Salsa is usually a partner dance form that corresponds to salsa music. In some forms, it can also appear as a performance dance. The word is the same as the Spanish word salsa meaning sauce, or in this case flavour or style.

According to testimonials from musicologists and historians of music, the name salsa was gradually accepted among dancers throughout various decades. The very first time the word appeared on the radio was a composition by Ignacio Pineiro, dedicated to an old black man who sold butifarras (a sausage-like product) on Central Road in Matanzas, Cuba. It is a song titled Echale salsita, wherein the major refrain and chorus goes "Salsaaaaa! Echale salsita, Echale salsita". During the early 1950s, commentator and DJ "bigote" Escalona announced danceables with the title: "the following rhythm contains Salsa". Finally, the Spanish-speaking population of the New York area baptized Celia Cruz as the "Queen of Salsa".

Salsa is danced on music with two bars of four beats. Salsa patterns typically use three steps during each four beats, one beat being skipped. However, this skipped beat is often marked by a shifting of weight from one foot to the other. Typically the music involves complicated percussion rhythms, ranging from slow at about 120 beats per minute to its fastest at around 180 beats per minute.

Salsa is a slot or spot dance, ie, unlike Foxtrot or Samba, in Salsa a couple does not need to travel over the dance floor much (although they could, if there was space and the lead decided to do so), but rather occupies a fixed area on the dance floor.

The basic movement occurring in the dance patterns of the various salsa styles is the stepping on the beat of the music. Salsa is best grouped in pairs of 4-beat patterns counted "1-2-3-...-5-6-7-...". The leader starts on count 1 by stepping with the left foot. On count 2 and 3, they step with right and left, respectively. On count 4, the lead pauses or makes an optional tap with the right foot. On counts 5, 6, and 7, they step with right, left, and right, respectively, again followed by a pause on count 8. As a standard, every step must be taken with full weight transfer. The follower part is identical, but shifted by 4 beats, so that as the leader's left foot steps forward, the follower's right foot steps back. In most styles, the leader starts with the left foot and the follower starts with the right foot regardless of the pattern about to be danced.

Basic step
The term "basic step" normally refers to a forward-backward motion. On counts 1, 2, and 3, the leader steps forward, replaces, and steps backward. On count 5, 6, and 7, they step backwards, replace, and step forward again. The follower does the same, but with forward and backward reversed, so that the couple goes back and forth as a unit. This basic step is part of many other patterns. For example, the leader may dance the basic step while leading the follower to do an underarm turn.

The following variants of the Basic step may be used, often called breaks.

Forward break: Starting from either foot, step Forward, Replace, In-place, counting 1,2,3 or 5,6,7,8,9.
Back break: Starting from either foot, step
Backward, Replace, In-place, counting 1,2,3,4 or 5,6,7,8,9.
Side break: Starting from either foot, step Sideways, Replace, In-place, counting 1,2,3 or 5,6,7,8,9.