I have a question about the timing of the 1 in ON 2 style.

A teacher recently told me that after the first one step, the following steps are a little rushed so actually land on the syncopated 8-AND and 4-AND. So the steps would be 8-AND, 2, 3, pause, 4-AND, 5, 6 pause.

Is something you have heard of before?

Thanks!

Maria

you have asked a very important question. “How to find the 1-beat on salsa?”

It’s not an easy answer because there are different ways to hearing it and everyone has his/her own way of feeling it. And you are right, for some songs it is more difficult to find it. For the harder songs, you will have to develop your ear in order to hear the beat to all songs. You can practice this everywhere, while driving or walking to work, etc.

I don’t want to go into very in-depth answer about the tumbao and music theory about how to find the 1-beat, because it probably will confuse you.

Instead, listen to the following clip, it’s very easy to find the 1-beat in this song.

Buenavista Social Club- Candela

Also, take a look above at the post because I have added a video demonstrating the basic step On2, it has some counting that will help you find the 1-beat.

Dany J

I ended up on this page because Im looking for where to find the 1, the 2 and so on in the music- as you explain above with the clave and the tumbao. What about the songs where this is not very clear/easy to hear? Do you have a link or short comment on how I can excplain my norwegian-very-unfamiliar-to-salsa-rythms-students how to find the 1?

(Well, I prefair dancing on 2 but in this tiny isle of Lofoten where we are trying to start a salsaclub we just had to choose a style, and it became LA…)

Catrin

No, it’s not accurate to say that on1 you dance to the melody, and on2 you dance to the beat (clave and tumabo).

Your statement stems from the fact that on1 dancers tend to listen to the melody to find the 1st beat of the measure, but you can listen to any instrument to find the 1st beat.

Also, On2 dancers seem to pride themselves in dancing to the clave, but this fact is also technically incorrect.

Let me explains.

The clave hits on the following beats.
Clave: 1, 2&, 4, 6, 7.

The tumbao hits on the following beats.
8, 8&, 2… 4, 4&, 6.

On1 dancers dance on the 1,2,3, 5,6,7
On2 dancers dance on the 1,2,3, 5,6,7

This means that both, on1 and on2 dancers, hit the same numbers of counts on the clave and the tumbao.

The difference between the two styles is the breaking step (left foot forward).

I have just started on2 classes and i have a question about the beat. Is it accurate to say that in On1 u dance on the melody but in on2 u dance according to the beat? the Clave of the Thumba?

All the rest is just mambo jumbo!

Philip

I think this will clear up any confusion. The ballroom Mambo style is different from the New York “Eddie Torres” Salsa On 2 Style also known as Mambo.

To clarify: the diagrams above refer to the style known as:
New York Style Salsa
New York Style Mambo
Eddie Torres Salsa Style
Salsa On 2 Style
Mambo Style
Mambo On 2

Eddie Torres has been teaching this salsa style since the late 70’s I think. I don’t know if he invented it or if he formalized this style. I have to do more research on the origins of this style. You can find more information on this style at http://www.salsanewyork.com. For a demo video of the New York Style Mambo, you can see our performance video, or you can see a video of Eddie Torres explaining the basic steps of the Ney York Salsa On2 Style.

I found a webpage which contains more information about the Ballroom Mambo style along with a video demo.

I have to do more research on Ken’s material about the double and triple mambo. My guess is that those styles refer to the evolution of mambo and cha cha. The triple mambo is the cha cha, I think. The double mambo is the ballroom mambo I think. And the single mambo… well who knows. But I will find out.

2. I have addressed the musicality of the 8-beat salsa measure on this post: Musicality of Salsa: Why an 8-beat measure?

3. Dance. So finally, after talking so much about the music, we get to talk about the dance.

Let me make clear that the step diagrams above refer to the “Salsa On2 Style” (aka New York Salsa Style, Eddie Torres Style, Mambo, New York Mambo, etc). This is the style that is taking over the world at Salsa Congresses! On 1 is very popular still but On 2 is becoming the style of choice for many dancers around the globe.

My diagrams are different to the Ballroom Mambo style which is danced on the 2 3 4, 6 7 8.

In the Salsa On2 Style (New Mambo), when dancing with a partner it is understood that gentlemen break on the 6 (with the left foot forward), so inversely women break on the 2nd salsa beat (with the left foot forward).

Technically, men should start the dance on the 6th salsa beat by breaking forward with the left foot, and then continue dancing as shown in the diagrams above. In reality, it has become accepted for men to start dancing on the 1st salsa beat with the left foot stepping back, then on the 2nd salsa beat breaking backwards with the right foot.

In short: In the New York Salsa On2 Style (Mambo), by convention (and definition of the step) Men go forward on the 6th, NOT the 2nd salsa beat.

I don’t know why this is, since virtually in any other dance men start by going forward on the 1st or 2nd beat.

The only time it becomes acceptable for men to go forward on the 2nd salsa beat is when they learn shines and footwork. In a typical salsa class, there are women and men together so everyone learns the material by going forward on the 2nd salsa beat. Men then must invert the shines when they dance with a partner on the dance floor because we must break forward on the 6th by convention. In the end, women or men would have to invert their count when dancing with a partner, so I guess it falls on the guy to do the head-scratching when trying a new shine.

4. Hustle. I had always been confused by the Hustle when I saw people dancing. You just cleared it up for me. Thanks. In the past, I had noticed how the steps and the music only agreed in timing every 3rd measure. I drove me crazy trying to figure out the basic step. It didn’t make sense to put a 3-beat basic to a 4-beat measure. I guess it does!