Counting salsa in eight

Salsa is counted in eight beats: two bars of four. In the most common style the steps are on 1, 2, 3 and 5, 6, 7, with a pause on 4 and 8: “one-two-three, five-six-seven”.

The instructor in SalsaBeat calls the beats aloud, the count strip above the instruments lights up the current one, and “Full-screen count” shows the number large.

Listen to the congas and the campana. At the end of every bar the congas play two open, resonant tones, on “four” and “four-and”, on “eight” and “eight-and”: right after them comes “one” or “five”. The campana marks 1, 3, 5 and 7 with its low open stroke.

Telling “one” from “five” is harder. Usually a musical phrase begins and the singer comes in on “one”. To practise, switch the count on, find the “one” together with the instructor, then switch it off and check whether your count holds.

By the beat of the break step, the step that changes direction. Cuban salsa and the Los Angeles style are danced on 1: the break is on “one” and “five”. The New York style, or mambo, is danced on 2: the break is on “two” and “six”. The music and the count are the same.

For On2 the Instructor card has the count “2, 6”: it calls only the break beats.

Six: every beat from 1 to 8; only 1 and 5; the steps 1-2-3, 5-6-7; the steps 2-3-4, 6-7-8 for contratiempo, as son and classic mambo are danced; only 2 and 6; only 4 and 8. You choose the count on the Instructor card.

There are six languages as well: English, Russian, Spanish, French, Italian and German.

If the steps are on 1-2-3 and 5-6-7, there is no step on “four” and “eight”: it is a pause, with the weight staying on the standing foot. Many dancers replace the pause with a light tap of the toe.