24 Ways to Dance Salsa on Clavé!  -by Barry Gordon

Hi Fellow Salsa teachers, I just thought that you would be interested in a free copy of this spreadsheet which I wrote showing how I calculated the 24 ways to dance Salsa on Clavé.

Introduction
I was given an explanation on a "Pontins Salsa Weekend" about how to dance Salsa on Clavé, although I hadn't previously heard of Clavé. I subsequently heard Enio Cordoba and Terryl Jones discussing dancing on Clavé in Bar Madrid, London. Enio confirmed my feelings about dancing on Clavé. Terryl Jones said that she had seen some Puerto Ricans dance 5 steps corresponding to the Clavé rhythm over an 8 beat bar, but they had to repeat the 5 steps on the opposite feet so that they would then be able to continue dancing on the correct foot. Enio dismissed this as not being Salsa on Clavé. I believe that this was because it was not Salsa unless there were 3 steps over each 4 beat bar. He also said that it would not be possible to dance Salsa on Clavé because on one 4 beat bar Clavé would hit beats 2 & 3 but on the other bar they would hit beats 1, 3 & 4 approximately. I did not get the opportunity to discuss it further.

Some time later when I realized that there are more than 2 ways to dance on 2 (not including women's timing), I decided to analyze it myself as I am a mathematician.  It is actually possible to dance Salsa in one of 3 ways on any beat because one can pause on any beat except the one on which you break. Edie's video "Cool Moves II" demonstrates how to dance on any beat. As there are 8 beats and 3 ways to dance on each, it is therefore possible to dance in 24 different ways if we simply repeat the steps in the first 4 beats on the opposite foot for the second 4 beats. E.G. If we dance on beats 1, 2 & 3, starting with the left foot, then we generally dance on beats 5, 6 & 7 starting with the right foot.

To dance Salsa on a 3-2 Clavé, one needs to step on either beats 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 or 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 & 8.
To dance Salsa on a 2-3 Clavé, one needs to step on either beats 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 & 8 or 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 & 8.

BreakStepPauseStart/FeetStyle Note
Left FootOn BeatsOn BeatsFinishOn 
Forward  OnBeat 4 
On 11, 2, 34Left FootTogetherCuban / UK
On 11, 2, 43Left FootTogether 
On 11, 3, 42Left FootTogetherCuban/Columbian
On 22, 3, 41Left FootTogetherPalladium
On 21, 2, 34Right FootForwardNY
On 21, 2, 43Right FootForward 
On 31, 3, 42Right FootForwardColumbian
On 32, 3, 41Right FootForward 
On 31, 2, 34Left FootForward 
On 41, 2, 43Left FootForward 
On 41, 3, 42Left FootForward 
On 42, 3, 41Left FootForward 

In order to reduce the size of my spreadsheet, I have shown the 8 beats as groups of 4 beats i.e. I counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.   Please let me know if you particularly want me to expand the spreadsheet to show all of the 96 possible ways to dance Salsa and then pick out the 24 ways of dancing Salsa on Clavé.  Ciao, Barry Gordon