What is Rueda di Casino?

Salsa is the most popular dance in the world. Salsa Rueda di Casino (also known as Salsa Rueda, or simply Rueda) is an exhilarating group Salsa danced in a large circle or “wheel”. Patterned sequences called moves are called out by a leader, or cantante (as in square dancing) and each couple performs that move and in turn cycles around the wheel to the other partner. It’s an exciting dance requiring memorization of the moves or patterns, starting very simple and moving up, over time, to more intricate and complex moves. Many of the moves or patterns in Rueda are essentially Salsa patterns that can be danced in couples.

Why Do It?

Rueda Di Casino has everything you want in an activity! It’s:

• Social: you get to meet new, fun people from all walks of life. Rueda is danced all over the world. And at the very least, you learn moves that you can use on the Salsa dance floor to do partner dancing.

• Physical: Rueda is a workout, especially when the music gets fast!

• Creative: Salsa music is intricate, polyrhythmic and melodic, and dancing Rueda helps you “get” the music better. It becomes a part of you. And once you’ve learned some moves, if you’d like to become the Catante and call your own favorite moves, you’re quite welcome to do so! You can be a choreographer.

• Fun: We don’t pick people off the floor, we don’t judge each other, and we don’t require a huge time commitment. We don’t do moves that aren’t fun (and we decide among ourselves what’s fun.)

• Cheap: We charge just $2 a session.

Who Are We?

Ithaca Rueda di Casino was started in March 2015 by Nancy Arif, Patty Koltko and Lori Zarante. There’s no formal organization - we’re just a group who loves to dance Rueda.

There’s no one right way to dance Rueda, just as there’s no one right way to dance Salsa (or anything else). We have our own preconceived notions which make it easier. For example, you can dance Rueda “on 1”, “on 2”, or even “on 3”, but it won’t work if half the group is dancing “on 1” and half “on 2.” It’s like synchronized swimming in that regard. (We dance “on 1” by the way.)

So how do we decide our norms? It’s pretty democratic, although we tend to follow the patterns set by Palente at Cornell, Nancy Arif at Oasis (back when it existed) and Brian Bromka at La Familia de la Salsa in Syracuse. Occasionally we take Rueda classes outside our little world, like from Hadar (TODO). We try out new moves and stylings, then we either accept them or we don’t.

It’s pretty loose, but the point is always to have fun. If something’s not fun, we don’t do it. We also try to look reasonably good! But we’re not a performance troupe.

What If I’m a Beginner?

We have a beginner Rueda group from 8:00- 8:30 each Tuesday. Here, you just show up and over the course of 6 weeks, we teach you the basic moves with slower music. Gently we merge you into the Practica group - you start coming in a little earlier than 8:00 and you can join the full wheel. You may not know all the moves, but we can cover anything you don’t know during the 8:00-8:30 session. Eventually, when you’re comfortable, you can join the full group at 7:00.

People learn Rueda at different speeds, but we’re easy. We’ll work with you until you become an ol’ pro. The more you learn, the funner it gets!

What If I Already Know Salsa?

Generally dancers who know Salsa pick up Rueda quicker than those who don’t. The music is the same, and the basic counts are the same. You find salsa basics like Dile Que Non appear in Rueda in lots of different moves.

But Rueda is different than Salsa. The basic step is different, for one thing. For another, you change partners frequently. This is helpful in your salsa practice because you learn to adjust yourself (your frame, where you place your hands, etc.) to different partners. You can dance more confidently with more people.

Basically, both Rueda and Salsa dancing give you a better appreciation for Latin music.

Can I Just Learn Rueda By Watching DVD’s or Youtube?

Videos are helpful in learning Rueda, but they’re tricky. Because there are regional differences, you never know whether (for example) Ponle Sabor in a video is exactly how we do it. The more basic the move, the less regional differences there are - so Dame and Enchufle tend to be the same wherever you go, while Ponle Sabor is not.

Everyone learns differently, so on our web site we provide descriptions and videos for all the moves we do. The videos we choose tend to match our preferred way of doing the move.
You can use them before you learn a move in Practica, or after, or not at all.