HISTORY OF LATIN-AMERICAN DANCING
Don Herbison-Evans
don@linus.socs.uts.edu.au
Technical
Report 323
Basser Department of Computer Science
University of Sydney
(revised 24 January 1999)
ABSTRACT
This article traces the history of the International Dancesport championship
"Latin & American" Dances: Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha Cha, and Jive.
INTRODUCTION
The 5 dances:
Samba
,
Rumba ,
Paso Doble
,
Cha Cha , and
Jive
, are danced the world over both socially and in DanceSportcompetitions.
The dances are for couples, usually each consisting of a man and a lady.
The holds vary from figure to figure in these dances, sometimes in closed
ballroom hold, sometimes with the partners holding each other with only
one hand. The figures in these dances are
standardised
and categorised into various levels for teaching, with internationally
agreed vocabularies, techniques, rhythms and tempos. But it was not always
so. These "Latin & American" dances have some diverse origins.
The
Romance
languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese and Rumanian) derived from the
ancient
Latin language, define a culture that has spread over a substantial
part of the Americas. Three dances from this area plus one from Spain/France
and one from the U.S.A. constitute the set of dances now internationally
standardised as the "Latin-American" dances. Note that the term "Latin-American"
here is an abbreviation of "Latin and American" rather than a reference
to the geographic area of "Latin America" (Lavelle, 1975, 1).
The three dances from Latin
America evolved as a fusion of Indigenous, European and Negro forms. The
European conquerors
imported
Negro slaves from various parts of West Africa into a large part of
the Americas at an early stage, mainly because of the difficulty the Europeans
had in persuading the Indigenes to work for them. The Negro slaves were
imported in such number that by 1553, they outnumbered the Europeans in
Mexico, and the Viceroy,
Luis
de Velasco, urged
Charles
V of Spain to prohibit further influx (Sadie, 1980, 10/522).
Dancing played a substantial
part in all three component cultures: European, Negro and Indigenous. In
1569, the Viceroy of Mexico ordered the
Aztec
Calendar Stone to be buried because the main recreation of the Negroes
had become dancing around it. Subsequently, Velasco decreed that dancing
be confined to Sundays and feast days only, and then only in the afternoons
between the hours of noon and 6 p.m. (Sadie, 1980, 10/522).
Through the 17th and 18th
centuries, a gradual fusion of the three cultures occurred to produce a
new culture: Creole. As European dances were imported into Latin America,
they were adopted and "creolized" (Sadie, 1980, 10/529). In Cuba,
the
Contradance became the Contradanza Habanera (i.e., from Havanna) with
the adoption of a syncopated rhythm (Sadie, 1980, 5/86)
This became the
"Danzon".
Later, as the music became more syncopated with the inclusion of bars.
It became abbreviated to the
"Son".
This rhythm had been used as early as 1795 in Brazil in a Modinha
(love song) which had become popular in Europe at the turn of the 19th
Century (Behague, 1979, 92). Complex syncopated rhythms are a feature now
of all the Latin-American dances.
SAMBA
The Portuguese imported many
slaves from Angola and Congo into Brazil in the 16th century, who in turn
brought their dances such as the Catarete, the
Embolada
and the
Batuque (Raffe,
1964, 313). These dances were considered sinful by the Europeans as they
involved the touching of navels (Sadie, 1980, 10/47). The Embolada is about
a cow with balls on its horns for safety, and became a term meaning "foolish"
(Michaelis, 1955, 281). The Batuque became so popular that
Manuel
I passed a law forbidding it (Raffe, 1964,60). It was described as
a circle dance with steps like the Charleston done to hand clapping and
percussion, and with a solo couple performing in the centre of the circle
(Raffe, 1964, 60).
A composite dance evolved
in the 1830's combining the plait figures from these Negro dances and the
body rolls and sways of the indigenous
Lundu
(Behague, 1979,93). Later, carnival steps were added like the Copacabana
(named after a
popular
beach near Rio de Janeiro). Gradually members of the high society in
Rio embraced it, although they modified it to be done in closed ballroom
dancing position (which they knew was the only correct way to dance anything)
(Ellfeldt, 1974,77). The dance was then called the Zemba Queca, and was
described in 1885 as "a graceful Brazilian dance" (Burchfield, 1976, III/1466).
This was later called the "Mesemba".
The origin of the name "Samba" is unclear: perhaps it is a corruption of
Semba, although another suggestion is that is derived from "Zambo" which
means the offspring of a Negro man and a native woman (Taylor, 1958,648).
The dance was later combined
with the
Maxixe (Raffe,
1964,438). This was also originally Brazilian: a round dance described
as like a Two Step (Burchfield, 1976, II/865), and named after the
prickly
fruit of a Cactus. The
Maxixe
was introduced into the U.S.A. at the turn of the 20th century (Stetson
1956,30).
The Maxixe became popular
in Europe after a demonstration in Paris in 1905. It was described as having
the steps of the Polka done to the music of the Cuban Habanera (Chicago,
1985, 7/968). The present day Samba still contains a step called the Maxixe,
consisting of a chasse and point (Romain, 1982,19).
