The History of Salsa Dance
What actually is the meaning of the word Salsa? Well if you Google just ‘salsa’ you are going to get lots of yummy-looking recipes for a lovely tomato-based dip, great with tortilla chips! So, unless you’ve come here by mistake looking for a new recipe, we’re going to assume you’re looking for lots of juicy details about the world of Salsa Dance.
Since the late 1990s ‘Salsa’ has been used to refer to the widely accepted 8 styles of Salsa dance. But before that, the word ‘Salsa’, coined in the 1960s by the Fania Records production team to promote Latino music to the rest of the non-Latino world, was a loose phrase to describe Latin American music. It included other rhythms such as Cha Cha Cha, Guaguanco, Mambo & Son.
Salsa Dance originated in Eastern Cuba and eventually moved across to Havana. It stemmed from the Cuban Contradanza as seen dancing in Havana in the early 1910s.
The Contradanza was introduced to Cuba by the ruling Spanish nobles and has its roots in English and French Country Dance. During the slave trade the Spanish nobles brought African slaves to Cuba, and with it came their African rhythms.
The African slaves were forbidden to practice their native African religion ‘Yoruba’, and were supposed to convert to Catholicism. What emerged was actually the Santeria religion, a fusion of the African Orishas (Gods) and the Catholic saints.
Since the slaves were also forbidden from dancing their native dances, many of which worshipped the Yoruba Gods, they would find ways to mimic their masters’ formal dances and sneak in elements of their own African rhythms, whilst still paying tribute to their Orishas, hence a fusion of African & European rhythms and dances began.
Danzon subsequently evolved from the Contradanz as a slow and formal partner dance as seen here, but it was when the faster African syncopated rhythms were added we saw the emergence of the original Mambo.
The music of the time in Cuba was mainly Son which was a combination of Guaracha, Danzon, Cha Cha, Pachanga, Rumba & Mambo these all combined to be known as ‘Son’.
When we talk about Latin dance we are drawn to thinking of ‘Latinos’ or generally people of Spanish speaking decent (Hispanic), but why?
Well, first we need to take a look back to around 1492 when the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ the Americas and laid claim to it on behalf of the Spanish. Columbus didn’t really ‘discover’ America, plenty of people already lived there and had done for centuries, but what Columbus did do was to pave the way for a massive influx of western Europeans to the Americas which would then go on to colonize the Americas under the Spanish Empire.
So why is this important? Well the Spanish colonization of the Americas began in 1492 with Columbus and they began to expand their territories until it included Central America, South America, Mexico, what is now Southern states of USA and some Western states of USA including up to the South western part of British Columbia in Canada. Spain began losing control of colonies in the 1820s and through the rest of that century.
During Spanish rule many Spanish settlers came, as did the slave trade. The Spanish brought many African slaves to the Americas and along with Spanish culture, they brought African cultures. Many history books tell of particularly cruel and barbaric practices by the Spanish.
The Caribbean region of The Americas was particularly important to what is today known as Latino culture. The key Islands that still contribute to the development of Latin Dance are: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic & Haiti (previously joined as the La Hispanola) Jamaica, and Panama. At one time these all fell under Spanish rule.
In 1898 the Spanish-American war occurred. This began with America intervening in the Cuban revolt against Spanish rule and ended with the liberation of La Hispanola (Haiti & Dominican Republic) and then Puerto Rico which now comes under American control. After a 10 week war in the Caribbean and Pacific, the Treaty of Paris allowed the US temporary control of Cuba and laid the way for US ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippine Islands with a $20 million ($602,320,000 in today’s money) payout by the US government to the Spanish government. Thus, the Spanish Empire was no more. Other Caribbean Islands remain independent today, whilst some are governed by countries such as Frances, Netherlands, UK, USA & Columbia.
Although the Spanish rulers were gone, their culture wasn’t. The Spanish left behind whole Spanish-speaking nations, newly freed slaves, and a population widely converted to Christianity and Catholicism.
After La Hispanola gained Independence many Spanish nobles and their newly freed slaves emigrated to Cuba, which is why there is a large population of Haitians in Cuba.
There is always a reflection of the political and economical situation of a country in popular culture, such as music, singing, and dancing. Music gives an outlet for expressing attitudes towards oppression, poverty, freedom, or whatever the general populous is experiencing at the time.
So, to understand the term ‘Latin Dance’ we are talking about dance originating from Latino or Hispanic cultures. We really need to look at each of the Hispanic cultures, country by country and explore the dances that have originated from each one such as
Cuba, Puerto Rico, Columbia, the USA, Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Jamaica.
