WEEK 1-INTRODUCTION TO CASINO DANCE
INTRODUCTION TO CASINO DANCE
(Doctrinal Development – MCC 5.0)
By: Yoel Marrero
Author of the Método del Cuadro del Casino (MCC)
Casino Dance is a choreographic manifestation of Cuban origin that belongs to the group of social partner dances in closed or linked hold, characterized by its interactive nature, its combinatorial structure, and its deep relationship with the island’s popular dance music. However, a full understanding of Casino requires going beyond its festive or spontaneous appearance, placing it within a clearly defined historical, technical, and conceptual framework.
This introduction proposes a structured reading of the Casino phenomenon through five fundamental moments: its genesis, its development, its expansion, its transformations, and its later formalization.
1. Genesis
Casino did not emerge as an isolated or personal creation, nor from the hands of a specific individual or clearly defined group. From a historical standpoint, its origins are already documented in various sources. Among them are references collected by Bárbara Balbuena in her book El Casino y la Salsa en Cuba, where she recounts a dance matinée held at the Casino Deportivo, a social club for middle and upper classes in the Miramar area. According to a period newspaper chronicle cited there, a group of young people danced forming a circle while exchanging partners. From the public diffusion of that event, the term “rueda del casino” began to be used, later shortened to “rueda de casino”, and eventually “Casino” came to designate the partner dance associated with that practice.
However, the Método del Cuadro del Casino does not limit itself to this historical, chronological, or anecdotal narrative. It also seeks to determine when Casino emerges from a structural standpoint, that is, when it truly begins to differentiate itself from Son.
From this perspective, the MCC hypothesis proposes that the repeated practice of dancing in a circle subjected choreographic evolutions to the geometric constraints of the circumference. Within this framework, movement possibilities became conditioned mainly by two directions: along the radius, moving toward and away from the center, and along the perimeter, through arcs of the circumference.
As this spatial organization became habitual, the figures progressively transformed their design. Yoel Marrero’s thesis holds that, as Son passed through the geometric mold of the Casino circle, its evolutions began to reorganize between radii and arcs, generating structural zones close to a quadrangular logic.
As a result, partner dancing retained an implicit reference to a center, even outside the visible circle. The MCC identifies this fundamental configuration as the fall position, in which the woman moves away from the center while the man moves toward it.
Therefore, the genesis of Casino must be understood in a dual sense: historical and structural. In the latter, Son would have been transformed by the geometry of the circle, acquiring a new choreographic configuration.
2. Development and Popularization
After the 1950s, Casino Dance entered a process of national expansion within a sociopolitical context marked by the establishment of socialism in Cuba.
Between the 1960s and 1980s, the reorganization of educational life through boarding school systems (rural secondary schools, pre-university institutions, vocational schools, and technical training centers) created intense youth coexistence. This social concentration fostered constant interaction, where dance gatherings became the primary space for socialization.
At the same time, the development of Cuban popular dance music, led by groups such as Los Van Van, Adalberto Álvarez, Original de Manzanillo, Maravillas de Florida, Son 14, and the Charangón de Revé, consolidated Casino as the dominant dance practice.
Television programs such as Para bailar, se baila así, Joven Joven, and Aquí el que baila gana reinforced this phenomenon, establishing Casino as a central element of everyday cultural consumption.
As a result, Casino transitioned from a practice associated with specific social sectors to a mass phenomenon, which implied both quantitative growth and qualitative diversification, with a progressive loss of technical homogeneity.
3. Exportation
By the late 1980s, with the collapse of the socialist bloc, Cuba adopted a hybrid economic model that promoted international tourism. Spaces such as La Cecilia, Palacio de la Salsa, and the Casas de la Música became central to this new cultural circuit.
The figure of the “social facilitator” emerged, mediating interactions between Cubans and tourists in nightlife environments where dance played a central role. At the same time, musical evolution toward Timba introduced more expressive and less structured forms of dancing.
Elements such as the “despelote”, once occasional, became more integrated into regular practice. Migration and international contact led to the exportation of a hybrid dance form, combining stage dance, social dance, and stylized or sensual elements.
Abroad, these forms became consolidated under terms such as “Cuban salsa”, while in places like Miami, influences from ballroom dance and Afro-Cuban dance traditions were incorporated.
This process produced a mutation of Casino, generating hybrid forms that were later reintroduced into Cuba as normalized expressions of Cuban dance.
4. Stylistic and Conceptual Deformation
As a result of its expansion without formalization, Casino underwent deformation processes:
Stylistic: posture, movement pathways, lead and follow, use of space.
Conceptual: loss of structural understanding, terminological confusion, and misinterpretation.
These deformations occurred both outside and within Cuba, affecting the coherence of the dance as a system.
5. Formalization (MCC)
The need for a rigorous system led to the creation of the Método del Cuadro del Casino (MCC), which allows Casino to be analyzed, structured, and reproduced with precision.
(Expanded development in subsequent chapters)
LINKS – MCC ECOSYSTEM
Blog:
https://bailesocialinteligente.blogspot.com
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@CATALOGOCOREOGRAFICOMCC
Facebook – Observatory:
https://www.facebook.com/observatoriodebailescubanos
Coreographic Catalog MCC:
https://www.facebook.com/FundacionCasinoParaTodosUSA
#MetodoDelCuadroDelCasino
#MCC
#WellFormedCasino
#CasinoDance
#CubanSalsa
#CasinoHistory
#Choreography
#CubanDance
#SocialDance
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