Skip to main content
Baila en Cuba
05November

Baila en Cuba

Dance in Cuba, a world meeting of dancers and dance academies of casino and salsa organized by cultural tourism agency Artex SA Paradiso, celebrates its 10th edition in Havana, from November 22nd to 27th. It is dedicated to mambo, a genuinely Cuban musical style that revolutionized the dance floors of the forties and fifties and lives on the rhythm of the orchestras of popular dance music.


According to historians, the mambo was created in the thirties by the brothers Israel Cachao and Orestes Lopez, when they were part of the Arcaño y sus Maravillas Orchestra. They got the rhythm of the danzon and the son montuno created by Arsenio Rodriguez and integrated with trombones and saxophones. The result brought about the mambo we know today.


The growing interdependence that exists between musicians and dancers enabled percussion to acquire an increasingly dominant role and conquer audiences all around the world. Equally important were the contributions of Damaso Perez Prado and Benny More, who made it famous outside Cuba, especially in Mexico and the United States.


At present, the mambo is one of Latin rhythms taught in ballroom dance classes worldwide, although many schools tends to confuse it with the son montuno or guaracha, commercially called salsa in New York.


For ten years, the event Baila en Cuba (Dance in Cuba) has positioned itself in the market by bringing more and more dancers, teachers and fans from different countries. They travel to the island to take classes of traditional Cuban dance rhythms like mambo, cha-cha, rumba, son and other, and enjoy night concerts given by leading orchestras of Cuban popular dance music.


In daytime, attendees of Baila en Cuba will receive optional workshops of traditional rhythms and casino evening classes. These classes are taught by teachers graduated from prestigious art schools in Cuba, who have a group of monitors previously selected by the organizing committee of the event. However, some people prefer to dance accompanied by his/her partner and, in that case, the Paradiso agency offers them a discount of $ 50.00 the price of full package.


This year insignia orchestras of Cuban music have already confirmed their participation: Juan Formell and Los Van Van, Charanga Habanera, Elito Reve and Charangon, Adalberto Alvarez y su Son and others from the catalogs of Clave Cubana and Musicalia. They will hold concerts in cultural centers where participants can interact with Cuban dancers and practice what they have learned.


A new option of this event in its 10th year is Baila Cuba Plus, which is an overnight in Varadero, an ideal offer to enjoy the most beautiful beach in Cuba and one night with a magnificent concert.


As part of the celebration of the tenth anniversary of this cultural program, Artex SA will organize on November 25 at 5:00 pm a «Giant Rueda de Casino», where more than a thousand couples will dance at unison different choreographies. This aims to establishing a new Guinness World Record from Cuba, the world cradle of the casino dance.


Dance in Cuba is the perfect opportunity to know about  casino dance and Cuban salsa, to take master classes with dancers and Cuban academics, to enjoy presentations of invited dance academies and concerts with the best groups of Cuban popular music.