Although they share some characteristics, the various forms of Latin dance also reflect the unique style and culture of their countries of origin. For example, we have flamenco dancing in Spain, the tango in Argentina, and the merengue and bachata in the Dominican Republic. The contexts of dance within these cultures vary: people dance for social or for religious reasons, as part of rituals or community celebrations, and as performance art. In Cuba, music and dance are inseparable. From religious music to rumba, danzón, son, chachachá, timba...the rhythms and the dances were created simultaneously as inseparable parts of the same whole. 

AFRO-CUBAN FOLKLORIC DANCES

 Afro-Cuban folkloric and religious dance is a genre with a lot of different dances from several African countries brought to Cuba during the colonization of the Third World. We can separate them in two main categories. There are religious dances of Yoruba people from Nigeria (Orishas) and dances of different bantú tribes from Congo (Palo, Yuka, Abakua).

RUMBA

There are various styles of Afro-Cuban rumba music and dance, but they all have strong influences from African drumming and dance and Spanish/Gitano poetry, singing and dance. The clave beat (2-3 or 3-2) plays a very important role in all rumba styles. Afro- Cuban rumba is entirely different than ballroom rumba or the African style of pop music called rumba. Rumba developed in rural Cuba is still danced in Havana, Mantanzas and other Cuban cities but these days ... influences from jazz and hip hop.

YAMBU

This is the oldest known style of rumba, sometimes called the old people’s rumba because of its slower beat. It can be danced alone (especially by women) or by men and women together. Although male dancers may flirt with female dancers during the dance, they do not use the vacunao - the symbolic, sexual “vaccination” - used in rumba guaguanco.

GUAGUANCO

Rumba Guaguanco is faster than yambu, with more complex rhythms,

and involves flirtatious movements between a man and a woman. The woman may both entice and “protect herself” from the man, who tries to catch the woman off- guard with a vacunao - tagging her with the flip of a hankerchief or by throwing his arm, leg or pelvis in the direction of the woman, in a symbolic attempt touching or sexually contacting her. When a man attempts to give a woman a vacunao, she uses her skirt to protect her pelvis and then whip the sexual energy away from her body.

COLUMBIA

In this fast and energetic style of rumba, with a 6/8 feel, solo male dancers provoke the drummers to play complex rhythms that they imitate through their creative and sometimes acrobatic movements. Men may also compete with other men to display their agility, strength, confidence and even sense of humor. Columbia incorporates many movements derived from Congo dances as well as Spanish flamenco, and recently more and more dancers incorporates breakdancing and hip hop moves. Women are also beginning to dance Columbia, too.

COMPARSA

Cuban comparsa is the dance of the street carnival and is more commonly known as „conga line“. It is loud, flashy and fun, with dancers in colorful and and musicians playing horns (trumpets, trombones, tubas, etc.), percussion instruments (maracas, bongos, congas, guiros, batas, claves, checkeres, surdos, tamborines) and whistles. 

TRADITIONAL POPULAR DANCE (BAILES POPULARES)

In addition to traditional Afro-Cuban folkloric styles, Cuba is also known for its popular traditional dances such as Son, Cha Cha Cha, Danzon and Mambo

DANZON

Created by Miguel Failde Pérez in 1879, Danzón is the national dance of Cuba and evolved from Danza. The music structure – A B A B A - consists of an introduction, A, just used for dancers to make acquaintance, flirt or stroll the dance floor. Then a dance section starts (B), to go back to the introduction and repeat the sequence again. The dance style is elegant yet extremely sensual and flavorful; it is danced off the beat and includes square figures.

SON

Son is derived from Cuba’s African (drumming, complex rhythms) and Spanish roots (instrumentation, poetic style), and is the precursor of what is now called salsa. Originally rural music that developed as an accompaniment to dancing, it became a popular in Cuba’s urban areas in the 20th century. Eventually, it was adapted to modern instrumentation and larger bands. Traditional Son instrumentation could include the tres (a type of guitar with three sets of closely spaced strings), standard guitars and various hand drums and other percussion instruments. Many sons also include parts for trumpets and other brass instruments, due to the influence of American jazz.Son, the dance, starts with the formal, closed embrace of the man and woman. The couple maintains a very upright frame, with quick flirtatious and sensual side-to-side movements of the shoulders, torso and hips accenting the underlying six count rhythm of the feet. Son is danced contratiempo, meaning, off the beat, so the couple moves on the half beat before one.

CHA CHA CHA

Cha Cha Cha arose in the early ‘50s as an offshoot of Danzon and Mambo, and was created by Enrique Jorrin – the original rhythm is an onomatopoeia of the sound of the percussion and the one created by the dancer’s feet dragging on the ground. Cha-cha-cha is danced off beat (the dance starts with three quick changes of weight -- thus the name cha-cha-cha -- preceded by two slow and a pause). It was later adopted and commercialized by ballroom dancers who for teaching purposes (for those unable to identify the beat) cha was dropped and it became only Cha-cha. In Cha Cha Cha, like mambo and rumba, the dancers’ hips are relaxed, allowing free movement in the pelvic section.

