Cape

ConteoOn1: one break per measure, with breaks on 1 and 5; preparation on 1-2-3, then inside-turn/travel/outside-pivot exit on 5-6-7. On2/mambo: one break per measure, with breaks on 2 and 6; equivalent preparation across 2-3-4, then inside-turn/travel/outside-pivot exit across 6-7-8.

Tiempo musicalComfortable at moderate social salsa tempos around 150-185 bpm; 190 bpm and above is a fast-end setting where the outside-pivot exit must be reduced and kept compact. The figure can be taught On1 or On2 only when all break counts, prep counts, and exit counts are shifted consistently.

• Cross-body lead
• Follower inside left turn
• Follower outside right pivot
• Linear slot awareness
• Stable hand connection without gripping

• ✕Leader pulls the follower forward on the first break instead of allowing the mirrored back break before travel begins.
• ✕Leader fails to open the slot, forcing the follower to turn in place rather than travel through the pathway.
• ✕Follower treats the figure as a single terminal spin instead of staging the left entry turn, travel, and right exit pivot.
• ✕Leader under-rotates the exchange of ends, leaving both partners short of the re-facing position at the end of the second measure.
• ✕The inside turn is misnamed while being led clockwise; in this figure the inside turn is the follower's left/counter-clockwise entry.
• ✕The outside-pivot exit is rushed on fast music, collapsing the slower rightward reorientation.

• ≠Cross-body lead: the base travelling exchange without the early inside turn and outside-pivot exit.
• ≠Inside turn: a left/counter-clockwise follower turn; it is only the entry component of the Cape, not the whole figure.
• ≠Outside turn: a right/clockwise follower turn; in the Cape it appears as the exit pivot after travel.
• ≠New York Walk: attested as an associated exit name in some teaching, but not always used as the full-figure name.
• ≠Paso cruzado or cruzado: Spanish footwork terms meaning cross step; they should not be used as name variants for this figure.

• Linear salsa, English-language teaching

  The Cape

  Attested full-figure name.

• New York On2 / linear salsa teaching

  Cape

  Shortened form of the attested English name.

• New York On2 / linear salsa teaching

  New York Walk

  Attested as a name sometimes associated with the outside-pivot exit rather than necessarily the whole figure.

• Los Angeles On1 / linear salsa teaching

  The Cape

  Used as the English teaching name in On1 contexts; no distinct Spanish regional name is attested in the available sources.