Learning Spanish

Bailes de Latinoamérica

There are many dances in Latin America, every country has there own types and there are some that people dance in many countries. Here are some of the most common dances in Latin America.

Salsa

initially developed into a particular style in the 1940s and comes from a tradition of Latin dance styles that dates back to the early 1900s. It is heavily influenced by Afro-Cuban traditions and dance styles such as mambo, guaguanco and danzon. The brief is that people moved to new locations and assimilated into new cultures, where salsa evolved into fresh styles. There are several influenced by cultures of the cities they originated. For instance, most famous in North America in United States are (also known as dancing 'On 2') and (known as dancing 'On 1'). Many dance aficionados actually claim that New York Style salsa is the original style of salsa, as the term and the dance were coined in the Big Apple. Other styles include Cuban salsa, Cumbia, Rueda de Casino (read more on ). Besides New York and Los Angeles in USA, major cities around the world where salsa is most popular are: and in Canada and in United Kingdom: . There are numerous around the world that attract thousand of Salseros every year as well as which is a multi-day dance festival featuring workshops, social dancing, performances and competitions focusing on Salsa dancing.

Bachata

Bachata dance is known for its love stories, and its syncopated rhythm. The dance actually was born of the music in the Dominican Republic during the 1960's. Unfortunately, a dictatorship that found Bachata to be an art form of low standing held the music and the dance back for decades. The music was first developed with a heavy guitar emphasis and heartrending love stories as its basis. However, it grew primarily within bars and brothels, and this led to Bachata being held back for literally decades. Although the Bachata dance itself is a spinoff of the music, in recent years the music has grown more slowly than the dance. Bachata dance continues to grow and thrive all over the world, and has finally reached a place where it is widely accepted.

Merengue

The Merengue is a couple dance that has roots in the Dominican Republic. There are many theories of how precisely it became the dance that it is today. It is certain, however, that Dictator Rafael Trujillo deemed it the Dominican official dance and musical style after his rise to power in the 1930's. A similar style is enjoyed in neighboring Haiti. The Merengue is one of the recognized Latin dance that has evolved over the years and widely enjoyed in many parts of the world.

Mambo

Mambo is a Latin dance of Cuba which was developed in the 1940s when the music genre of the same name became popular throughout Latin America. The word mambo comes from the name of the god of war. In immemorial times, the Cubans dedicated a ritual dance to him, with the aim of deserving location and ensuring patronage. The mambo dance has much in common with rumba and cha-cha (at first, the famous cha-cha-cha was even called syncopated mambo), but it has a great temperament, freedom in expressing feelings and emotions, luxurious music. Incendiary rhythms of mambo are widely used in cinema. This dance is both a means of seduction and a way to express your feelings. Among the most famous films in which dance is used is the film "Mambo" with starring Antonio Banderas and Arman Assante and the more modern film Dirty Dancing starring Patrick Suezi.

Kizomba

Kizomba is a new direction of latin dance culture that originated in Angola in the 1980s under the influence of French Creole music and African folk rhythms. And in Europe, it has spread widely in the twenty-first century. Kizomba has similar features with samba, bachata and Argentine tango, but this style is smoother, moderate and calm. Energy of Kizomba is more sensual and romantic, not expressive but rather flirtatious. Nowadays, Kizomba is winning the hearts and minds of modern youth. Everyone wants to learn how to dance Kizomba, everyone wants to shine at parties, to be fashionable and modern. There are numerous around the world that include Kizomba as one of their featured dances.