Style: Street Dance

Meter: 4/4

Tempo: 117 -130 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: 123 tap 123 tap

Music Style: Relatively quick in 4/4 time

 

 

The dance is performed both in and open position and in closed position depending on the setting and mood of the partners. Similar to merengue dips are not original to the dance and turns are done infrequently. The male leads the female with subtle communication using pushing and pulling on the hands to guide the direction in which to move or to hint on upcoming turns. The female may also provide communication using her left hand to indicate whether she is comfortable or not dancing in a closed position. 

The Dominican style basic dance sequence is a full 8 count moving within a square. Counts 1 through 3 and 5 through 7, when taken, generate a natural hip motion. Counts 4 and 8, consists of a “pop” movement. The "pop" depending on a person’s style is executed lifting or tapping a foot or using stylish footwork while popping the hip to the side opposite of the natural Cuban hip motion.

 

 

Bachata music has a slight accent in rhythm at every fourth count, indicating when the “pop” should happen.

 

Note: The “pop” will always be done in the opposite direction of the last step, while the next step will be taken on the same direction of the pop.

Style: Ballroom

Meter: 3/4

Tempo: 84 - 90 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: 123 123 (strong accent on 1)

Music Style: Slow ballads or instrumental music in 3/4 time.

 

 

Waltz is a smooth progressive dance characterized by long, flowing movements, continuous turns, and rise & fall. Graceful and elegant, Waltz dancers glide around the floor almost effortlessly. At 28-30 measures per minute, the tempo is slow at best, but the expressive quality of the music often invites very powerful and dynamic movement from dancers.

Style: Ballroom

Meter: 4/4

Tempo:120 - 128 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: Quick-Quick-Slow

Music Style: Medium tempo orchestral, sometimes march-like.

 

 

Tango is earthy and dramatic. Although walking movements dominate, Tango walks, having a "stalking" or "sneaking" character, are unlike the walks of other ballroom dances. Movements are sometimes slow and slithery, and other times sharp and stacatto, such as a quick foot flick or a sharp head snap to promenade position. Tango has the same counter clockwise flow of movement around the dance floor, but with a lesser sense of urgency in comparison to the smoother and more continuous ballroom dances. American Style Tango, especially at highly-developed skill levels, makes great use of open and alternate dance positions to further showcase Tango's dramatic nature.

Style: Ballroom

Meter: 3/4

Tempo: 84 - 96 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: 123 123 (strong accent on 1)

Music Style: Slow ballads or instrumental music in 3/4 time.

 

 

Waltz is a smooth progressive dance characterized by long, flowing movements, continuous turns, and rise & fall. Graceful and elegant, Waltz dancers glide around the floor almost effortlessly. The American style is punctuated with lavish open movements, underarm turns, and solo spins. At 28-30 measures per minute, the tempo is slow at best, but the expressive quality of the music often invites very powerful and dynamic movement from dancers.

Style: American Rhythm

Meter: 4/4

Tempo: 112 - 120 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: 2, 3, 4&1, 2, 3, 4&1 (accent on count 1)

Music Style: Medium-tempo Latin music

 

Cha-cha may be either danced to authentic Cuban music, or Latin Pop or Latin Rock. The music for the international ballroom cha-cha-cha is energetic and with a steady beat. The Cuban cha-cha-chá is more sensual and may involve complex polyrhythms.

 

Styles of cha-cha dance may differ in the place of the chasse in the rhythmical structure.The original Cuban and the ballroom cha-cha count "two-three-chachacha".

 

The checked first step is a later development in the International Cha-cha. Because of the action used during the forward step (the one taking only part weight) the basic pattern turns left, whereas in earlier times Cha-cha was danced without rotation of the alignment. Hip actions are allowed to occur at the end of every step. For steps taking a single beat the first half of the beat constitutes the foot movement and the second half is taken up by the hip movement.

Style: Latin

Meter: 4/4

Tempo: 128 - 144 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: Slow-Quick-Quick

Music Style: Medium-tempo Latin music

 

All social dances in Cuba involve a hip-sway over the standing leg and, though this is scarcely noticeable in fast salsa, it is more pronounced in the slow ballroom rumba. In general, steps are kept compact and the dance is danced without any rise and fall. This style is authentic, as is the use of free arms in various figures. The basic figures derive from dance moves observed in Havana in the pre-revolutionary period, and have developed their own life since then. Competition figures are often complex, and this is where competition dance separates from social dance.

Style: Latin

Meter: 2/4

Tempo: 100 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: 1 a21 a2 (accent on downbeat)

Music Style: Medium tempo Brazilian Latin music with strong downbeat.

 

 

The ballroom samba is danced to music in 2/4 or 4/4 time. The basic movements are counted either 1-2 or 1-a-2, and are danced with a slight downward bouncing or dropping action. This action is created through the bending and straightening of the knees, with bending occurring on the beats of 1 and 2, and the straightening occurring on the "a". Samba is notable for its constantly changing rhythms however, with cross-rhythms being a common feature.

