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Interculture Wiki
When talking about Latin dances one should be very careful. In this big world, we have to make a distinction between “Latin-American dances” such as rumba, cha cha cha, jive, tango, paso doble and samba, which originated in Cuba, Brazil and Argentina, and those called “Caribbean dances”, i.e. salsa, merengue, bachata and rueda de casino, which originated in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Dance schools which teach Caribbean dances have spread all over the world, along with the increasing number of places where you can dance to this kind of music. Many people are re-discovering the great pleasure of dancing with a partner, instead of dancing alone in a crowded place.
SalsaAccording to some people, salsa was born in the '40s in New York City, precisely in the neighbourhood called "El Barrio", where all the immigrants from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia etc. lived. On the other hand, others say that salsa was born in Cuba and was then exported to New York, where it became a commercial success. Salsa gets its name from its being a mix of different ingredients: the original Cuban style of music, called Son; elements of the Northern-American culture; rhythms from Central and South America; etc.
Originally, the Son was a slow dance done to court your desired lover; salsa lost this character as it got a faster rhythm and became full of difficult steps. By the end of the '90s it reachead America and Europe and it continues being very succesfull.
Now enjoy salsa!
Merengue
Merengue was born in the Dominican Republic. There are two hypotheses about its origins. According to the first one, this dance was invented by African slaves who were working in American sugar fields. The chains they wore on their ankles did not allow them to move a lot so they invented the basic step of merengue, which simply consists in rhythmically switching the weight of the body from one foot to the other one. Others say that this dance was invented by a slave who had been hurt in a fight against the Spanish; during a party he started dancing in spite of his handicap and his friends began imitating his moves, therefore inventing this new dance.
Anyway, merengue became the Dominican Republic's national dance at the beginning of the 20th century. People liked it because it was easy and they could dance close to their partners. During the years new steps have been invented, but dancers still need to have a lot of imagination.
Let's listen to Merengue!
Bachata
Bachata was born in the the rural and marginal neighbourhoods of the Dominican Republic in the middle of the 20th century. It comes from the Latin American "bolero" mixed with other popular dances.
The songs usually talk about sad love stories, people cheating on each other and so on. In fact, the original name for this genre was "amargue" (=bitter).
It is not clear were the name "bachata" comes from. Someone says that it comes from the Italian "ballata"; others say that in Spanish the term was used to refer to a sort of party.
Bachata arrived in Italy some years ago with the hit "Obsesion" by Aventura and it has been a popular dance since then.
Tengo un Amor by Toby Love featuring Rakim and Ken-Y
Rueda de Casino
Rueda de Casino is a type of salsa which is danced in a circle ("rueda"). It was born in Cuba in the late 1950s.
For this dance all the couples have to form a circle and one of them, called the "cantante", has to call the moves.." Al centro!..Dile que no!...Dame!..Enchufla!..Dame!" from (ruedisima.com) Most of these moves end with a change of partners. The names of the moves are mostly in Spanish, but they can change from country to country, or even from one school to another. There aren't many dance schools where you can learn this dance, partly because it is difficult to dance in crowded places.
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