The summer Saturday afternoon was the perfect time to dance. A sizeable group of people gathered in the market square and tried their hand at Cuban salsa.
Salsa is an extremely energetic and sensual Latin American dance originating in the Caribbean region (mainly Cuba and Puerto Rico). It combines vibrant African rhythms with elements of jazz. It is characterized by dynamic hip movements, intricate footwork and numerous turns in partner dancing.
Salsa simply means sauce :)
The name “salsa,” now commonly associated with a dance style and a genre of music, has its roots in a surprising culinary source. It derives directly from the Spanish word meaning sauce, which initially sparked some controversy in artistic circles.
Salsa is a kind of dancing sauce—a mixture of various genres, such as mambo, cha-cha, son and jazz. It was precisely this wealth of influences, their spicy and exotic fusion, that prompted the creators to draw an analogy with spicy sauce.
Just as sauce combines many ingredients to create a new, intense whole, salsa music also brought together different traditions, giving rise to a new and distinctive sound. In this way, the culinary metaphor perfectly captured the essence and character of this vibrant genre, which over time came to dominate dance floors around the world.