The dance

On1 vs On2: the difference, counted out

Both are danced to the same music. What changes is the count you break on, and On2 comes in more than one count. Here’s each one, where it came from, and which one SalsaCoach’s app scores today.

By Carlos Morales Jr.Last reviewed: September 24, 2026

Same music, different break

The “break” is the step where you change direction. On1 and On2 name the count it falls on. Both are danced to the same songs, and competition rules accept either: the World Salsa Federation endorses breaking on 1 or 2, and the International Dance Organization allows either as long as you stay consistent [WSF rule book; IDO rules].

On1 (LA style)

The leader breaks forward on 1 with the left foot, replaces on 2, closes on 3 and holds 4, then breaks back on 5 with the right, replaces on 6, closes on 7 and holds 8. The follower mirrors [Phillips; Salsa Vida]. LA style was pioneered in the 1990s by the Vazquez brothers; Luis Vazquez co-founded Salsa Brava, often described as the first salsa dance team [U.S. National Park Service].

On2, New York style (Eddie Torres)

Eddie Torres’s count steps on the same beats as On1, 1-2-3 and 5-6-7, but the break moves to the second step of each group: 2 and 6 [Hutchinson 2004; Salsa Vida; Salsabor Tropical]. As it’s usually taught, the leader takes a small step back with the left foot on 1, breaks back with the right on 2, replaces on 3 and holds 4, then takes a small step forward with the right on 5, breaks forward with the left on 6, replaces on 7 and holds 8. The follower mirrors, breaking forward on 2 [Salsabor Tropical; MDN Latin Dance; Phillips; Toronto Dance Salsa].

In practice Torres dancers step well ahead of 1 and 5, almost half a beat early, which pulls the feel close to a 2-3-4 count [Hutchinson 2004]. Torres ties the count to the conga’s slap on the second beat [Mambo Royalty].

On2, the 2-3-4 count

The other On2 count shifts every step one beat later: steps on 2-3-4 and 6-7-8, holds on 1 and 5, with the break on 2 and 6 as the first step of each group [Hutchinson 2004; Salsa Vida; Art Davis Dance; Phillips]. It’s the count Angel Rodríguez’s Razz M’Tazz company teaches, and some schools call it “Power 2” [Hutchinson 2004; Art Davis Dance]. It’s documented early: a 1953 Dance Magazine footprint chart shows the basic mambo on a 2-3-4, 6-7-8 count [Hutchinson 2004]. That doesn’t make it “the Palladium count”: at least one Palladium star, Cuban Pete, didn’t count at all, and his partner said he danced to the clave [Hutchinson 2004].

Which way the leader breaks on 2 in this count is where the sources we read disagree. Some teach it forward, some back [Phillips; DanceUS; Szumielewicz]. If you learn this count, learn the direction from your teacher.

What about “Puerto Rican style”?

The name means different things in different scenes. Several teachers use “Puerto Rican On2” for a version where the leader breaks forward on 2 [Szumielewicz; Toronto Dance Salsa]. Competition rules group Puerto Rico and New York together as one style, and some directories describe Puerto Rican style as danced on 1 or on 2 [IDO rules; DanceUS]. Sydney Hutchinson’s interviews found that most dancers on the island think of and teach the dance to the clave rather than to counts [Hutchinson 2004]. So the clearest way to describe any of these is by its count and its break, not by a place.

Other timings you’ll hear about

Cuban casino is mostly danced a tiempo today (steps on 1-2-3, 5-6-7), and was traditionally danced a contratiempo, a habit inherited from son, with no step on 1 or 5 [Son y Casino; Baila’Cubano]. Cali style steps 1-2-3 and 5-6-7, often with a tap on 4 and 8, and its basics travel back and to the side with fast footwork [Salsa Vida; Toronto Dance Salsa; DanceUS].

A short history of On2

Mambo swept New York in the 1950s, centred on the Palladium Ballroom, and the 2-3-4 count was already on paper by 1953 [Hutchinson 2004]. The dance then nearly died out between the mid-1960s and the late 1980s. Eddie Torres, born in New York in 1950, kept dancing and teaching; a ballroom mambo teacher, June LaBerta, pushed him to put counts to his steps, name them and write a syllabus, and helped him fit his basic to a musical count, which became his “on 2” [Hutchinson 2004; Mambo Royalty]. His classes in the 1970s were three to five people [Hutchinson 2004].

Around 1983 the Copacabana club started salsa nights and hired Torres to teach. In 1987 Tito Puente asked him to choreograph a televised tribute to Machito at the Apollo Theater, and Torres dates the revival from there. After that, Torres and Angel Rodríguez each systematized their own On2 method, and by the 1990s “on 2” schools were everywhere [Hutchinson 2004]. Many of those dancers call what they do “mambo” [Hutchinson 2004].

Which one does SalsaCoach use?

Today, SalsaCoach’s On2 practice scores the 2-3-4, 6-7-8 count, with holds on 1 and 5. A Torres-count mode isn’t built yet. The browser trainer practises On1. Whichever you dance, the thing the app is really training is the same: knowing where the 1 is, because every count above is measured from it.

Every claim about SalsaCoach’s band comes from its own measurement; everything else cites a source. If you spot a mistake, email support@mysalsacoach.com.