What is Salsa?

Salsa is a style of music and a style of dance.

Musically, Salsa's rhythmical roots come from Africa via Cuba.  These rhythms fused with American jazz to form an unmistakable sound that in it's heyday represented the Puerto Rican ghetto experience in New York. But the sound didn't stop there - it made it's way back to Cuba and Puerto Rico, and also has a significant and accomplished base of musicians in various parts of Central and South America.

As a dance, Salsa's style, combined with a strong cultural backing and a natural competition among dancers to create the coolest moves, have made it the most popular partner dance in the world.  Danced everywhere from New York to Tokyo, Los Angeles to Tel Aviv, San Juan to Seoul, this dance has broken through cultural barriers and created pockets of "salsaholics" the world over.

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Article by Oren Shoshan.

Additional References

Boggs, Vernon W. (1992): Salsiology - Afro-Cuban Music and the Evolution of Salsa in New York City.

Wikipedia - History of Salsa Music.

Wikipedia - History of Salsa Dance.

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