As most of you know, we’ve kicked off Latin month here at Dance FX Studios, gearing up for our Spring Fiesta Latin Dance Party on Saturday, April 23rd, 2016. Tickets are only $25 per person, and with dozens of eager dancers, it will be a great opportunity to practice all of your Salsa, Bachata and Merengue dance moves! But have you ever stopped to wonder — how did we get here? Why are there all of these different Latin dance styles? Who came up with all of this? Well if so, you’re not alone. As with many things, we can learn so much by breaking down the roots of Latin dancing.

Humans have been dancing since the beginning of recorded history. No other form of self-expression or art has been around longer. In primitive times, dancing accompanied ancient rituals, spiritual ceremonies, and social gatherings. While the oldest piece of dance evidence dates back over 9,000 years, the period when dancing first became widespread can be traced to around 2000 BCE. The Egyptians often used music and dancing to convey messages and share history. This continued to evolve through time, until the next large expansion – the Renaissance.

During the Renaissance, music evolved dramatically, and with it, so did dancing. It wasn’t until this time that many European countries began to even document dancing, so our history and understanding is slightly limited. Dance styles began to come and go with each changing era, and as Europe stepped into the 1800s, societies became less conservative. Women began wearing less restrictive clothing, and dancing became more energetic with the inclusion of skipping and hopping. Shortly thereafter, around 1844, began the “international polka craze”, which led to the creation of the waltz.

While no single country can exclusively claim the credit for creating Salsa dancing, due to its widespread range of influences, the pieces started coming together in Cuba. Our first piece of the puzzle stems from Western Africa, where people danced to primarily drums and claves. It was known as the rhumba, although it looks nothing like our present-day idea of rumba. The second piece of the puzzle comes from England; specifically English country dance. It spread to France as “contredanse”, and then to Spain as “contradanza”. By the time it reached Cuba in the 1700s, it was “danza”. As danza grew and evolved in Cuba, it became known as “danzón”. By combining the traditional Cuban music with the African rhythms that were brought to the Caribbean via the slave trade, the Cuban “són” was born. Since African slaves were converted to Christianity upon arrival in Cuba, they continued to dance their traditional rhumba and preserved their religion by creating code words to refer to their own Gods. Elements of the rhumba were integrated into the evolving són.

During the roaring twenties, radio waves finally reached parts of the Caribbean, and due to prohibition, more Americans were traveling to Cuba to partake in their adult beverages. Swing and jazz music were incredibly popular in the states, and Cubans became infatuated with the brass sound, quickly incorporating it into their own music. In the 1930s, brothers Orestes and Israel “Cachao” Lopez were performing a danzón piece with a few other musicians when suddenly Orestes busted out into a completely improvised piano solo that dazzled everyone – even the other unsuspecting band members! They later titled the piece, “Mambo”. The word mambo in Bantu (a language of West Africa) means ‘conversation with the Gods’.

By 1943, Pérez Prado, who was actually good friends with Orestes Lopez, began to call his own brand of music “mambo”. He debuted this new sound, along with a brand new dance style which he also coined as mambo, at La Tropicana nightclub in Havana, Cuba. More upbeat than Cuban music, it featured the same claves, maracas and bass, but it began leaning heavily on piano and brass instrumentation, due to the jazz influences of American nightlife. It was here that he became known as the “King of Mambo”. As times became harder, many Cubans emigrated to Miami and New York, bringing with them this new sensation.

Mambo reached it’s peak in the 1950s, as dance studios, resort hotels, and nightclubs offered lessons to the public. This watered-down version of the dance removed the technical and sometimes dangerous acrobatics, and focused more on incorporating moves people already knew. As the music continued to evolve and accompany more brass instrumentation, salsa began to come alive.

The 1960s saw rise to artists such as Tito Puentes (the “king of mambo”) and Celia Cruz (the “queen of salsa”). The first record label to truly market a music genre of “salsa” was Fania Records, known by many as “the Motown of salsa”. They allowed young musicians to explore a new sound combining the tropical music of Cuba, with big band jazz and American R&B. As this sound matured in the 1970s, we saw the rise of merengue, hip hop, disco, and even the hustle! As these new dance styles intertwined with the mambo, something new was born. It was much more partner-focused, and was danced in a closed frame. We know this dance as the salsa.

In the United States, there are three styles of salsa that we find. Miami-style, which closely resembles Cuban salsa, most likely due to its geographical location. Cuban style is much more rounded, bent knees, and it’s actually not a slot dance (so no crossbody leads!). New York-style salsa, which was strongly influenced by swing and jazz music, and naturally features more swing stylization, as well as hip hop and funk elements. And finally, we have the LA-style, which is typically more flashy with extra spins, acrobatics, and belly dancing components. If you are a Dancing with the Stars fan, what you’re seeing most of them perform is the L.A. style.

Just as the name “salsa” connotes, it’s a mixture of many ingredients, all of them very different from each other. But when you chop each one up into pieces and put them together, it creates something deliciously spicy. You too can discover Salsa dancing with beginners Latin dance lessons from us at Dance FX Studios in the Phoenix East Valley. We’d be privileged to share the opportunity of our love for dancing with you!