Dance Styles

Here I collect facets about Latin dance styles. Now, if there is one thing for sure then it's the countless variety of dance styles and opinions. So please don't you take the statements below as ultima ratio! As for myself, I like to change between the styles (as far as I know them ;-), such as Cuban vs. New York style; salsa on "1" or "2", -why be dogmatic and confine yourself to just one? It obviously heavily depends on what your partner is used to, otherwise you won't experience too much fun...

Note: I cite several postings below. While I don't publish personal email without permission of the sender, I do cite Usenet postings as my point of view is that they are intended as being public, after all.

A Discussion of Afro-Cuban Dance Styles

has been contributed by Petra Dürr. Have fun!

Salsa

A vivid discussion ;-) quickly arises when the issue comes on whether the salsa basic step starts on beat 1 or 2. I collected some contributions from rec.music.afro-latin on this topic.

Cumbia

From: mingmar@cs.mcgill.ca (Ming MAR), Newsgroups: rec.arts.dance, Subject: Re: cumbia in Montreal and El Paso, Date: 14 Mar 1996 15:44:35 GMT

Cumbia is slower than salsa and the movements are smooth and rythmic. The basic step goes from side to side. Unlike salsa, you can hear each beat in cumbia. The dance partners keep a respectable distance between them

Bachata

From: mingmar@cs.mcgill.ca (Ming MAR), Newsgroups: rec.arts.dance, Subject: Re: cumbia in Montreal and El Paso, Date: 14 Mar 1996 15:44:35 GMT

The bachata beat is faster than cumbia. The philosophy is the same as a slow dance: you dance glued together and you don't do any fancy turns or anything. The basic step is three steps in one direction and then a hip motion. Repeat going in other direction. You can hear each beat in bachata. Some dancers will move their hips on each beat.

Ballroom View

Although Cuban Rumba technically almost nothing has to do with ballroom Rumba, there are indeed common roots historically. See a ballroom-oriented presentation of history of Latin-american dancing.