Style: Social Swing

Meter: 4/4

Tempo: 136 - 144 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: 1 a2, 1 a2, 1 2 (accent on 2)

Music Style: Fast swing music

 

 

East Coast Swing has a 6 count basic step. This is in contrast to the meter of most swing music, which has a 4 count basic rhythm. In practice, however, the 6-count moves of the east coast swing are often combined with 8-count moves from the Lindy hop, Charleston, and Balboa.

Depending on the region and instructor, the basic step of single-step East Coast Swing is either "rock step, step, step" or "step, step, rock step". In both cases, the rock step always starts on the downbeat.

For "step, step, rock step", the rock step occurs on beats 5 and 6, but the overall progression remains the same.

The normal steps can be substituted with a triple step or double step "step-tap" or "kick-step" instead of a single step. This is commonly used during songs when a slower tempo makes the single step difficult (an example progression would be "rock step, triple step, triple step").

Style: International Latin

Meter: 2/4

Tempo: 120 - 124 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: March (one step per beat)

Music Style: Dramatic Latin "Bullfight" music;

 

 

Paso Doble, like Samba, is a progressive International Latin dance. The Paso Doble is the Latin dance most resembling the International Standard style, in that forward steps are taken with the heel lead, the frame is wider and more strictly kept up, and there is significantly different and less hip movement.

A significant number of Paso Doble songs are variants of España Cañi. The song has breaks in fixed positions in the song (two breaks at syllabus levels, three breaks and a longer song at Open levels). Traditionally Paso Doble routines are choreographed to match these breaks, as well as the musical phrases. Accordingly, most other ballroom Paso Doble tunes are written with similar breaks (those without are simply avoided in most competitions).

 

Style: American Rhythm

Meter: 4/4

Tempo: 96 - 104 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: Slow-Quick-Quick

Music Style: Slow Latin Ballad

 

 

In the dance style known as American Rhythm, bolero is also one of the five main competition dances. The first step is typically taken on the first

beat, held during the second beat with two more steps falling on beats three and four. In competitive dance the music is in 4/4 time and will range between 96 to 104 bpm.

 

This dance is quite different from the other American Rhythm dances in that it requires Rise and fall such as found in waltz and contra body movement characteristic of tango. Popular music for this dance style need not be latin in origin.

 

 

Style: American Rhythm or Social

Meter: 4/4

Tempo: 188 - 204 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: 2 3 4 (1), 2 3 4 (1)

Music Style: Up-tempo Latin music

 

 

The Mambo dance that was invented by Perez Prado and was popular in the 1940s and 50s Cuba, Mexico City, New York and right around the US and Latin America is completely different to the modern dance that New Yorkers now call 'Mambo' or 'breaking on 2'. The original and pure form of the mambo dance contains no breaking steps at all, whether on 1 or 2. To see the real mambo dance, have a look at the dance scene in 'The Motorcycle Diaries'. This form of dance matched mambo music very well.

 

The modern dance from New York they call 'Mambo' or dancing 'on 2' whilst a very attractive dance is not Mambo. This dance was popularized in the 70s by Eddie Torres and his contemporaries who were 1st or 2nd generation Puerto Rican immigrants. This dance they called 'Mambo' (for lack of another name) has nothing to do with the original form of the dance. The Eddie Torres dance is not danced to Mambo music, for which it is poorly suited, but instead to Salsa music or some forms of early Son music.

Style: Social / Nightclub Latin

Meter: 4/4

Tempo: 160 - 220 beats per minute

Basic Rhythm: Quick-Quick-Slow

Music Style: Up-tempo Latin music

 

 

Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms, line dancing (suelta), and Rueda de Casino where groups of couples exchange partners in a circle. Salsa can be improvised or performed with a set routine.

 

Salsa is the Spanish word for 'sauce' denoting a spicy hot flavour. As a dance it can be danced to a variety of different rhythms. Generically Salsa music encompasses many Afro-Latin rhythms driven by the clave (2 wooden sticks struck together). Today's Salsa is the result of many years of rhythmical evloution due to economical, social and political change. Salsa is the national music and dance of Puerto Rico. Many of the Salsa dance patterns are closely related to those of Mambo.

In 1933 Cuban songwriter Ignacio Piniero wrote the song 'Echale Salsita' (throw on some sauce) after tasting food which lacked the Cuban spices. But it wasn't uintil 1962 when Jimmy Sabater's tune 'Salsa y Bembe' suggested the dancers liven it up or spice it up by adding a bit of Salsa (sauce) to their movement when they danced.

Danced to four beats using only three steps, each step being a beat long, the remaining beat is used as a tag to the last step or perhaps an adorning (tap, kick, or pause) movement called a highlight. Steps can be travelling or on the spot.