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Rueda Arriba

The wheel's basic open step (guapea) and the call that resets it

RuedaLevel: Beginner2 min read4 citations

Rueda Arriba — almost always shortened to the single shouted word Arriba — is the call that resets the wheel to its basic open step in Rueda de Casino, the circular group form of Cuban casino in which one caller steers every couple through the same figure simultaneously around a ring.[1] Where the traveling calls such as Dame and Enchufla carry the couples through the figures, Arriba gathers them back into a stable, ready frame between moves, giving the caller a beat to re-synchronize the wheel before the next command.[1]

The figure the call summons is the guapea (also written guapeá), casino's foundational basic: an open one-hand-hold rocking step danced in place rather than tracked along a slot.[2] Partners join the leader's left hand to the follower's right, break backward on the downbeat, recover, and tap, keeping their torsos squared to the center of the circle while the linked hands pump lightly with the music.[2] Because casino is conventionally danced a tiempo, that back-break falls on count 1 of each measure, so a single eight-count carries two of them.[3]

Catalogues of rueda calls record the guapea as the wheel's home position — the figure every other call departs from and returns to — which is why it is the first step taught to newcomers and the constant the caller can always fall back on.[4] Its names travel with the dance: the same reset answers to Arriba, to the older Guapea, and to Báilalo ("dance it"), interchangeable cues carried from Havana through Miami into rueda scenes worldwide.[3]

How it's danced

Lead and follow cues

CountA tiempo (On1) — open break on count 1 and the closing half on count 5, giving two breaks across a full eight-count (1 and 5). Cuban casino is danced on the downbeat; some Havana dancers prefer contratiempo (offbeat) as a separate stylistic choice, not encoded in these cues.

Lead

Stand in an open hold facing the partner across the circle, left hand holding her right at about chest height. On count 1 break straight back onto the left foot, recover forward onto the right on 2, step the left in place (or tap) on 3; on 5 rock forward (or tap) onto the right toward the partner, recover back onto the left on 6, step the right in place on 7. Keep the torso square to the circle's center and pump the joined hands lightly. Lead nothing across the floor — the figure stays in place until the next call.

Follow

Mirror the leader with opposite feet: on count 1 break straight back onto the right foot, recover forward onto the left on 2, step the right in place (or tap) on 3; on 5 rock forward (or tap) onto the left toward the partner, recover back onto the right on 6, step the left in place on 7. On the count-1 break both partners step backward away from each other — opposite foot, same direction — and the step never travels; hold the open one-hand frame and stay ready for the caller.

Song timingDanced a tiempo on the downbeat; comfortable across typical son and timba social tempos of roughly 150–185 bpm, with 185–200+ bpm timba reserved for the fast end. As a stationary reset it sits easily under almost any casino tempo and is the figure callers use to let a fast wheel recover its synchronization.

Learn first

Prerequisites

  • Keeping time a tiempo and finding the downbeat in an eight-count
  • Open one-hand hold and a stable frame
  • Basic back-break weight changes

Watch out

Common mistakes

  • Letting the step drift forward or wander around the circle instead of staying stationary — the guapea holds position.
  • Breaking with the wrong foot: the leader must break back on the left and the follower on the right; the mirror is opposite foot, not opposite direction.
  • Collapsing the open-hand frame so the joined hands stop pumping, leaving the couple unprepared for the next call.
  • Falling off the downbeat and losing the count-1 break, which desynchronizes the dancer from the rest of the wheel.
  • Yanking the partner in on the back-break; the count-1 break opens space, it does not pull the partner forward.

Don't confuse with

Easily confused moves

  • Dile que no (DQN): a traveling cross-body-style pass that changes the couple's facing, whereas Arriba/guapea stays in place.
  • 'Arriba' as a generic 'up/forward' directional cue in other Latin dances — as a rueda call it specifically means reset to the basic step.
  • Paso cruzado / cruzado: a cross-step footwork pattern in other styles, not this figure.
  • 'Báilalo' as a generic exhortation to dance — as a rueda call it specifically means perform the basic step.
  • The slot-based forward/back basic of LA On1 / NY On2 salsa: casino's basic is danced in a wheel, not a slot, and is caller-directed.

Around the world

Other names

  • Cuba (Havana casino)

    Guapea (Guapeá)

    The dominant Cuban name for the basic open-position step; also called to bring the wheel back to basic.

  • Cuban rueda (general)

    Báilalo

    Call meaning 'dance it' — directs the wheel to perform the basic step.

  • Miami / international rueda

    Arriba

    Call to pick up or reset the wheel to the basic step.

  • Spanish-language teaching (generic)

    Paso básico / Básico

    Descriptive term for the basic step, not a distinct figure name.

References

  1. 1.Dance Central - Salsa Rueda de Casino — www.dancecentral.info
  2. 2.Cambridge Dancers' Club - Rueda Basic Moves — www.cambridgedancers.org
  3. 3.DanceInTime - Details on Specific Steps For All Levels — danceintime.com
  4. 4.Salsaddiction Rueda de Casino Wiki — ruedawiki.org

How to cite this article

Choose a style and copy the citation.

APA

Bailar Editorial Team. (2026). Rueda Arriba. Bailar Biblioteca. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/rueda-arriba

MLA

Bailar Editorial Team. “Rueda Arriba.” Bailar Biblioteca, 2026, bailar.site/biblioteca/move/rueda-arriba. Accessed 29 June 2026.

Chicago

Bailar Editorial Team. “Rueda Arriba.” Bailar Biblioteca. Accessed June 29, 2026. https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/rueda-arriba.

BibTeX

@misc{bailar-move-rueda-arriba, author = {{Bailar Editorial Team}}, title = {{Rueda Arriba}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {Bailar Biblioteca}, url = {https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/rueda-arriba}, note = {Accessed: 2026-06-29} }

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