Rumba (dance)
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Rumba is a dance organically related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. Throughout the history one may trace several styles of dances called "Rumba".
Some dancers considered Rumba the most erotic and sensual Latin dance, for its relatively slow rhythm and the hip movement. Rumba is actually the second slowest Latin dance: the spectrum runs Bolero, Rumba, ChaChaCha, Mambo in order of the speed of the beat.
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[edit] Cuban Rumba
Rumba arose in Havana in the 1890s. As a sexually charged Afro-Cuban dance, Rumba was often suppressed and restricted because it was viewed as dangerous and lewd.
Afro-Cuban rumba is entirely different than ballroom rumba, or the African style of pop music called rumba. Rumba developed in rural Cuba, and is still danced in Havana, Mantanzas and other Cuban cities as well as rural areas, although now it is infused with influences from jazz and hip hop
Its American counterpart derives its movements and music from Sòn, just as salsa and mambo. When Sòn was brought to the United States it was renamed Rumba. It is thought that this occurred due to the name rumba being more exotic and more marketable than Sòn.
Prohibition in the United States caused a flourishing of the relatively tolerated cabaret American Rumba, as American tourists flocked to see crude sainetes (short plays) which featured racial stereotypes and generally, though not always, Rumba.
American Rumba is thought to have contributed to the origin of the cha-cha-cha, and indeed most figures (if not all, somehow) can be reinterpreted in cha-cha-cha.
Traditional belief holds that the Rumba was originally contrived within the Afro-Cuban population in Cuba.
Cuban Rumba can be broken down into three types: guaguanco, columbia, and yambu. Rumba Yambu 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.
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 offguard 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 at 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.
Rumba Columbia is a 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 more recently dancers have incorporated breakdancing and hip hop moves. Women are also beginning to dance Columbia, too.
[edit] Early American Rumba
This kind of Rumba introduced into American dance salons at the beginning of the 20th century, characterized high tempo, nearly twice as fast as the modern ballroom Rumba, typical examples being the tunes The Peanut Vendor and Siboney.
[edit] Ballroom Rumba
American Style Rumba is characterized by the Latin motion (sometimes called Cuban motion or hip sway) arising from a knee being bent, as opposed to the straight leg style used in International.
Additionally, the same move in terms of footwork often goes by a different name in American versus International.
[edit] Steps
[edit] The Basic
The basic move in Rumba is known as a Box Step. It is similar in basic structure to Waltz and other box-step dances in step position, but uses a 4/4 timing versus the 3/4 timing found in Waltz. Assuming an eight count step (two measures of 4/4), steps occur on one, three, four, five, seven, and eight. This leaves a "slow--quick-quick-slow--quick-quick" pattern to the dance in its most basic form.
| Description | Image |
|---|---|
| Step 0, Starting position. Lead (represented in blue) and Follow (represented in pink) face each other, feet closed, roughly squarely in front of each other. |  |
| Step 1. Beginning of movement. Lead steps forward with the left foot while Follow steps backward with the right foot. This begins slightly before the first count in the music, so that the foot comes down on the first count. Dancers hold this position through the second count. This is the first slow in the slow--quick-quick pattern described above. |  |
| Step 2. Lead brings the right foot forward and then to the right, while Follow brings left foot back and to the left. This occurs for the third count. This is the first quick in the slow--quick-quick pattern. |  |
| Step 3. Lead's left foot steps to the right to meet the right foot while Follow's right foot steps left to meet the left foot. This occurs for the fourth count of music. This is the second quick in the slow--quick-quick pattern. |  |
| Step 4. Lead steps backward with the right foot while Follow steps forward with the left foot. This move is basically the reverse of Step 1, and occurs with the fifth count of music in the same manner that Step 1 occurred with the first count. Dancers hold this position through the sixth count of music. This is the first slow in the second part of the slow--quick-quick pattern. |  |
| Step 5. Lead brings the left foot backward and then to the left, while Follow brings right foot forward and to the right. This occurs on the seventh count. This is the first quick in the second part of the slow--quick-quick pattern. |  |
| Step 6. Lead's right foot steps to the left, meeting the left foot, while Follow's right foot steps to the right, meeting the left foot. This occurs on the eighth count of music. This is the second quick in the second part of the slow--quick-quick pattern, and leaves the Dancers in the position in Step 0, to begin again at Step 1 on the next count of music and with the next slow--quick-quick pattern. |  |
The basic is only to provide a framework for the rest of the dance. Mastering the dance requires learning additional steps that fall within this framework.
[edit] American Style
Under arm turn
Open Breaks
Fifth-position Breaks
[edit] International Style
Alemana
New Yorker
Spot Turn
The Fan
The Hockeystick
The Aida
Cucarachas
The Cuban Rocks
La Elenita
The Fencing Line
El Paseo
El Molinito
El Mojito
Manita a Mano
The Liquidizer
Sliding Doors
Rope Spinning
