You have probably seen in some salsa websites and workshop ads: "L.A style" or "London Style" or "Puerto Rican Style", and you probably wonder what does it actually mean. In some cases it really means something. In other cases it's just an empty commercial tag trying to make themselves different from the others.

Let me condensed here the most widely recognised salsa styles (and beware other labels!):

Cuban style:

Although salsa was actually created in New York, Cuban style was until a few years ago the most widely spread salsa style. Two factors have contributed to it: The Cuban diaspora all over the world and the more recent success of the island as touristic point.

The Cuban style is often named as "casino style". It is often danced "on 1", "on 2" (as in Cuban son or in "palladium style") and it is not rare to find people who dance it "on 3". So some people say that dancing salsa "on 2" is the traditional way. Some others say that this is the old way. But the essence of Cuban style is not in the timing. The distinctive features of Cuban style are the position (rather bent), the circular travellings of the couple (around each other), the "lazy walk" of the partners (no spins), the casino patterns ("setenta", " vacílala" and the funny "arm-break" leadings), the afro-cuban adornments when the partners are separated and the arm teasing over the leader and follower heads (my Cuban teacher in Spain called it "toques", but I've seen in some web sites the term "alardes").

Miami style:

This is again Cuban-based style. Miami style diverged into a more "show off" style, developing further the complicated Casino patterns while pure Cuban style remained closer to the son and rumba roots

New York style:

Not everybody in NY dances "on 2", but it is internationally agreed that the so called "NY style" is danced "on 2" (either ET2 or Palladium). Although everybody say they dance "on 2", from the perspective of an "on 1" dancer they actually dance "on 6". The position is rather straight, the travelling is linear, the adornments are very much influenced by hustle. This is a very elegant style.

Los Angeles style:

"LA style" is danced "on 1". The travelling is linear, the position rather straight, adornments are taken from different sources. But the most distinctive features of "LA style" is the quest for the most difficult acrobatics ever and the outstanding power of the performers (notably the Vasquez brothers).

Puerto Rican style:

This style is very similar to NY style. They dance usually "on 2" and sometimes "on 4". If LA style is "the quest for the acrobatics" PR style is "the quest for the most elegant and cool dancer". Pedro Gómez and Felipe Polanco (both based presently in Europe) are widely recognised as the most elegant salsa dancers.

The last three styles (NY, LA and Puerto Rican) are encompassed by the more general term "Cross Body Lead style", that is, the styles where the partners dance mainly on a line performing linear travellings.

Colombian style:

This style is very distinctive but is not widely spread. They dance "on 1", the travellings are short, rather lateral, the position is rather bent and they seldom perform fancy patterns. The way they dance is strongly influenced by their traditional cumbia. Not displaying fancy patterns, this style has not found much support elsewhere out of Colombia and the Colombian immigrant circles.

Other styles:

Other styles are very much in the minority or are just commercial labels invented to pretend to be different. I've seen the label "London style" several times. Leon Rose (one of my favourite international teachers) is trying to sell it. I think he is good enough to get success without any funny label, but for the time being the "London style" have not shown to be distinctive enough to be taken seriously as another salsa style. I've seen the label "London style" in some workshops just because the teacher was from UK, but certainly their style had very little in common with Leon's. If somebody explains me what makes "London style" distinctive from other CBL styles (and convinces me), I promise I will delete this paragraph and put the "London style" at the level of all others.

(NOTE: we STRONGLY recommend not to do acrobatics on the dance floor during social dancing. Acrobatics are appropriate just for shows (where the dancefloor is clear for you) and after appropriate training. Otherwise it's simply dangerous. I've seen a girl hitting her head on the floor during one such acrobatic movement. We were really scared when she lost consciousness, although finally she was OK. It is simply stupid to get a serious injury just to show off among your friends.