Around the final years of 50th decade, the ''Rueda'' saw the light as a new combination from Cha Cha Chá, popularly known as Cha Cha Chá en rueda. It was leaded by a man with proved skills to dance, whose signals, previously known by the other dancers, allowed couple changes, combination of steps and some other movements built for this purpose. Among the Cha Cha Chá`s traditional movements we can highlight: vuelta al hombro (shoulder turn), vuelta de la muchacha alrededor del varón (turn of the girl around the boy) and el paseo (The walk).

La Rueda del Cha Cha Chá was also a revolutionary choreographic contribution to the Cuban ballroom dancing. Around 1956, the phenomenon of couples in circle, started to be reproduced with the peculiarity that it was used also with some other genres or fashioned modalities of popular music, featuring steps and styles very close to urban son; it was called Rueda de Casino.

The event was exclusive from Casino Deportivo Club (Societies of Whites), today Círculo Social Obrero Cristino Naranjo. This creative event was favorably appraised by youth and imitated later at other nautical clubs from La Playa, the incident also spread to some other social groups in the capital. In the expansion process, the phrase ‘’let`s dance the Rueda like in Casino’’ or let`s dance the Rueda de Casino’’, became very popular, remaining the appellative ‘’Casino’’ to identify, later on, this sort of dance.

Rock and Roll, very popular around the 50s, also left its prints in Casino. This dance, with its spectacular style, displayed a lot of acrobatic elements and circular movements in couples. Another similar aspect between these two ballroom dances are: movement pa’ti, pa’mi (opening and closing of the couple); the permanent turns with tied arms without unbinding and the similar time to mark the steps.
In its early years, the Casino was danced in ‘’Rueda’’, previously organized and rehearsed in groups of friends and relatives or spontaneous members, little after it was a dance of isolated couples and finally making a double row, where the heading couple set the step or movement.

The necessity of using choreographies, highly enjoyable for the audience, fueled the appearance of new spacial designs. That’s why, it was indispensable also to name each movement, combinations of turns, gestures and directions to execute them at the same time, and above all, to understand the guide’s orders. Among the most important turns and movements still present nowadays through its evolution along four generations of dancers we can highlight: setenta, la prima, enchufe, paseo, la rosa, yogurt, trencito, arriba, abajo, el flaco, el gordo, etc.

Casino appears then in an ambience of integration, varieties and modalities of genres, boasting huge acceptance in the audience around the late 50th decade. Among the most notable genres bundled together are the Son and Cha cha chá. No specific genre is attributed to Casino unlike the preceding ballroom dances. It has been danced through the years with all those genres, streams, musical combinations in vogue or possible music where Casino’s basic step can be danced due to its suitable rhythmic structure or musical tempo. The appellative Casino was used by people to name the new danceable phenomenon since the very early years of its creation, in an organic, integral and anonymous process.

Lots of circumstances have influenced in the Casinos`s apogee in Cuban and overseas scenes, but one of the most noteworthy is the new dimension achieved by Salsa music at the international musical scene. Carrying the identification of Cuban Dance of Salsa, it has become the ideal vehicle to enjoy this hot way of making music, this fact is not paradoxical if we take into consideration that both manifestations boast the Cuban Son as common original element.

By Bárbara Balbuena. Courtesy of Cubadisco Newspaper