Music of Puerto Rico centers. After the island was taken over by Spain, the music and dance of Puerto Rico consisted of a combination of the harmonious musical styles that are borrowed from Spanish, African, and other European cultures, creating Puerto Rico's signature style of Latin dance. Salsa is a Spanish word that means sauce. It refers to the mixture of different rhythms composed of different Latin, African and Caribbean dances. Salsa is said to be first created around the 1960s and became popular to the non-Latino world drastically. The salsa dance is similar to the mambo dance. Salsa dancing is structured in six
Explorations in Afro-Cuban Dance and Drum Lucumí and Iyesá (Santería), Arará, Palo, and rumba traditions. Styles of dance include Santería, Arará, Palo (religion), and rumba, in both the Havana and Matanzas styles, as well as "Haitiano" genres, and salsa (dance). Percussion instruction includes batá drums (three levels), conga drums, quinto, shekere, and cajón. Some instruction in Cuban popular styles (salsa music, timba, Latin jazz, etc.) of congas, bongos, timbales, drumset are also offered. From Humboldt State University: "LEVEL 1: Requires little or no prior experience with Afro-Cuban dance styles. LEVEL 2: Requires prior Afro-Cuban folkloric dance experience with the ability to keep up in a moderately