, the same casino vocabulary is used, but it is organized through a system of calls that coordinate timing, partner changes, and synchronized group patterns led by a caller.
Casino and rueda de casino originate in Cuban social dance traditions and remain closely tied to Cuban music and culture. They are commonly danced to son cubano, salsa, timba, and songo.
Artists strongly associated with this musical ecosystem include Los Van Van, Havana D’Primera, Elito Revé y su Charangón, Pupy y Los Que Son Son, Charanga Habanera, and Maykel Blanco y su Salsa Mayor.
Traditional instrumentation includes piano, bass, trumpets, trombones, congas, bongos, timbales, cowbell, güiro, and clave, which forms the rhythmic foundation of Afro-Cuban music and directly shapes musical interpretation in Casino and rueda.
DANCEFREE offers private Cuban salsa classes in person in Medellin, Colombia, and online via Zoom and Google Meet. Our in-person classes are available 7 days a week, while our online classes are offered on weekdays only, subject to availability. We have experienced salsa instructors who teach students of all levels, from complete beginners to advanced dancers. If you would like to take private Cuban salsa classes, click here to view the steps for beginning private classes. If you would like to view our calendar for salsa socials and more, click here.