Salsa Classes

At Salsa Tropical we teach Cross Body Style. Cross Body is danced on linear movements, i.e. dance in a line. The most important part of Cross Body is what is referred to as the “cross-body lead”, with the participants dancing face-to-face with each other. At a point, the male dancer (the lead) will turn first and the female dancer turn later after she has passed the male dancer, hence the “cross-body lead” name.

Cross Body, has two sub categories – L.A. style and N.Y./Mambo style. They may also be called On1 and On2 respectively. It’s called On1 or On2 because with L.A. style, you accentuate, or make more visible the 1^st (and 5^th) beat, and danced quick-quick-slow, quick-quick-slow. L.A. style is a lot more flamboyant and extravagance dance that represents the flash and glamour of Los Angeles. N.Y./Mambo differs in that the form is danced to the conga drums, and you accentuate the 2^nd (and 6^th) beat. This is why N.Y./Mambo is also called On2. The sound made by the beats of the conga drums in N.Y./Mambo creates the illusion for the dancers that they have more time, and a consistent flow. On2 also creates the similar feeling you would get if you danced an earlier form of Salsa, Cuban Son which, by the way, is still a popular form of dance in Cuba.