MAMBO

Mambo is a modification of Afro-Cuban rhythms and particularly the Danzon. It was created by Israel “Cachao” Lopez, and infused with American jazz band format. Mambo was danced in the same upbeat and sassy manner as American swing. 

CASINO

Casino is a holly Cuban dance developed during the mid and late 1960s in Havana. It is a form of what is sometimes called “Cuban Salsa“ (outside of Cuba) as distinct from New York or Los Angeles styles.

SALSA

The history of the “Salsa” dance is peppered with hearsay and contradiction. Although few would disagree that the music and dance forms originate largely Cuban Son, most agree that Salsa, as we know it today, is a North American interpretation of the older forms of music and dance originated from Cuba & Puertorico. New York’s Latino community had a vibrant musical and dancing scene throughout the ‘50s but found limited success with the ‘Anglo’ mainstream. In the 1970s, the adoption of the term “Salsa” reduced the linguistic and cultural barriers to mainstream and worldwide adoption of Latin music and dance.

TIMBA

Musically, timba is the result of an innovative fusion of elements drawn from multiple directions. It is a a fusion of jazz and rumba, with hip-hop and reggae thrown in. It has its roots in son, the guitar-and-brass-driven Afro-jazz band sound of the fifties.  

CLAVE

Uniting Afro-Cuban music and dance the clave is a rhythmic pattern, meaning “key.” The word clave not only refers to this characteristic rhythm but it also refers to a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of two round polished sticks that are struck together. Clave pattern may be played on other percussion instruments as well. Even when clave is not explicitly present in the music, Afro-Cuban musicians feel its pattern and dancers move to its rhythm as it is a heart of every salsa song.

SENSUAL DANCES

BACHATA

Bachata is a style of dance that originated in the Dominican Republic, commonly known by many as a very "sexual" dance. It is danced widely all over the world but not identically. The basics to the dance are three-step with a Cuban hip motion, followed by a hip tap on the 4th beat. The original dance style from the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean is a basic dance sequence is a full 8 count moving within a square, but during the time bachata changed and lots of styles ocured, such as bachata moderna, urban bachata, bachata fusion. The bachata music also changed, and know day we have new groups such as Aventura, Extreme, Nueva Era, but they all developed from the first popular bachata singers and musicians such as Anthony Santon, Frank Reyes, Luis Miguel del Amargue and many many more.

BACHATANGO

Bachatango  a sensual form of modern bachata is a style of dance that fuses the four-step Dominican bachata with Argentine tango moves, including elaborated kicks, dips, turns and long pauses. The dance is characterized by sensual hip and body movements. Partners hold each other in a closed position where the female’s inside right thigh is in contact with the inside of the male's right thigh, while using the hand placements of typical Latin style dances.

KIZOMBA

Kizomba is one of the most popular styles of dance and music in the lusophone African countries. Sung in Portuguese or Portuguese creole, it is a genre of music with a romantic flow mixed with African rhythm. Kizomba is native to Angola, with influences from other lusophone countries. It is known for having a slow, insistent, somewhat harsh, yet sensuous rhythm, and is considered to be a fusion of semba (a predecessor of samba) with other musical styles. It is ideally danced accompanied by a partner, very smoothly and slowly, though not too tightly.
Dancing kizomba is a unique experience – standing really close together, partners move in sensual wavy movement, where leading and being led finds a new dimension.
As a dance that gives you not only full pleasure but also the basic steps to other related rhythms, kizomba is all about “connecting people”…

ZOUK

Zouk is a style of rhythmic music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe & Martinique. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local Antillean Creole of French, although the word originally referred to, and is still used to refer to, a popular dance, based on the Polish dance, the mazurka, that was introduced to the French Caribbean in the 19th Century. There are lots of zouk style such as zouk-love, zouk chire, cabo zouk, afro zouk, compas love, zouk RnB and Rio Zouk. Also referred to as Lambazouk, Lambada Zouk and quite simply as Zouk in Brazil, this modern version of the Lambada evokes the body and mind into a trance like state for the dancer, leaving the spectator mesmerised.

SEMBA

Semba is a traditional type of music from the Southern-African country of Angola. Semba comes from the singular Masemba, meaning "a touch of the bellies", a move that characterizes the Semba dance. Through Semba music, the artist is able to convey a broad spectrum of emotions. It is this characteristic that has made Semba the premiere style of music for a wide variety of Angolan social gatherings. Its versatility is evident in its inevitable presence at funerals and, on the other hand, many Angolan parties. Modern semba is strongly influenced by zouk music.