Salsa: Cuddle

Cuddle is a position when partners stand side by side. One can get to and out of this position in many ways. One example is the move Kentucky that we discussed couple of days ago. Some other variation that already featured on the dancetuts website are cuddle left turn, whip turn into cuddle and cuddle tunnel.

The video from Johnny Griffith (gottaswing5678 on YouTube) has several salsa moves for beginners, including a couple with a cuddle

Charleston: Basic step

The Charleston is a dance named for the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Very detailed information about the dance can be found in the Wikipedia article about charleston, the basic step is well described in the Charleston part of Swing Dancing Wiki-book.

Video below shows basic step both for face-to-face and side-to-side dancing



The video is from the collection of social dance videos of YouTube user itsaboutmomentum for a school in Van Buren, Arkansas, Momentum Dance Concepts. We already featured a video from them dedicated to lindy circle.

Zouk: Basic step

Zouk is a dance similar to bachata which is danced to music originated in Caribbean islands. It is especially popular in French speaking countries and Brazil.

The basic step in the video below is well explained by Perle Lama, a French singer originally from the West Indies. It is posted on YouTube channel Pasquino52 for a zouk website in Italy.

Salsa: Back Break

Together with basic step, beginners are typically introduced to back break and side break. More complicated moves in salsa are frequently started with back breaks. The video below also shows a square pattern and back breaks with turns that they call New York steps



The video is made by dance school in Macclesfield, UK.

Salsa: Kentucky

The move called Kentucky starts similar to enchufla, but the leader stops the follower at the hip then at the shoulder and exits by making a step behind to turn around to return to initial position. The video below illustrates the move very well



The video is filmed by Melendrez Dance Studios (latinastaire on YouTube). They are based in Florida and give lessons in many social dances.

Bachata: Basic step

Bachata is a dance originated from Dominican Republic. It is danced to the music with the same name.

Similar to merengue, in basic step the leader starts stepping in left direction with left foot and makes a bachata "pop" on count 4, changes directions of the steps and makes another pop on count 8. The follower mirrors the steps of the leader.

The video below illustrates the basic step very well, they also give some styling advice



The video is from http://www.expertvillage.com/, a website where people share how-to videos on various topics (not only dances). They have extremely popular channel on YouTube (expertvillage). Many videos on the site are dedicated to social dances including salsa, bachata, lindy hop, etc.

Merengue: Basic step

Video from YouTube user moshunpics spends lots of time explaining concepts of merengue for beginners. They make three important points:

• Keep time with the music.


• Keep upper body level.


• When dancing, take your time and do not worry how many bits are required to complete a move. Keep stepping each bit, and do not forget to move the hips.

The author of the video also promotes his online store of dance instructions DVDs.