The focus in this article is on the structural issues in Rueda de Casino. For more general information about Rueda de Casino, try Wikipedia.

Rueda de casino is a circle of couples dancing Cuban salsa figures, to the commands of a caller in the circle.
Whenever the callers calls a command, all the couples start dancing the named figure at the same time. Most of the commands include come couple dancing and a partner change, but various formations can also be used in the circle.

Rueda de Casino litterally means “casino wheel“ and it is a Cuban dance tradition that origined in Havana in the late 50s/early 60s. Today the dance is danced all over the world.

Size

Rueda de casino may be danced with any number of couples. For social dancing, the size of a rueda will be limited by a number of factors, like the amount of dancers persent, the volume of the music, the available space on the dance floor, at least one caller present, and in some cases equipment (microphpone).
In a social setting, a rueda will typically consist of 2-8 couples. To have more couples join it will often times require a microphone or a spacious dance floor.

Maximum size? Fun fact: the world record from Tessaloniki, 2014 is 1102 people in the same rueda (with several circles).

Several circles

If a rueda is starting to grow too big, it is common to put 2 or even 3 ruedas inside each other. This happens in popular workshops, or in parties with big enough dance floors when the caller uses a microphone so everyone in the big circle can hear the commands.
If the different circles are using different rueda strucutres or separate callers or other combinations, we call it a rueda combo.

Dos parejas (2 couples)

2 couples can still form a rueda, even though it feels less like a circle.
After only one dame dos you are already back to the same partner.
Rueda con dos parejas (rueda with 2 couples) is used in advanced structures, like rueda llanta.
Certain rueda figures and certain combinations of commands work very
well with two couples, for example these

  • toma electrica
  • toma electrica complicado
  • cubanito > ni’pa mi ni pa’ti
  • familia > hombres
  • dame dos y una arriba

Videos of rueda figures