Rueda combo is a general term for combining different rueda structures at the same time.
A rueda combo typically a consists of two (or more) circles, one inside the other and the inner circle dancing por fuera. One or both of the circles may switch to rueda espejo, rueda contratiempo or some other basic structure. Another possibile combo setup is to have 3 circles, and maybe also an ábaco inside. The second circle may dance por fuera or espejo, to add a challenge.

Two circles

With two circles it is also possible to issue different commands to the two circles by addressing the circles as interior and exterior. Some possibilities are:

  • Calling a command only to one of the circles, i.e. exterior un fly
  • Calling different commands to the two cirlces, i.e. exterior Tumba Francesa, interior familia
  • a command with slight variations to the two cirlces, i.e. festival de pelota, exterior con vuelta

Social use

Rueda combo has a social angle. The idea is that the rules should not be more complicated than what Rueda dancers may pick up on the fly without any other specific knowledge than that of the basic social Rueda structures.

A very nice advantage with Rueda combo in a social setting is that you can have the more experienced dancers in one circle, and add more complexity to that circel. That way everyone can dance together and have a challenge at the same time, for example if the inner circle is dancing espejo + por fuera and the outer circle is dancing regular Rueda de casino.

Examples

Here are some possible Rueda Combo setups:

  • 2 circles:
    interior: rueda por fuera
    exterior: rueda de casino
  • 2 circles + ábaco inside:
    centro: ábaco
    interior: rueda de casino
    exterior: rueda de casino
  • 3 circles:
    interior: rueda con dos mujeres
    exterior 1: rueda por fuera (or rueda espejo)
    exterior 2: rueda de casino

Origin

While various combinations of circles have been investigated by various people, the first structural use of this consept that we know about was at the SalsaNor Rueda Congress party in 2012 in Aarhus, where serveral structures were used at the same time, to the calls from Bernt Rygg. It has been on the party programme of the congress every year since.

Rueda combo was taught at the SalsaNor Rueda Congress by Bernt Rygg for the first time in Stavanger in 2014, where the focus was swapping circles for the leaders.

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