Couples Latin Dance: Valentine's Edition February 2024 - Salsa & Rumba

Welcome to your Salsa and Rumba webpage for the Couples Latin Dance Valentine's Edition (Tuesdays 7:00pm to 9:00pm from 6 February to 27 February 2024 at Acacia Ridge Hall).

On this page, I will include multiple videos for each move, if I can, because I have found couples resonate with different instructors. 

I recommend you also check out my Salsa info page here and Rumba page info here which includes:
​
  • Videos demonstrating dance moves, some provide detailed breakdowns (these are created by other dance studios and housed on YouTube)
  • Music Lists
  • Other helpful tips to get you dancing

Just a reminder that you've been learning:
  • Salsa - Street Latin Salsa on 1
    • Not Ballroom Salsa. Not Salsa on 2. Not Cuban Salsa. Not Columbian Salsa.
  • Rumba - American Rumba (Ballroom)
    • Not International (Ballroom) Rumba or the other six types of Rumba listed here!

On This Page...

  • Spotify Music Lists for Salsa and Rumba
  • Section 1: Lesson Plans - this outlines what steps we learned and revised in each lesson
  • Section 2: Salsa Videos
  • Section 3: Rumba Video 

Salsa Music Lists
​

Rumba Music Lists
​

*** SECTION 1: LESSON PLANS ***

Summary of Steps Learned So Far

​SALSA
​
  1. Forward & Back Basic Step
  2. Open Out Basic Step
  3. Right Turn of Follower
  4. Cross Body Lead
  5. Cross Body Lead with Inside Roll/Turn​ ​
​RUMBA
​
  1. Basic Box Step
  2. ​Turning Box Step
  3. Crossover Breaks and Underarm Turn of Follower
  4. Butterfly
  5. Fifth Position Breaks
  6. Fallaway and Walks​ ​

Lesson 1: Tuesday 6 February 2024

SALSA
​
  • Forward & Back Basic Step in Closed Frame
  • Open Out Basic Step
  • Transitioning from Closed Frame to Two-Handed Hold (Open Frame) and vice versa in Forward & Back Step
  • Right Turn of Follower from Closed Frame
RUMBA
​
  • Basic Box Step
  • ​Turning Box Step
  • Crossover Breaks x 3 and Underarm Turn of Follower
  • Butterfly
​Refer below for VIDEOS of each step we learned.

Lesson 2: Tuesday 13 February 2024

SALSA
​
  • Revised Week 1:
    • Forward & Back Basic
    • Open Out Basic
    • Right Turn of Follower
  • NEW! Cross Body Lead
  • NEW! Cross Body Lead with Inside Turn/Roll​ ​
RUMBA

  • Revised Week 1:
    • ​Basic Box Step
    • Turning Box Step
    • Crossover Breaks & Underarm Turn
    • Butterfly
  • ​NEW! Fifth Position Breaks Combo
  • NEW! Fallaway and Walks​ ​

Lesson 3: Tuesday 20 February 2024

SALSA
​
  • NEW! Shoulder Check, which involved revising:
    • Cross Body Lead
    • Single Right Turn of Follower
    • Cross Body Lead Inside Turn​
  • ​NEW! Sombrero into Cross Body Lead (as a way to exit the right-right hand hold at the end of Shoulder Check)
  • CBL Sequence:
    • Forward & Back Basic
    • ​Cross Body Lead (Closed Frame) to Right-Right Handshake Hold (as per Shoulder Check)
    • Sombrero into Cross Body Lead
    • Cross Body Lead Inside Turn/Roll
    • ​with no basics inbetween!
  • ​NEW! Cuban Walks
RUMBA
​
  • Revised Fifth Position Breaks
  • Revised Fallaway & Walks
  • Started sequence:
    • NEW! Cross Body Lead
    • NEW! Open Break and Underarm Turn
    • Crossover Breaks and Underarm Turn
    • NEW! Side Rocks
    • We will learn Slow Underarm Turn of Follower next week (which is before the Side Rocks in the sequence)​​
  • Learned Simple Dips to finish dance

Lesson 4: Tuesday 27 February 2024

SALSA
​
  • Revised Shoulder Check
  • Learned Reversed Cross Body Lead with Inside Turn (follower turns clockwise) - for Sombrero and Shoulder Check combination
  • Learned Sombrero and Shoulder Check
RUMBA

  • Revised Beginner Sequence from week 3
  • Learned Slow Underarm Turn of Follower 
  • Completed Beginner Sequence
  • Learned Opening Out Step

*** SECTION 2: SALSA VIDEOS ***

Multiple videos may be included for each step to provide different perspectives. Also, check out my SALSA webpage here for more videos.

