Salsa City Forum » News and Chat » Rueda terms

Dame una
Literal translation: Give me one
Action: Man collects the woman on his right and brings her across to his left for a casino step.

Otra
Lit: Another
Action: Man does another Dame while the caller tries to think of an interesting move to call

Enchufla
Lit: Plug her in
Action: Man turns his partner then does 'dame' while waiting for the caller to think of an interesting move.

Enchufla doble
Lit: Plug her in twice
Action: Man half turns his partner, turns her back, then does enchufla, while hoping that the caller will think of an interesting move soon.

Enchufla por abajo
Lit: Plug her in downwards (I'm not making this up)
Action: Man turns his partner then moves left to collide with the man on his left who has forgotten what 'por abajo' means

Dame dos
Lit: Give me two
Action: Man runs like hell to the next woman but one in an attempt to get to her before the man on his right who has forgotten what 'dos' means

Ochenta y ocho
Lit: Eighty-eight
Action: Man follows a figure of eight around the two women to his right, starting by going in front of the first, then starts again and collides with a man on his right who can only count up to 8 in Spanish

Yogur
Lit: You really don't want to know what this means in colloquial Spanish
Action: Man pretends to have sex with the woman on his left (you've probably now guessed what this means in colloquial Spanish).

Bailamos
Lit: Let's dance
Action: Man tries to look as if he knows what he's doing while hoping that the woman can remember this move without waiting for him to lead it

Sientala
Lit: Sit her down
Action: Normally called as the track ends. Two thirds of the men sit their partners on their laps while the other third do a completely different move called 'setenta'.

Nice list, bailamos.

to which we could add:
"Principe bueno", "Principle malo", "Castigala", "Sacudala" & "La policia"
Lit: various play moves where half the girls submit meekly to being kissed, slapped, shaken and/or searched - and the other half try and leave the venue by the nearest available exit.

One question, Ian - I've noticed that in your classes women actually get felt up during 'la policia' whereas over here we don't actually make contact. Is this a Cuba/Miami style difference, or are you just cheekier over there in Bristol?

Well known fact - the further East you go the naughtier people get. You should see how they do that one in London ....

I've never actually seen anyone else teach "La Policia" - I got it second hand off a Columbian girl who seemed keen to demo it in the way that I teach it :) goodness knows where it came from orignally or how it got to our respective classes!

I think it may be a cardiff thing. I noticed the first time I did 'bad prince' (I think it's malo) in bristol that you actually slap the girl whearas in cardiff the boy slaps his own hand.

Some correlation perhaps to the fact that most rueda in cardiff is taught by a girl?

Don't forget all the "parabra" variations.

Dame parabra
Dame parabra dos
Adios Parabra
Enschufla parabra
etc

Incase you've forgotten, this is when the initial move is conducted followed by the man moving "upstream" (clockwise) one, two or even three partners.

The parabra variations are my personal fave's because they really give dynamic movement to the wheel and make the guys work a bit harder too.

Well, if you want to be really complete have a look at www.bristolsalsa.co.uk/rueda.html !

Ian.

PS "pa'arriba" not "parabra" - or indeed "paragua" :)

I just "spell" it as I say it Ian :-)