Salsa is a modern dance of Latin America and the USA, performed in pairs or in groups, accompanied by musical genres named salsa, presumed to be of Caribbean origin. This type of music, which was common only among Latin American peoples, gained popularity in the USA thanks to immigrants from the Caribbean to the USA, and salsa dance has become known and practiced all over the world, especially after the 1980s. Today’s salsa dance is characterized as a mixture of African, Caribbean and European styles, dance and musical elements.

The diversity of Salsa’s origins and the fact that it is a mixture of various styles also explains the meaning of its name. The word “salsa” actually means “sauce” prepared by mixing various spices in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. The music and dance in question have been given this name because they contain a mixture of very different cultural elements.

The historical formation of this mix has been influenced by the styles son, guaguancó, rumba, boogaloo, pachanga, guaracha, plena, and bomba. Although the dance steps of today’s salsa come mainly from the Cuban end, it has been influenced by other Cuban dances such as mambo, cha cha cha, guaracha, changüí, palo monte, rumba, abakuá, comparsa.

Salsa, a “freestyle” dance, is improvised without depending on routine movements. Salsa is not a dance that requires full use of the dance floor like foxtrot or samba. Salsa dance is considered within the scope of Latin dances. Among other Latin dances, the most well-known are merengue, cha cha cha, bachata, mambo, samba and rumba. Although tango is a dance of Latin American origin, it refers to Latin dances other than tango, which is a ballroom dance.