Salsa #1 - ​SALSA BASIC STEPS:
​Forward & Back Step, Side Step and Open Out Step

​
​The video below includes three basic steps in Salsa
  • Forward and Back Basic Step
  • Side Basic Step
  • Open Out Basic Step (called Half Swing or Cumbia in this video)
​​​The video below explains the Forward & Back Basic Step in greater detail.

Salsa #2 - Right Turn of Follower

​This move can be done in Closed Frame or Open Frame.

Leaders can use his left hand or his right hand or both hands to lead the Single Right Turn of the Follower.  Salsa can be pretty versatile like that!

I've included multiple videos here for you. Choose the video/instruction that most resonates with you.

  • Half Forward & Back Basic with Leader's Right Arm up on count 3
  • Leader does Forward & Back and turns Follower with his Left Hand on counts 6 and 7 and uses his Right Hand on Follower's back to guide her around
  • Follower steps Forward on Left on count 5 (keep looking at leader), Half Turn (or Twist on Spot) on count 6 (face away from leader) then Half Turn with Feet Together or Left Foot back on count 7 (facing leader again)
​

Salsa #3 - Cross Body Lead

Salsa #4 - Cross Body Lead with Inside Turn/Roll

There are many names for this move: Cross Body Lead with Inside Roll, Cross Body Lead with Inside Turn, Salsa Inside Turn, Salsa Inside Roll, etc.
The video below shows the Cross Body Lead Inside Turn then goes directly into a normal Cross Body Lead instead of a Forward & Back Basic Step.

Salsa #5 Shoulder Check

​
  • ​Forward & Back Closed Frame
  • Cross Body Lead into Right-Right Hand Hold (change hands on count 7)
  • Single Right Turn of Follower with Leader’s Right (Right-Right Hand)
  • Cross Body Lead with Inside Turn with Right-Right Hands
    • Leader can open towards direction of travel on count 3 of CBL Inside Turn (instead of staying at right angles)
  • Shoulder Check from count 7 of CBL Inside Turn
    • Leader:
      • Leader places Left Hand on Follower’s Left Shoulder; Keep Right Hands at Follower’s Shoulder Height (if right arm is up, follower would continue turning as part of normal CBL inside turn)
      • Leader’s Right Foot on 7 is slightly right of follower; Leader steps forward left on 1 to slightly right of follower
      • On “2” Leader takes a bigger back step with Right Leg to give Follower space to do her turn
    • Follower:
      • Follower is facing away from Leader on 7 (from CBL Inside Turn)
      • Follower Footwork is same as CBL Wrap – ie Small Forward Right (back is to leader; right foot can cross slightly in front of left), Replace Left, Half Turn Right to Face leader, the right turn on 5-6-7
      • Optional arm styling in Shoulder Check – left arm out to side on “1” then bring arm back to front of body on “2” – “show your ring”
  • Leader simply changes back to normal hand hold after shoulder check - what I call "fudgy fudgy"
​

Salsa #6 Sombrero into Cross Body Lead

​​
  • From Right-Right "Handshake Hold", Left-Left Hands ON TOP. 
  • Leader's Left Arm over Leader's Head. Leader's Right Arm over Follower's Head as you do Cross Body Lead Footwork.
​

VERSION #2 WITH CROSS HAND TURN OF FOLLOWER BEFORE SOMBRERO AND CBL:
​​
  • Here's another version where you start off with Right-Right Handshake Hold and Left-Left Hands UNDERNEATH.
  • Do a Cross Hand Right Turn of Follower (same as Single Right Turn of Follower except with hands crossed and holding on with both hands.
  • Then do Sombrero into Cross Body Lead.
  • We didn't cover this version in class.

