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Toma Corriente

Rueda de casino call

RuedaLevel: Improver1 min read2 citations

Toma Corriente is a rueda de casino call built around a compact partner exchange rather than a linear salsa slot figure; the couple keeps Cuban circular orientation while the leader redirects the follower through an enchufla-like crossing action and re-forms the hand connection for the next call.[1] In the common On1 casino frame, the leader breaks back on the left on 1 while the follower breaks back on the right on 1, both stepping away from the partnership before the crossing action develops on 2-3 and the second measure resolves on 5-6-7. The rotation is staged: the couple opens roughly a quarter turn during the first measure, then completes approximately another quarter turn to finish about a half-turn from the starting facing, enough to reconnect cleanly without a terminal whip. The name is normally retained in Spanish in rueda settings; it should not be normalized into the everyday Spanish noun tomacorriente, which refers to an electrical outlet rather than a dance figure.[2] Outside Cuban rueda vocabularies, the figure has limited independent naming, so regional usage is best recorded as retention, absence, or borrowing rather than literal translation.

How it's danced

Lead and follow cues

CountCasino On1: one break per measure, leader left-back and follower right-back on 1, then second break on 5; movement is staged over 1-2-3 and 5-6-7.

Lead

On 1, break back on the left while keeping a light connected hand. On 2-3, step in and redirect the follower across the partnership with an enchufla-like lead, opening the body about 90 degrees rather than pulling. On 5, step to re-square the couple; on 6-7, collect the connection and finish ready for the next rueda call.

Follow

On 1, break back on the right, away from the leader. On 2-3, respond to the redirected hand by crossing through the opened space and turning about 90 degrees into the exchange. On 5, continue the resolution rather than stopping early; on 6-7, complete the remaining reorientation and reconnect facing the leader for the next call.

Song timingFits moderate casino social tempos, roughly 150-185 bpm; above about 190 bpm the call requires compact steps and efficient hand changes rather than larger travel.

Learn first

Prerequisites

  • casino basic
  • dile que no
  • enchufla mechanics
  • comfortable light hand connection in rueda

Watch out

Common mistakes

  • Treating the figure as a linear cross-body slot move instead of maintaining circular casino orientation.
  • Breaking the follower forward on 1; the follower breaks back on the right on 1 and travels on the later counts.
  • Pulling the follower through the hand instead of opening the leader's body and redirecting with frame.
  • Under-rotating the exchange so the couple cannot reconnect clearly by 7.
  • Holding the hand too tightly, which blocks the staged quarter-turn-plus-quarter-turn resolution.

Don't confuse with

Easily confused moves

  • tomacorriente: ordinary Spanish for an electrical outlet, not a separate dance meaning
  • paso cruzado or cruzado: cross-step footwork terms, not regional names for this rueda call
  • cross-body lead: a linear salsa slot figure, not the same structural pathway as this casino rueda call

Around the world

Other names

  • Cuban rueda / casino

    Toma Corriente

    Attested Spanish call name for the figure.

  • English-language rueda teaching scenes

    Toma Corriente

    Usually borrowed unchanged rather than translated.

  • Miami rueda scenes

    Toma Corriente

    Used as a Spanish rueda call in casino-focused contexts.

References

  1. 1.youtube.com
  2. 2.asale.org

How to cite this article

Choose a style and copy the citation.

APA

Bailar Editorial Team. (2026). Toma Corriente. Bailar Biblioteca. Retrieved July 4, 2026, from https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-toma-corriente

MLA

Bailar Editorial Team. “Toma Corriente.” Bailar Biblioteca, 2026, getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-toma-corriente. Accessed 4 July 2026.

Chicago

Bailar Editorial Team. “Toma Corriente.” Bailar Biblioteca. Accessed July 4, 2026. https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-toma-corriente.

BibTeX

@misc{bailar-move-rueda-toma-corriente, author = {{Bailar Editorial Team}}, title = {{Toma Corriente}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {Bailar Biblioteca}, url = {https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/rueda-toma-corriente}, note = {Accessed: 2026-07-04} }

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