Closed position

vamos arriba, vamos abajo

= let’s go upward, let’s go downward

There are a few different ways to call moving forward (arriba):
– vamos arriba (let’s go upward)
– para arriba (upward)
– p’arriba (upward)
– arriba (up)

Going backwards (abajo) is similar, but some rueda dancers will move backward in a straight manner, while others are used to always lead the ladies in and out whil moving backward, like in paseala para abajo. Common variations of the call for moving backwards are:
– vamos abajo (let’s go downward)
– abajo (down)
– para abajo, p’abajo (downward)

tarro

= horn (or in street slang: affair)

There are different meanings of the word tarro. Dictionaries usually focus on tarro meaning a jar.
Cubans translate it with the horns of a bull. The meaning in rueda, is an affair. Metaphorically you gore one person with the horns when you are with another one. This resembles the rueda figure, by changing partner.

Notice that the figure is danced differently when called when moving forward (vamos arriba) and moving backwards (vamos abajo). Whoever is walking forward (leader or follower) is the one moving to the next partner, while the one moving backwards are stepping in place until a new partner arrives.

exhibela

= show her off

This command is similar to sacala, used in open position. Most Cubans understand exhibela and sacala as the same figure. There is a slight difference though.
When exhibela is called from closed position, it is lead by the man’s left hand, and the man is turned slightly toward the woman. Than man may also improvise a cross step at this point, similar to in aguajea. (Similarly, when sacala is called from open position, it is lead by the man’s right hand, and the man is facing the center.)

dile que no

= tell her no

This is probably the most important Cuban salsa figrue. If you don’t get this right, you will always struggle a bit with rueda, and casino / Cuban salsa. Almost every partner change in rueda will include a dile que no, even though it is not called explicitly, for instance enchufla and dame una.

Open position

dame

= give me

This may be the most common call in rueda, a simple partner change.
There are several commands that means the same as dame una. Some of the most common are:

• dame = give me
• dame una = give me one
• dame otra = give me another
• otra = another

dame dos

= give me two

This figure is like dame una, but the men go to the second lady (in abajo direction), not the first lady. Because of the longer distance, the men need to start moving as soon as the previous lady passed them, on 6.

A classic sequence of commands is: dame una > dame dos > dos con dos.

It is not common to call dame dos from the basic step (guapea), because you have to react so fast that it feels pointless.

However, sometimes you may hear the call dame tres (give me three, so partner number three). If the dancers go all in on getting there in time, don’t be surprised if the caller calls ¡mentira! just for fun.