SALSA casino classes in medellin
Salsa dancing has long been one of the most important and influential social dances in Medellin, Colombia.
Before 2012, most salsa dancing in Medellin 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 Medellin’s dance community expanded, internationally recognized salsa styles and partnerwork structures increasingly began to influence the local scene. One of the most socially interactive and culturally influential styles to gain international recognition was salsa casino, commonly known internationally as Cuban-style salsa or Cuban salsa.
The term “Casino” traces its origins back to the Casinos Deportivos (social clubs) of Havana, Cuba, where the dance style became especially popular during the second half of the 20th century. Casino developed through Cuban social dance traditions and was influenced by Son Cubano, Danzón, Cha-Cha-Chá, Guaracha, Mambo, and broader Afro-Cuban musical culture.
Unlike many internationally taught salsa styles that emphasize linear or slot-based movement, salsa casino is characterized by circular partner movement, rotational dynamics, rhythmic body movement, intricate arm work, improvisation, and continuous interaction between partners. The dance places strong emphasis on musical interpretation, social connection, adaptability, and maintaining fluid movement within the rhythm of the music.
Because casino developed primarily as a social dance, it naturally emphasizes interaction, partner connection, improvisation, and enjoyment of the music rather than prioritizing choreographed performance. The dance is commonly associated with Cuban social dancing culture and is frequently danced socially in clubs, parties, socials, festivals, and community dance gatherings throughout the world.
Before the growth of Medellin’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 certain niches and performance groups, Medellin still had a relatively limited organized social dance scene for dancers interested in structured partnerwork training and internationally recognized salsa styles, including 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 style salsa (casino), bachata, tango, porro, merengue, kizomba, bolero, hip hop, and more. For group classes, DANCEFREE focused primarily on salsa and bachata. While many group salsa classes focused heavily on international partnerwork structures such as salsa on1, DANCEFREE’s social events welcomed dancers from many salsa backgrounds and styles, including casino.
DANCEFREE’s first salsa and bachata social was held every Thursday and quickly became one of the most recognized weekly social dance events in Medellin. 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 Medellin’s salsa community.
Here is some basic information about salsa 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.
Many foundational salsa step patterns involve 6 weight changes distributed across 8-beat musical phrases, with pauses, taps, and stylistic variations depending on the dancer, instructor, musical interpretation, or regional tradition. Depending on the dancer, instructor, regional tradition, or musical interpretation, casino may be danced a tiempo or contratiempo.
Salsa casino places strong emphasis on circular partner movement, rotational energy, fluid transitions, musical interpretation, body movement, improvisation, and partner connection. Rather than remaining locked into a linear slot, both partners continuously move around a shared center point while adapting dynamically to the rhythm and phrasing of the music.
As dancers gain more experience, they may begin learning more advanced partnerwork combinations, multi-hand turns, knots (nudos), body movement integration, musical interpretation, and Afro-Cuban movement influences sometimes associated with Cuban rumba traditions.
Casino is also closely connected to rueda de casino, commonly called rueda, a related group format in which multiple couples dance casino together in a circle while responding to calls made by a leader.
Casino developed through Cuban social dance traditions and remains closely connected to Cuban musical culture. It is commonly danced to salsa, son, timba, songo, and other Afro-Cuban musical styles.
Artists and orchestras especially associated with the musical culture surrounding casino and timba 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 commonly associated with Afro-Cuban salsa and timba music includes piano, bass, trumpets, trombones, congas, bongos, timbales, cowbell, güiro, and clave, the foundational rhythmic framework underlying much of Afro-Cuban music and strongly influencing musical interpretation within casino dancing.
DANCEFREE offers private Cuban-style salsa classes in person in Medellín, 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.