Saturday 15 May 2010

Salsa Dance Class

People dance for different reasons: for competition, to keep fit, meet new people, or simply to have a little fun. It’s even become a way of visiting new countries, as shown by the growing popularity of dance holidays in Cuba, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Egypt and many other countries. But, whether they like to admit it or not, most people would in some way agree with the definition of dancing as “a vertical expression of a horizontal desire.”

Let’s face it, out of the list that I started with, all except the first have probably got some link to feeling sexy or meeting people to feel sexy with, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Cuba. Salsa, Mambo, Rumba, and Cha Cha Cha are some of the islands most prominent styles of dance, and each one is intimate, flirtatious and an important part of traditional courtship rituals in Cuba. Salsa may be the most well known of the island’s dances, but is it the sexiest?

History of Dance in Cuba

For any visitor on holiday in Cuba, dance is inescapable. It is part of the culture, rooted in its mixed Spanish and African heritage. Most forms of dance in Cuba have evolved from Rumba, also know as Son. This older style came to Cuba in the 19th century, and ranges from the slow and formal Rumba Yambu to the fast and overtly sexual Rumba Guaguanco.The more modern styles of Mambo, Salsa and Cha Cha Cha were all born in the aftermath of the Communist revolution in the 1950s. It was a revolution in Cuba’s dance halls as well as its politics, with the excitement of change fuelling passionate and inventive new forms of dance. Due to their common roots, many of the styles have similarities, such as the distinctive Latin hip movement and close footwork. Salsa and Mambo are based on a “quick-quick-slow” rhythm, while the Cha Cha Cha has a quick three step in place of the slow step.

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