New York-style salsa is a night-club style partner dance. Like LA-style salsa, it is danced in a line or "slot", with the follower traveling along this line while the leader remains relatively in the same place. This is in contrast to Cuban-style salsa, which is not restricted to be dance in a line, and has a tendency to involve more circular traveling between its partners. Unlike LA-style salsa, NY-style is danced with the "rocking" or "breaking" step on the second beat of the music, not the first.
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There are two distinct developments of New York Salsa as a music and dance genre:
These two developments create a fusion of a new salsa music and dance genre, different than its Latin American and L.A. Style counterparts.
Musically, the old Mambo (Mambo Tipico) is fused with New York Jazz and Swing to create a new salsa genre but retaining much of its original percussion. The addition of new musical instruments such as xylophones, jazz saxophones and steel drums added new melody to the evolving genre.
In New York Style the tempo and timing of the dance is strictly On-2 (based on delay tempo, on the first slap on the tumbao / conga).
Dancers around the world often integrate elements and repertoire from New York into their Salsa routines due to New York Style's advanced motions and routines.
Many also refer to this style as "Mambo" since it breaks on 2nd beat of the measure. However, there are other dance forms with more legitimate claim to that name; see (Mambo) The accompanying dance to the original Mambo, popularized by Perez Prado which greatly influenced New York big band development was actually not a pure partnership dance. Due to its immense popularity, some of the original mambo steps were incorporated into the ballroom and New York Style curriculum, resulting in the 3rd Mambo Tipico steps (Spanish : Pati-Pami) became the first basic foundation step of New York Style. Subsequently, the L.A. Style of dancing also followed suit by incorporating the same foundation as its basic step.
The etiquette of New York Style is strict about remaining in the "slot" and avoiding traveling dancing in a sandbox area with a lot of spins, turns and styling. There is greater emphasis on performing "shines" in which dancers separate themselves and dance solo with intricate footwork and styling for a time—suspected origins from Swing and New York Tap.
New York Style dancers are typically very serious about the musicality and timing of their dancing. To satisfy their tastes, "socials" are often held that cater to almost exclusively playing Salsa Dura (lit. "Hard Salsa") and Descarga (lit. "Jam Session"). This is mid-to-up-tempo salsa with an emphasis on percussion and band orchestration rather than the vocals.
The longest-running social in New York is the Jimmy Anton social, which is held every first, third and fifth (if there is a fifth) Sunday of the month.
New York Style is danced by dedicated communities around the world and is also found in New York Salsa Congress and many dance congresses around the world.
One of the most famous schools of New York Style is Eddie Torres Latin Dance Company, founded by New York Salsa legend Puerto Rican immigrant Eddie Torres who is responsible for codification of the New York Style curriculum,[2] and subsequent offspring such as the Santo Rico Dance School.[3] and ABAKUÁ Afro-Latin Dance Company [4]