Ronda de Salsa

Ronda de Salsa, also known as Ronda Manila or simply "Ronda," is a Group dance inspired by Rueda de Casino. The dance was invented at the Asian Social Institute in an attempt to energize a disintegrating Filipino-Hispanic culture through a fusion of a local Hispanic dance called Pandanggo and a popular modern dance, Salsa, which for decades has been making waves in other Hispanic countries.

Ateneo dances the Ronda Patria with members of Filipino Salsa

Ronda was inspired by the Rueda, but it is composed of very easy steps and consists of only 5 major combinations. Ronda tells a story, like many dances here in the Philippines, and this makes Ronda unique from Rueda. Also, it is a combination of Filipino folk dances and Casino. This makes it easier for Filipinos to dance Casino.

The five simple basic combinations or combo, are: Gising, Pule, Patria, Lakambini and Dolorosa.

Gising in Tagalog, the language spoken in the Philippines, means "wake-up".The Gising ronda is a combination of steps which tell of a people being called to wake up. Pule ronda imitates an act of prayer and tells of a people deeply rooted in their tradition. Patria ronda mimics an act of camaraderie and tells of a people searching for solidarity. Lakambini shows reverence toward nature and tells of a people being ecologically conscious. Dolorosa tells of life's ambivalent reality and therefore calls for vigilance.

While the meaning of the dance may contain serious themes, the joviality that the dance elicits compensates for the somber motif. Designed to be a community dance, the five steps serve as the basic combinations and each community that dances the ronda is encouraged to develop new rondas or combinations that tells AbOUT the unique character of their group.

The dance is also meant to be a social icebreaker during community gatherings. Other new combinations have been introduced by different groups such as the Antonio ronda (by Grupo Filipino Salsa) and Accompania ronda (by Asian Social Institute employees).