Rumba Dance

What is Rumba?
Today we have danced rumba and its amazing & fun.

The rumba is a slow, sensuous, romantic dance with much flirtation. Many of the basic figures of the dance have a "tease and run" theme in which the lady first flirts with and then rejects her partner. The sexual overtures can be very aggressive. The Rumba spotlights the lady and in particular her rhythmic body action and sexuality. The slow Latin beat, the rhythmic body and hip action, and the steamy tease and run figures result in routines that can be close to X-rated. Unlike the Cha-Cha which effects a happy, carefree, party-time-like dance expression, the rumba effects a more serious and intense expression.







History of the Rumba:

Sometimes called the grandfather of the Latin dances, the Rumba originates from Cuba and it was first seen in the United States around 1920
The word Rumba is a generic term, covering a variety of names (i.e., Son, Danzon, Guagira, Guaracha, Naningo), for a type of West Indian music or dancing. The exact meaning varies from island to island. The word "rumba" comes from the verb "rumbear" which means going to parties, dancing, and having a good time.
There are two sources of the dances: one Spanish and the other African. Although the main growth was in Cuba, there were similar dance developments which took place in other Caribbean islands and in Latin America generally.

• The "rumba influence" came in the 16th century with the black slaves imported from Africa. The native Rumba folk dance is essentially a sex pantomime danced extremely fast with exaggerated hip movements and with a sensually aggressive attitude on the part of the man and a defensive attitude on the part of the woman. The music is played with a staccato beat in keeping with the vigorous expressive movements of the dancers. Accompanying instruments include the maracas, the claves, the marimbola, and the drums.



• As recently as the second world war, the "Son" was the popular dance of middle class Cuba. It is a modified slower and more refined version of the native Rumba. Still slower is the "Danzon", the dance of wealthy Cuban society. Very small steps are taken, with the women producing a very subtle tilting of the hips by alternately bending and straightening the knees.



• Thus The American Rumba is a modified version of the "Son". The first serious attempt to introduce the rumba to the United States was by Lew Quinn and Joan Sawyer in 1913. Then the Ten years later band leader Emil Coleman imported some rumba musicians and a pair of rumba dancers to New York. In 1925 Benito Collada opened the Club El Chico in Greenwich Village and found that New Yorkers did not know what Rumba was all about.

• Rumba music is written in 4/4 time, with four beats to each measure. Two measures of music are required to complete one full basic step. In the music, the heavy beat is the one beat, the first beat of the measure.

• The music tempo is typically 104 to 108 beats per minute.In Rumba, three steps are taken during each measure of music. In other words, three steps are taken to four beats of music. The steps are actually taken on beats 2, 3, and 4 of each measure and knee straightening, weight transfer, and turns are performed on the intervening half beats. No step is actually taken on count 1, but hip movement does occur on count 1. In American style Rumba, the step timing is sometimes counted quick, quick, slow; quick, quick, slow.
  


• Good Rumba music is hard to find from mainstream artists. To really be good, rumba music needs to be highly and correctly accented. These are some examples
  "I'm Not Giving You Up " - Gloria Estefan
  "Traces (of Love) " - Gloria Estefan
  "Falling Into You" - Celine Dion



• Rumba is the spirit and soul of Latin American music and dance. The fascinating rhythms and bodily expressions make the Rumba one of the most popular ballroom dances.