New York Area Dance Instructors NAME TELEPHONE TEACHES Freddie Rios (718) 457-4312 P Adelaida "Addie" Rodriguez - Salsa Diva (212) 505-0458 G, P, F Legend: G = Group, P = Private Lesson, F= Free Class, S = School or Studio Search justsalsa.com using Google Search WWW Search JustSalsa

Salsa New York Style (written September 1999) New York Style Salsa is "On-2" and could be called Eddie Torres Style because he preserved the dance through Hustle and Disco and has added many moves to New York Mambo. Almost everybody does Eddie Torres "shines" (step patterns) and many Eddie Torres turn combinations as well. Also, most of the instructors teaching in New York now have passed through Eddie at sometime in the past. In this dance style the Mambo basic is danced on the first three counts of the musical bar and held for the last count (last quarter note of the musical bar when the written music in 4/4 count). This step is the same dance step that Cuban Pete taught in a seminar he gave in New York in September of 1999 at Dick Shea's. This is different from another of the "Palladium Style" "On-2" Mambo basic steps in the fact that at the Palladium dancers most often held the first count of the musical bar and danced on the three last counts of the bar. Both Eddie Torres style and Palladium style are danced with an "on 2" break. This is to say that in the Mambo basic (forward and back) the body is changing direction on the second count of the musical bar. Most experienced dancers in New York do their own personalized version which mixes the two. "On 2" dancing is often referred to dancing "on Clave". Though what this exactly means is hard to understand and almost impossible to explain. It is like trying to explain "feeling" in jazz. A lot of words can be exchanged but if you don't know you don't and that's that. Musician refer to playing on Clave. Many of the percussion parts of a Salsa song repeat every two bars. The way they fit into the Clave beat is not arbitrary. There are many terms used by the band leader or Clave player to maintain the rhythm of the music. These can be heard in live performances and are guides the musicians follow. Cuban Pete, one of the greatest dancers of the Palladium era once explained it sort of like this: Dancing "on one" is dancing "to" the music. Dancing "on 2" is dancing "in" the music. Cuban Pete once told me in an interview that the first time he felt the Clave he jumped so high he almost went through the roof of the Palladium. I understand it like this. Dancing "on one" is dancing to the melody of the music, while dancing "on 2" is dancing to the rhythm of the music. Although the melody of great Salsa songs follows the rhythm of the music, it's easier to hear the melody. The key to the rhythm in Salsa music (and dance) is the Clave. All the rhythm instruments revolve around the Clave. In Spanish "Clave" means "code" literally and is used to infer secret, vital, or key. While talking to a Cuban singer and guido player in a Paris nightclub, I asked him on which beats (or counts) of the musical bar the Cuban's danced. He said the Cuban's danced on the "down beats". I told him that in New York Salsa is danced "on 2". He said that was called that dancing on "Clave negra' because it is on the "up beats" of the music. The upbeat is often silent in the melody of a Salsa song. The first time I really got on-board of a Mambo with a truly electric dancer it reminded me of driving an Italian sports car; responsive, agile, with a sense of restrained power, and capable of tight maneuvers. Once you "get into" dancing "On-2" it captures you. After you can hear the music this way it is not long until you can feel it as well and start to dance on this syncopated rhythmic pattern called "Clave".