I first dabbled with On-2 timing at the 2005 San Francisco Salsa Congress. It was my fifth month of salsa dancing and I scheduled a whole day of On-2 workshops, thinking it was the perfect opportunity to learn. And like most salsa On-1 dancers learning the new timing, it left like learning to throw a ninja star left-handed and under-arm.

The first challenge was to hear the rhythms that On-2 dancers adhere to as gospel. They kept advising me to “dance on the clave.” They obviously had no idea how to count, because the clave only strikes 5 times per measure, and salsa has 6 steps per measure. Thanks a lot. (anti-snark: I’m sure they meant something more profound, too bad they couldn’t communicate it.) Continue reading →