Sácala (rueda de casino)
A foundational casino lead-out — 'take her out'
RuedaLevel: Beginner2 min read1 citations
Sácala is among the first lead-out calls a casino dancer learns: a simple, neutral way to break a couple out of the closed back-and-forth and into open position. It belongs to casino and its circle form, rueda de casino — the Cuban partner dance in which one caller names a figure that every couple performs in unison — and works as a building block, training the leader to draw the follower out of the basic without dropping the connection. That same draw-out underpins the partner-exchange family, so the call travels wherever casino is taught.
The call. The figure takes its name from the Spanish imperative sácala, "take her out" — the verb sacar, "to take or draw out," plus the feminine clitic la, which stands for la dama (the follower); callers often voice the fuller spoken form saca la dama. The imperative is an old form, attested in 18th-century Spanish prose in the phrase sácala a luz.[1] In a noisy rueda the spoken call is commonly reinforced by a hand signal, so every couple catches it at once.
Execution. Sácala is danced from the guapea basic — the casino back-step in which leader and follower face one another in an open hold. Keeping the joined-hand connection, the leader opens the frame on the break and draws the follower out of the back-and-forth and across his front into the open, where she walks out and turns to re-face him, set for the next call. International scenes most often dance it a tiempo, breaking on the downbeat; many Cuban dancers break contratiempo, on the offbeat.
As a plain entry-level call, sácala sits beside the guapea basic in the core casino vocabulary and feeds directly into partner-exchange figures such as dame ("give me").
How it's danced
Lead and follow cues
CountCasino 8-count basic, danced a tiempo — breaks on 1 and 5; the lead-out occupies roughly one to two measures, with the walk-out resolving by 7. (Many Cuban scenes dance the same figure contratiempo, but this card's cues are stated a tiempo.)
Lead
From guapea, break back on the left foot on 1 (the follower mirrors back on her right), opening the frame; settle the joined-hand connection on 2-3. On the next measure (5-6-7), draw the follower out of the basic and across the front, stepping aside to clear her path, and lead her to walk out and turn so she re-faces by 7. Keep the connected hand light — guide the walk, do not steer.
Follow
Break back on the right foot on 1 (mirror of the leader's left), staying connected and grounded on 2-3. As the lead opens on 5, walk forward out of the basic across the opening on 5-6-7, turning about a half-turn total — roughly a quarter as the step out begins, completing to re-face the leader by 7. Travel only on the lead; in a rueda the timing is set by the call.
Song timingComfortable in son-derived and timba-driven casino at roughly 150-185 bpm, danced a tiempo on the downbeat; slower son montuno (~150-160 bpm) gives the cleanest walk-out. It stays workable into the high-180s, with 190+ bpm the fast end where the lead-out must be kept compact.
Learn first
Prerequisites
- guapea (casino basic)
- dile que no
- a-tiempo casino timing (breaking on 1)
- lead–follow handhold connection / frame
- rueda call-and-response discipline (move on the call, not in anticipation)
Watch out
Common mistakes
- Follower anticipating the lead-out and walking before the connection opens, breaking rueda synchrony.
- Leader failing to step aside on 5, crowding the follower's exit so she cannot travel cleanly.
- Under-rotating the exit — leaving the follower side-on instead of completing her to re-face by 7.
- Gripping the connected hand and steering the walk rather than leading it lightly.
- Drifting off the a-tiempo break (breaking late or on the wrong beat) so the couple desyncs from the wheel.
Don't confuse with
Easily confused moves
- Sacada — an Argentine-tango displacement of a partner's leg or space; unrelated mechanic despite the shared 'sacar' root.
- Vacila — a separate casino call in which the leader showcases the follower; often confused as another send-out.
- Dame — a partner-change call, not a lead-out of the same partner.
- 'Paso cruzado' / 'cruzado' and similar footwork terms — describe steps, not this rueda call.
- Spanish 'sácala a luz' ('publish it / bring it to light') — same word form, unrelated to dance.
Around the world
Other names
Cuba (casino / rueda de casino)
Sácala
Standard imperative call, 'take her out'.
Cuba (casino)
Saca la dama
Fuller spoken form of the same call.
References
- 1.Relación del viage, que por orden de su Magestad, y acuerdo de el Real Consejo de Indias, hicieron los capitanes Bartholome Garcia de Nodal, y Gonzalo de Nodal, hermanos, naturales de Pontevedra al descubrimiento del Estrecho nuevo de San Vicente, que hoy es nombrado de Maire, y Reconocimiento del de Magallanes — García de Nodal, Bartolomé, 1574-1622, 1766, title note, second work (1766)
How to cite this article
Choose a style and copy the citation.
Bailar Editorial Team. (2026). Sácala (rueda de casino). Bailar Biblioteca. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/rueda-sacala
Bailar Editorial Team. “Sácala (rueda de casino).” Bailar Biblioteca, 2026, bailar.site/biblioteca/move/rueda-sacala. Accessed 29 June 2026.
Bailar Editorial Team. “Sácala (rueda de casino).” Bailar Biblioteca. Accessed June 29, 2026. https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/rueda-sacala.
@misc{bailar-move-rueda-sacala, author = {{Bailar Editorial Team}}, title = {{Sácala (rueda de casino)}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {Bailar Biblioteca}, url = {https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/rueda-sacala}, note = {Accessed: 2026-06-29} }
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