Salsa is said to have originated from Cuba and mainland Latin America. In Spanish, salsa means sauce ? in this case, flavour or spice of life. Salsa music was first aired on the radio in the 1950s, and established itself as a popular dance form in the Seventies.

The groove for the salsa is generally a recurring eight-beat pattern, comprising two bars of four beats each. The steps go with the first three beats on each bar, the last being matched by a tap, click or flick.

Current versions of the salsa borrow from several Latin American and African dance forms.

Salsa is usually danced in pairs. Contrary to other traditional ballroom dances, the pair does not ?walk? over the floor, but tends to occupy a fixed area.

The parent form of salsa is the Cuban style, or an ‘on one’, characterised by the second person mirroring the first’s steps.

Salsa is generally danced with the partners holding hands. However, advanced forms include ‘shines’ or show-offs, which involve fancy footwork and body actions, danced in separation.