Paseala al Reves

Rueda de Casino walk-and-reverse figure

RuedaLevel: Improver1 min read3 citations

See it danced

Video demo

Demonstration tutorial on YouTube.

Paseala al Reves is a Rueda de Casino call built from the paseala family: the name is commonly glossed as a walk-her action with an added reverse, and the related call form “Paseala y al Reves” is also attested in teaching material.[1] In rueda, the figure belongs to a called, synchronized circle rather than to a fixed linear slot; multiple couples execute the same named action after a caller’s verbal cue, sometimes aided by hand signs in noisy settings.[2] Mechanically, the leader begins from the casino/guapea frame, keeps the first half as a guided walking passage, then checks the pathway and redirects the follower back through the complementary arc. The rotation is staged rather than whipped: the couple opens about a quarter turn through the first half, reverses through the next half, and finishes with roughly a half-turn of shared reorientation across the whole phrase. The timing remains casino On1 in this card: each partner breaks once per measure, on counts 1 and 5, with the follower’s travel occurring after the break rather than as a count-1 forward break. The call circulates primarily in Cuban rueda and international rueda teaching repertoires, not as a standard named figure in slot-centered LA or New York salsa scenes.[3]

How it's danced

Lead and follow cues

CountCasino On1: two measures, with one break per measure. Leader breaks back left on 1 and back right on 5; follower mirrors with back right on 1 and back left on 5. The walking and reversal occur on the remaining steps of each half: 2-3 and 6-7.

Lead

Casino On1. On 1-2-3, the leader breaks back on the left, recovers, and starts the follower into the paseala walking pathway while opening the couple about a quarter turn. On 5-6-7, the leader breaks back on the right, redirects the follower in the reverse direction without pulling, and closes the shared orientation to roughly a half-turn total by the count-7 landing.

Follow

Casino On1. On 1-2-3, the follower breaks back on the right, recovers, and walks into the guided paseala pathway after the break, allowing about a quarter turn of reorientation. On 5-6-7, the follower breaks back on the left, follows the checked lead back through the reverse arc, and lands on 7 re-facing the leader with roughly a half-turn total exchange across the phrase.

Song timingBest at moderate social casino tempos, about 150-185 bpm. Around 190 bpm and above, the reversal must be smaller and cleaner; large walking arcs become late.

Learn first

Prerequisites

  • Guapea timing.
  • Open-hold casino frame.
  • Paseala pathway.
  • Controlled check-and-redirect lead.
  • Rueda caller response.

Watch out

Common mistakes

  • Sending the follower forward on count 1 instead of allowing the count-1 back break before travel begins.
  • Treating the reversal as a single whip rather than a two-stage walk, check, and return pathway.
  • Under-rotating the couple so the partners finish short of the shared half-turn reorientation.
  • Pulling the follower through the reverse instead of redirecting from frame and timing.
  • Breaking twice inside one measure rather than once on 1 and once on 5 across the two-measure phrase.

Don't confuse with

Easily confused moves

  • Paseala: the base walking figure without the reverse return.
  • Paseala y al Reves: an attested expanded wording for this same figure, not a separate mechanics card here.
  • Paso cruzado or cruzado: cross-step footwork terms, not regional names for this rueda figure.
  • Cross-body lead: a slot-salsa traveling exchange with different geometry and terminology.

Around the world

Other names

  • Cuba / Cuban rueda

    Paseala al Reves

    Attested Spanish rueda call for the walk-and-reverse figure.

  • International rueda teaching scene

    Paseala y al Reves

    Attested expanded call wording for the same physical idea.

References

The bracketed numbers in the text show which source each fact comes from. Tap or click one to jump to that source in this list.

  1. 1.Current time information in Cuba.
  2. 2.wikipedia.org
  3. 3.youtube.com

How to cite this article

Choose a style and copy the citation.

APA

Bailar Editorial Team. (2026). Paseala al Reves. Bailar Biblioteca. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-paseala-al-reves

MLA

Bailar Editorial Team. “Paseala al Reves.” Bailar Biblioteca, 2026, getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-paseala-al-reves. Accessed 13 October 2026.

Chicago

Bailar Editorial Team. “Paseala al Reves.” Bailar Biblioteca. Accessed October 13, 2026. https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-paseala-al-reves.

BibTeX

@misc{bailar-move-rueda-paseala-al-reves, author = {{Bailar Editorial Team}}, title = {{Paseala al Reves}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {Bailar Biblioteca}, url = {https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-paseala-al-reves}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-13} }

Editor-in-Chief: Paul Thomas Plawin

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