Note: Go to 33:58 in the video for the Sombrero move. 
​

Salsa #7 - Sombrero with Shoulder Check


SOMBRERO (WITH REVERSED CBL INSIDE TURN) WITH SHOULDER CHECK

  • Forward & Back 
  • Cross Body Lead (normal version) to Right-Right Handshake Hold
  • Leader & Follower Rock Back into REVERSED Cross Body Lead with Inside Turn (Inside Turn is in reversed position so Follower is turning CLOCKWISE)
  • Sombrero - Leader’s Left Behind Own Head, Leader’s Right Behind Follower’s Head
    • Leader’s Arm is ABOVE Follower’s Arm
  • CBL Inside Turn (normal version: ie ANTI CLOCKWISE) into Shoulder Check position
  • Shoulder Check and Single Right Turn of Follower
    • NOTE: In the first version of Shoulder Check we did, Follower does a half turn on "3" after the shoulder check position to face the leader. In this version, Follower is facing the side on "3" (ie her shoulder is pointing towards the leader). 
​
The video below breaks down the Reversed Cross Body Lead Inside Turn.
The video below breaks down the Sombrero.

*** SECTION 3: RUMBA VIDEOS ***

Multiple videos for a step may be included to provide different instruction/perspective. For more videos, check out my RUMBA webpage here.

Rumba #1 - Basic Box Step

Rumba #2 - Crossover Breaks and Underarm Turn

  • Half Box then Side Step
  • Crossover Breaks x 3
  • Underarm Turn of Follower 
  • Spot Spot into Basic Box Step

Rumba #3 - ​Butterfly

  • ​​Half Basic Box + Side Step​
  • Crossover Break x 1 to Palm to Palm
  • Open Out / Rock Back x 1 to Palm to Palm
  • Crossover Break x 1 to Underarm Turn of Follower

Rumba #4 - Fifth Position Breaks

This video has the couple exiting on the 3rd "break". In class, we did 4 "breaks" and exited on the 5th break. 

Rumba #5 - Fallaway and Walks

Rumba #6 - Sequence


​Breakdown of Sequence:
​
  • 1 x Basic Box
  • Cross Body Lead
  • Open Break and Underarm Turn of Follower
    • Rock Back (directly straight back away from partner), Replace (Leader’s Left Arm UP to indicate turn), Side (parallel), then Underarm Turn of Follower as Leader does Fifth Position Break
    • Stay connected with Leader’s Left and Follower’s Right Hands only (don’t go back into closed dance frame for this sequence); Bring the hands down to waist height to lead into cross
  • Crossover Breaks with Underarm Turn of Follower
    • Go straight into Crossover Breaks after the follower’s turn from Open Break
    • 3 x Crossover Breaks with Underarm Turn of Follower with Leader’s Left Hand
  • Slow Underarm Turn of Follower
  • Side Rocks

Rumba #6a - Cross Body Lead

Rumba #6b - Open Break and Underarm Turn

Rumba #6c - Slow Underarm Turn of Follower - to be taught in week 4

Rumba #6d - Side Rocks / Side Breaks

To do it from Basic Box, Leader needs to step forward left and Follower step back right on "slow" then you start the rocks. 

Rumba #7 - Cuban Walks
Refer to Cuban Walks Closed from 22 seconds:

Rumba #8 - Simple Dips

Rumba #9 - Opening Out Step


This video shows 2 open outs and exiting on the third. In class, we did a set of 5 open outs (exiting on the 5th). The exit is the same as the Fifth Position Break exit.

What's Next?

I have no plans at this stage to run another Couples Latin Dance course this year.

But who knows what the future can bring!?

​You're welcome to check out other Latin dance classes in Brisbane via Latin Dance Calendar here (I'm not sure how up-to-date this is though).

Interested in Private Lessons?

I offer private Latin dance lessons in the comfort of your own home
  • Private lessons are ideal if you want to learn to dance your way.
  • They offer greater flexibility and convenience than group classes.
  • You get to set the pace for the lesson, including what moves you want to learn (or not learn).
  • With personalised attention, you can overcome your roadblocks and progress your dance skills faster. 
Private Lessons

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  • I would love for you to submit a review and share your experience of learning to dance with me.
  • Although I may not be running Couples Latin Dance in the short-term, your feedback can assist couples looking to have private lessons with me.
  • You can submit a review via Google, via Facebook or manually: start here 
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