What is La Rueda?

La Rueda de Casino, to give it its full name, is a group salsa dance from Cuba. "Casino" is the name for Cuban style salsa and “rueda” is Spanish for wheel.

In La Rueda couples form a circle, the wheel of the name, and the whole group is under the control (Ha!) of the leader (the singer) who calls out the moves wholly at their whim.  Moves are a mixture of pre-set couple combinations (which can all be used in free-dance) plus various exchanges of partners and group patterns.  The whole group performs these combinations and changes as one flowing, synchronised, harmonious mass. 

Well that’s the theory anyway!  

It’s fun when it works and even funnier when it doesn’t. But once again that’s the emphasis – rueda is FUN. Not only is it a great group-dance form but it will increase your salsa-move repertoire and improve your salsa generally.