Salsa is a syncretic dance genre created by Spanish-speaking people from the Caribbean. Salsa dancing mixes African and European dance influences through the music and dance fusions that are the roots of Salsa: essentially Puerto Rican and Cuban Son, but also with influences from Guaguancó, Rumba, Boogaloo, Pachanga, Guaracha, Puerto Rico's Plena, andBomba.
Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms, line dancing (suelta), and Rueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine. Salsa is popular throughout Latin America, and also in the United States, Spain, Japan, Portugal, France, and Italy.
The name "Salsa" is the Spanish word for sauce, connoting (in American Spanish) a spicy flavor.[2] Salsa also suggests a "mixture" of ingredients, though this meaning is not found in most stories of the term's origin.
