Our favourite dance styles - Latin

As the name suggests  the latin style of dancing has its origins in South  America and Cuba and probably has it routes in the fusion of the  indigenous and  Africa cultures resulting from the slave trade and their European conquerors. In the 1930s and 40s the style became more popular thanks to Hollywood’s influence and stars like George Raft and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers.

 

The Rumba, like most latin dances has its origins in Cuba. It is the slowest of the five competitive ballroom latin style dances, the others being the pasa doble, the samba, the cha-cha-cha and the jive. Most of the latin dances involve a hip sway over the standing leg -which gives the dance a slightly "sexy" flavour!

 

The Salsa has become extremely popular as a sexy and stylish dance.  It is to some extent a fusion of other Latin styles with origins in Cuba and the rest of the “Hispanic” world.  Today there are many Salsa clubs in around the world – a testament  to its enduring appeal.

 

The Samba is a more lively dance than the Salsa, danced with a slightly downward bouncing motion to a "one-a- two" type of count.

 

The Cha-cha too has its roots in Cuba and first became popular in Europe and the United States in the 1950's. Like the Salsa it is danced four beats to the bar, to a slow-slow-slow-quick-quick-slow-slow-slow-quick-quick motife. . . which can also be counted as one- two- three- cha-cha-cha, -two-three-ch- cha-cha .

 

The Paso Doble, unlike most of the other latin styles has its origins in Spain and Southern France. Paso Doble music is traditionally played during bullfights. The ballroom paso doble, features significanly less hip movement than the other latin styles and is a little more "march" oriented with a wider frame and forward steps taken using a heel lead.