The General Evolution of Salsa Dance Instruction

All creatures great and small have been subdued to the natural processes of evolution. There is a general path many Salsa dancers follow from the beginning until the end of their Salsa career. As the world evolved, so did the international Salsa Dance scene. This article explores how the Salsa Dance instruction evolved to what it is today.

There are some differences in how the  dance career of a Salsero or Salseras evolve. All Salsa dancers worldwide can be divided into 4 general categories: those who grew up with Salsa in the Latino culture without having any prior dance education, those who were born in the Latino culture and enjoyed a (formal) dance education, the Salsa dancers who started taking Salsa classes without having prior dance education and those of us taking Salsa instruction whilst in possession of a (formal) dance education. This article explores the latter two categories.

The International Salsa Dance Educational System can be roughly divided into “before Eddie Torres” and the “post Eddie Torres” Salsa instructional generations. Eddie Torres revolutionized Salsa Dance instruction with his Salsa Dance instructional video “Eddie Torres – Salsa Nightclub Style”. He set many “semi standards” such as dancing to the music, the Cross Body Lead, the Right Turn and the Suzy Q, which the whole international Salsa Dance Education community – except for the Cubans and the Colombians – still use today. Before, most of the teaching of Salsa was done by Latinos such having no prior dance education or formal instructor's degrees. Initially, not much had changed after Eddie Torres launched his ground breaking video. The Latinos were still in charge.

Video clip out of “Eddie Torres – Salsa Nightclub Style” explaining Rhythm & Timing techniques.

Things started to change radically after the following developments: Albert Torres becoming a Salsa Congress promoter, the first Puerto Rico Salsa Congress held in 1996,  and the first Mayan Salsa Championships (LA Stye Salsa on1) organized in that same year.