60+ Spanish Dance Terms and Phrases

Once you dip your foot in learning Latin dances, you’ll quickly find yourself slipping into an addiction to the dance floor. Tango, cumbia, merengue, salsa—there’s an entire world of dance to discover.

Knowing Spanish dance terms is a surefire way to fast-track your learning, and prepare you for a lively trip to Spain or anywhere in Latin America.

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Basic Spanish Dance Vocabulary

Spanish	English
Paso	Step
Paso básico	Basic step
Giro	Turn, spin
Vuelta	Turn, spin
Variantes	Variations
Bailar	To dance
Música	Music
Ritmo	Rhythm
Movimiento	Movement
Coreografía	Choreography
Zapatillas de baile	Dance shoes
Escenario	Stage
Bailarín / Bailarina	Dancer
Ensayo	Rehearsal
Espectáculo	Show
Improvisar	To improvise
Saltar	To jump
¿Sabes bailar?	Do you know how to dance?
¿Quieres bailar?	Do you want to dance?
Escuela de danza / Escuela de baile	Dance school

Dance Styles in Spanish

Spanish	English
Salsa	Salsa
Merengue	Merengue
Cumbia	Cumbia
Tango	Tango
Bachata	Bachata
Rumba	Rumba
Bolero	Bolero
Mambo	Mambo
Samba	Samba
Reguetón	Reggaeton

Tango Vocabulary in Spanish

Spanish	English
Figura	Sequence
Salida	"Way out" of a Tango step
Ocho adelante	Eight forward (the woman designs a figure-eight moving forward)
Ocho atrás	Figure-eight backwards
Cortado	A step that's cut off
Calesita	The "carousel" (The man takes a backwards walk around the woman while holding her, allowing her to turn like a carousel)
Parada	Stop (when the lead stops the follower by catching her foot)
Paso cruzado	Crossed step
Castigada	When the woman lifts her leg, bends the knee, and slides it down the supporting leg
Eje	Axis
Gancho	Hook
Sacada	Extraction
Caminata	Walk
Molinetes	Windmill
Sentada	A woman who is sitting
Lápiz	The pointed form of the woman's leg and the way that she traces a pattern on the floor (literally: "pencil")
Salón	Ballroom / dance hall
Milonga	Any tango event as well as the physical location that hosts such events
Girar en sentido contrario a las agujas del reloj	to go around (the dance floor) in a counterclockwise direction
Tipos de abrazo	Types of embraces (how the dancers hold each other)
Abrazo abierto	Open embrace
Abrazo cerrado	Closed embrace

The following video contains 50 basic steps from tango, some with translations in English.

(Note that these teachers’ pronunciation of Spanish is not so perfect, but the step demonstrations are excellent.)

These are steps that you have probably learned if you have taken tango classes (or will learn once you do), but you may not have realized what the words really mean.

Spanish Vocabulary for a Night Out Dancing

Spanish	English
Cabeceo	A slight nod at a dance partner to invite them to dance from across the room
Fiesta	Party
Discoteca	Nightclub
Música	Music
Baile	Dance (as a noun)
Ritmo	Rhythm
Divertirse	To have fun
Pista de baile	Dance floor
DJ	DJ
Volumen	Volume
Animado	Lively

Gender Neutral Spanish Dance Terms

Spanish	English
Tango queer	A movement to open tango up from the traditional gender roles. Roles can be switched and men and women can dance with the same sex.
Intercambio de roles de género	Exchanging of gender roles
Danza machista	Sexist/chauvinist/macho dance
Conductor /a	Lead (in place of "the man")
Conducido /a	Follower (in place of "the woman")

Here’s an excellent demonstration of “queer tango,” where the traditional gender roles are reversed:

Learning Spanish from Dance Songs

Here are a couple of lovely dance songs—specifically, tango songs—with quite simple Spanish to learn from.

Carlos Gardel — “Volver” (to come back)

Here’s a key line:

Vivir
con el alma aferrada
a un dulce recuerdo
que lloro otra vez.

To live
with the soul held fast
to a sweet memory
that I cry over again.

He also says that veinte años no es nada (twenty years is nothing), which I find to be the most tragic line of the song.

How difficult it is to get over that first love. You can spend the rest of your life longing for that evil, lovely creature.

By the way, el alma aferrada is not a mistake.

Alma is feminine and so the adjective aferrada takes an -a ending, but words beginning with a stressed a get preceded by the article el instead of la. For the same reason, you say el agua fría (the cold water).

Soha — “Mil Pasos” (Thousand Steps)

This absolutely gorgeous song has a woman singing about going away, and the male voice joins in the chorus to ask ¿y cuándo volverás? (and when will you come back?).

Don’t worry if you don’t understand her response in the chorus—it’s in French—suffice it to say, it just makes you want to cry even more.

In the opening verses, she sings:

Un paso, me voy para siempre
Un paso fuerte
Un paso hacia adelante
Dos pasos, me voy sin mirarte
Tan lejos pisé
Dos pasos ya te olvidé

A step, I’m getting out of here forever
A strong step
A step forward
Two steps, I’m going without looking at you
I stepped so far
Two steps and I already forgot you

If you’ve properly learned your Spanish numbers, in later verses you will understand that she is certainly not getting any closer.

If you like learning Spanish through song lyrics like these, you might want to consider learning with an online program like FluentU. 

Tips for Learning Spanish with Dancing

• Take a trip to a Spanish-speaking country. Consider booking a flight to a city where dance is highly celebrated, like Buenos Aires. It’s one of the world’s greatest cities for tango dancing in particular—smart, cutthroat, fascinating people, great nightlife and fantastic theater and music scenes. There’s also Mexico City, which is known for its cumbia lovers.
• Enroll in a language school. Language schools often cater to dance lovers as well, with combined dance and Spanish programs. At the very least, many can refer you to a dance school that they have partnered with.
• Studio hop dance schools. I would recommend just going to a big city without booking a particular class in advance, and trying out different dance schools in person before committing to a full class. Quality can vary quite a bit, and you want to find a teacher who knows not just how to dance well, but also how to teach in a way that you respond to. There are plenty of options, and when you go there you can find the best one in your neighborhood and the one that best fits with your schedule and style of learning.
• Take lessons locally. If you can’t hop on a plane, you can always look for dance and language lessons in your local area. One cool option that blends the two lesson types is Wyzant, where you can search for local tutors of all kinds in your region. You can go there to immediately search and filter tutors by rates, availability, distance from you and more. If you live in a major city, there’s a good chance you can find a Spanish tutor with dance experience, or a dance tutor with Spanish experience.
• Take online Spanish classes. Online classes tend to be a better value than language schools for learning, even if you are already living abroad. You can do classes over Skype after your siesta and then go out and lose yourself in milongas and Porteño life. If you do all this, you will advance your Spanish at lightning speed. You can use platforms like Verbling and italki to find online tutors.

 

And there you have it—over 60 Spanish dance terms to help you talk like a pro bailador/bailadora.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)