Salsa, the music, is a Latin-American mix of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban music and rhythms, and strongly influenced by big-band jazz. It developed it's modern forms primarily in New York in the 1960s as a dance music.

Salsa, the dance, is not just one dance, but several quite different dance styles. They all, of course, share the same music.

As with other arts, dance styles show certain trends that can be geographically grouped, by country, or by region within a country. Some of the most common styles you'll hear about are:

• Cuban
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• New York
• Puerto Rican
  

Spiral Salsa can be summarised as:

• break "on one"
• influenced by New York styles
• very tight formation
• minimal rocking
• arms close to the body or in front
• succinct arm and body movements
• emphasis on good leading and following
• emphasis on dance floor safety and etiquette, epspecially in a club environment

We feel that too many people are developing bad habits, preventing them from becoming advanced dancers. Some dancers are quite rude and careless on the dance floor. These people limit the enjoyment and safety of the other dancers. We want to change that! This is why the Spiral Dance School has always been about teaching the basics.

Bachata music, like Merengue, originated in the Dominican Republic. It has gained popularity in Salsa Clubs all over the world.

Recognisable by its electric guitar arpeggio, it's based on a musical style known as “bolero campesino”. Traditionally, lyrics were about lost love and pain. The name Bachata only recently came to denote the style of music and dance, the term originally referring to a party where guitar music was played. Today's lyrics are still about romance, but are more upbeat, moving away from the melancholy.

The dance has an 8-beat phrase in a sideways step (3-steps left, 3 steps right, for the leader) and the usual Latin hip movement. There is a distinctive "hip pop" on the 4th and 8th beats.

It is primarily a closed-position, semi-erotic partner dance, with the couple's thighs connected, giving the appearance that they are locked together at the hips.

In Japan, open-position is more prevalent due to the relative shyness about close physical contact in public.

Due to the sudden popularity of the dance in Japan, there is a shortage of good Bachata instructors. Improper hip movement, especially the "pop" is the biggest obstacle to getting the dance to "look right".

Our class warm-ups are comprised of basic foot-work and body movement for Merengue, Bachata and Salsa but the actual classes are salsa only.

If enough interest is shown, we may start a Bachata class.

Stephen has been a instructor in various fields for over 25 years. When he came on the salsa scene he made a number of important observations:

• Good dancers don't always make good teachers.
• The pace of the classes are often too fast.
• Not enough time is spend explaining the theory behind the moves.

We started Spiral Salsa because these issues were not being addressed, so you will be delighted to find that you can learn it and in a short few months actually become good at it!