Cha-Cha-Chá dancing in Portland

Cha-cha-cha came out of Cuba in the 1950s as a slightly slower, cheekier offshoot of mambo and danzon. It keeps salsa's partner grammar but adds the signature triple step — the 'cha-cha-cha' you can hear in the music — which makes the timing easier to feel than salsa for a lot of newcomers. It lives inside most Cuban and salsa nights rather than headlining its own.

If you can hear the 'cha-cha-cha' in the song, you can find the step — the music tells you where it is. Take a salsa or Cuban-style lesson that covers cha-cha; the basics transfer both ways and most teachers cover them together.