Sácala (rueda de casino)
A foundational casino lead-out — 'take her out'
RuedaLevel: Beginner2 min read1 citation
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Sácala is among the first lead-out calls a casino dancer learns: a simple, neutral way to break a couple out of the closed back-and-forth and into open position. It belongs to casino and its circle form, rueda de casino — the Cuban partner dance in which one caller names a figure that every couple performs in unison — and works as a building block, training the leader to draw the follower out of the basic without dropping the connection. That same draw-out underpins the partner-exchange family, so the call travels wherever casino is taught.
The call. The figure takes its name from the Spanish imperative sácala, "take her out" — the verb sacar, "to take or draw out," plus the feminine clitic la, which stands for la dama (the follower); callers often voice the fuller spoken form saca la dama. The imperative is an old form, attested in 18th-century Spanish prose in the phrase sácala a luz.[1] In a noisy rueda the spoken call is commonly reinforced by a hand signal, so every couple catches it at once.
Execution. Sácala is danced from the guapea basic — the casino back-step in which leader and follower face one another in an open hold. Keeping the joined-hand connection, the leader opens the frame on the break and draws the follower out of the back-and-forth and across his front into the open, where she walks out and turns to re-face him, set for the next call. International scenes most often dance it a tiempo, breaking on the downbeat; many Cuban dancers break contratiempo, on the offbeat.
As a plain entry-level call, sácala sits beside the guapea basic in the core casino vocabulary and feeds directly into partner-exchange figures such as dame ("give me").
How it's danced
Lead and follow cues
CountCasino 8-count basic, danced a tiempo — breaks on 1 and 5; the lead-out occupies roughly one to two measures, with the walk-out resolving by 7. (Many Cuban scenes dance the same figure contratiempo, but this card's cues are stated a tiempo.)
Lead
From guapea, break back on the left foot on 1 (the follower mirrors back on her right), opening the frame; settle the joined-hand connection on 2-3. On the next measure (5-6-7), draw the follower out of the basic and across the front, stepping aside to clear her path, and lead her to walk out and turn so she re-faces by 7. Keep the connected hand light — guide the walk, do not steer.
Follow
Break back on the right foot on 1 (mirror of the leader's left), staying connected and grounded on 2-3. As the lead opens on 5, walk forward out of the basic across the opening on 5-6-7, turning about a half-turn total — roughly a quarter as the step out begins, completing to re-face the leader by 7. Travel only on the lead; in a rueda the timing is set by the call.
Song timingComfortable in son-derived and timba-driven casino at roughly 150-185 bpm, danced a tiempo on the downbeat; slower son montuno (~150-160 bpm) gives the cleanest walk-out. It stays workable into the high-180s, with 190+ bpm the fast end where the lead-out must be kept compact.
Learn first
Prerequisites
- guapea (casino basic).
- dile que no.
- a-tiempo casino timing (breaking on 1).
- lead–follow handhold connection / frame.
- rueda call-and-response discipline (move on the call, not in anticipation).
Watch out
Common mistakes
- Follower anticipating the lead-out and walking before the connection opens, breaking rueda synchrony.
- Leader failing to step aside on 5, crowding the follower's exit so she cannot travel cleanly.
- Under-rotating the exit — leaving the follower side-on instead of completing her to re-face by 7.
- Gripping the connected hand and steering the walk rather than leading it lightly.
- Drifting off the a-tiempo break (breaking late or on the wrong beat) so the couple desyncs from the wheel.
Don't confuse with
Easily confused moves
- Sacada — an Argentine-tango displacement of a partner's leg or space; unrelated mechanic despite the shared 'sacar' root.
- Vacila — a separate casino call in which the leader showcases the follower; often confused as another send-out.
- Dame — a partner-change call, not a lead-out of the same partner.
- 'Paso cruzado' / 'cruzado' and similar footwork terms — describe steps, not this rueda call.
- Spanish 'sácala a luz' ('publish it / bring it to light') — same word form, unrelated to dance.
Around the world
Other names
Cuba (casino / rueda de casino)
Sácala
Standard imperative call, 'take her out'.
Cuba (casino)
Saca la dama
Fuller spoken form of the same call.
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.Relación del viage, que por orden de su Magestad, y acuerdo de el Real Consejo de Indias, hicieron los capitanes Bartholome Garcia de Nodal, y Gonzalo de Nodal, hermanos, naturales de Pontevedra al descubrimiento del Estrecho nuevo de San Vicente, que hoy es nombrado de Maire, y Reconocimiento del de Magallanes — García de Nodal, Bartolomé, 1574-1622, 1766, title note, second work (1766)
How to cite this article
Choose a style and copy the citation.
Bailar Editorial Team. (2026). Sácala (rueda de casino). Bailar Biblioteca. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-sacala
Bailar Editorial Team. “Sácala (rueda de casino).” Bailar Biblioteca, 2026, getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-sacala. Accessed 13 October 2026.
Bailar Editorial Team. “Sácala (rueda de casino).” Bailar Biblioteca. Accessed October 13, 2026. https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-sacala.
@misc{bailar-move-rueda-sacala, author = {{Bailar Editorial Team}}, title = {{Sácala (rueda de casino)}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {Bailar Biblioteca}, url = {https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-sacala}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-13} }
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