Salsa Culture and Dances - Essay Example

The word “Salsa” in Latin America means sauce. Latin Americans are known for their love of spices in their meals. Therefore, salsa just like food is different styles of music and dance patterns put together to produce the beautiful salsa dance. Salsa music is a compendium of different types including guanguancó, son, rumba, mambo, cha-cha-cha- conga, Danzón, the rhythms of Carnival, and plena. Salsa was identified as the great chill pepper sauce that makes up Caribbean music and it designates a movement that is an undeniable music phenomenon (Boggs 190). Over the recent past, various dancing styles have been incorporated into salsa dancing for both men and women including spins, shoulder shimmies, acrobatics, body isolations, leg work, rolls, arm work, body movement, lifts, and even hand styling.

The process of synthesis and creativity is traced to Cuba where the mixing of successive Cuban themes was practiced. Bernada (98) points out the fact that some of the common music styles such as conga, bolero, guaguanco, and even guaracha were all categorized under rumba. Rumba at that time was rhythm and fiesta where various styles of dance including both Columbia and jambu were enjoyed. A similar case is identified with bachata, Cumbancha, and Cumbancha which means a fiesta (Leonardo 123).

Salsa music's main ingredient is Cuban son. The musical structure is made up of piano, trumpets, percussion, contrabass, and backing vocals which are adjusted well with each other to produce salsa music. The salsa fusion and the son transformation into salsa could have been done in the Caribbean quarter of New York City. Several factors played part in the emergence of salsa such as the existence of a community with a large population where the Latin and Caribbean cultures interacted, the marginalization of these communities, and the need for a musical and poetic form of expression for their experiences and express their view regarding the contemporary world (Hutchinson 116). Salsa music emerged and filled the cultural void in a large part of Latin America and the Caribbean in the world of dance music.

In the present times, salsa music has gone global with it being practiced all over the world. Though several changes, it still portrays a great deal of the Latin American culture in the music and dance styles. It has led to various styles being formed in various regions which relate to people in that region, for example, New York style, Los Angeles style, Miami style, and several others. Read More