Afro-Cuban Traditions

Fusions & New Styles

Timba & Hip-Hop
Timba was first developed in Cuba in the '70s, but fully emerged during the '90s, a widely popular style of popular music and dance. By the mid-'90s most local Cuban dance bands performed timba. It was innovative and fresh -- a fusion of popular Afro-Cuban dance with jazz and even funk influences. It was very popular among Afro-Cubans, who were celebrated in its songs, along with Afro-Cuban neighborhoods. But timba also provoked controversy, with its relaxed and irreverent lyrics and aggressive dance moves. It is very much influenced by rumba, and is so enticing to dancers that they may dance until exhausted!

Afro-Modern/Afro-Cuban Modern
Afro-Modern is a fusion of modern dance with West African influences. Afro-Cuban modern incorporates the fundamental moves of traditional and folkloric Afro-Cuban dance.

Salsa & Casino de Rueda
Casino/Rueda is an exhilarating form of Salsa dancing, which some people call Cuban Square Dancing because it involves couples exchanging partners. The term Casino comes from the fact that it started in the 1950s in a Havana social club called El Casino Deportivo, and was brought to Miami by the first wave of Cuban exiles. Over the years, Casino has grown not just in size but also in complexity and style, influenced by disco and later Hip Hop moves. There aredozens of turns, and each has a name and most have hand signals. This form of dancing salsa is popular because of how it connects dancers with each other both physically and mentally.