A form of the Samba called
the Carioca
(meaning:
from Rio de Janeiro) was revived in U.K. in 1934. It was popularised
by
Fred
Astaire and
Ginger
Rogers in their first film together:
"Flying
Down to Rio" (Shipman, 1979, 23). The Carioca spread to the U.S.A.
in 1938 (Raffe, 1964,438). In 1941, its popularity was boosted by performances
by Carmen Miranda (Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha) in her films, particularly
"That Night in Rio" (Cawkwell, 1972, 189).
The Samba was further popularized
in the 1950's by Princess Margaret, who played a leading role in British
society (Rust, 1969, 103). The Samba was formalised for international propagation
by Pierre Lavelle in 1956 (Lavelle, 1975, 69).
The dance in its current
international form still has figures with with very different rhythms,
betraying the heterogeneous origins of the dance, e.g. the Boto Fogo is
danced to a "1 & a 2" quarter beat rhythm, whereas the Natural Rolls
are danced to the simpler "1 2 &" half beat rhythm. It still retains
a hip movement on the half beats between steps (the "samba tic"), a flat
carriage of the torso, and is danced with the weight forward, substantially
on the big toes.
RUMBA
This had its origin with the
African Negro slaves imported into Cuba, whose dances emphasized the movements
of the body rather than the feet. The complex cross rhythms were considered
more important than the tune, being provided by a percussion of pots, spoons,
bottles, etc. (Raffe, 1964, 431).
It evolved in Havanna in
the 19th century by combination with the European Contradanza (Sadie, 1980,
5/86). The name "Rumba" possibly derives from the term "rumboso orquestra"
which was used for a dance band in 1807 (Sadie, 1980, 5/88), although in
Spanish, the word "rumbo" means "route", "rumba" means "heap pile", and
"rhum" is of course an intoxicating liquor popular in the Caribbean (Smith,
1971, 502), any of which might have been used descriptively when the dance
was being formed. The name has also been claimed to be derived from the
Spanish word for "Carousel" (Morris, 1969, 1134).
The rural form of the Rumba
in Cuba was described as a pantomime of barnyard animals, and was an exhibition
rather than a participation dance (Ellfeldt, 1974, 59). The maintenance
of steady level shoulders while dancing was possibly derived from the way
the slaves moved while carring heavy burdens (Rust, 1969, 105). The step
called the "Cucaracha" was stomping on cockroaches. The "Spot Turn" was
walking around the rim of a cartwheel (Rust, 1969, 105). The popular Rumba
tune "La Paloma" was known in Cuba in 1866 (Sadie, 1980, 10/530).
The Rumba was introduced
into the U.S.A. in the 1930's as a composite of this rural Rumba with
the Guaracha, the Cuban Bolero (unrelated to the Spanish Bolero) and the
Son (Ellfeldt, 1974, 59).
The British dance teacher
Pierre Lavelle visited Havanna in 1947 and discovered that the Rumba was
danced with the break step on beat 2 of the bar, rather than on beat 1
as in the American Rumba. He brought this back to Britain, together with
the names of the many steps he learned from Pepe Rivera in Havanna. These
together with dancing the break on beat 2 rather than beat 1, have become
part of the standard International Cuban Rumba. (Lavelle, 1975, 1).
With only a transfer of
weight from one foot to the other on beat 1 of each bar, and the absence
of an actual step on this beat, the dance has developed a very sensual
character. Beat 1 is the strongest beat of the music, but all that moves
on that beat are the hips, so the music emphasises the dancing of the hips.
This together with the slow tempo of the music (116 beats/minute) makes
the dance very romantic. Steps are actually taken on beats 2, 3, and 4.
Knee straightening, weight tranfer, and turns are performed on the intervening
half beats. Again, as in the Samba, the weight is kept forward, with forward
steps taken on the toe, and the torso movement kept very flat.
PASO DOBLE
The name "Paso Doble" in Spanish
means "Two Step" (Smith, 1971, 416), and may be distinguished from "Paso
a Dos" which means "Dance for two". It refers to the marching nature of
the steps, which may be counted "1,2" for "Left, Right".
This may be contrasted with
its description as the "Spanish One Step", so called because only one step
is taken to each beat of music (Burchfield, 1976, III / 293).
The Paso Doble was one of
many Spanish folk dances associated with various facets of Spanish life.
In particular, the Paso Doble is based on the Bullfight. It portrays the
Torero and his cape, and is danced to the characteristic march music used
for procession at the beginning of a corrida. Bullfights date back to ancient
Crete, but only in the 1700s were they held in Spain (Pitkin, 1996,30).
The dance itself became popular amongst the upper classes of Paris in the
1930's, and acquired a set of French names for many of the steps (Lavelle,
1975, 77).
The dance has still only
limited popularity amongst English speaking society. The only places in
Sydney where it is played regularly at social dances are the Italian and
other European clubs.
The competition version
of the Paso Doble is danced with a high chest, the shoulders wide and down,
and with the head kept back but inclined slightly forward and down, ("keep
watching that bull" urged my latin teacher). The weight is forward, but
most forward steps have heel leads. Often it is choregraphed to the tune
"Espana Cani" (the Spanish Gypsy Dance), which has three crescendos in
the music. These highlights are usually matched in the choreography by
dramatic poses, adding to the spectacular nature of the dance.
CHA CHA
When the English dance teacher
Pierre Lavelle visited Cuba in 1952, he realised that sometimes the Rumba
was danced with extra beats. When he returned to Britain, he started teaching
these steps as a separate dance (Lavelle, 1975, 2).
The name could have been
derived from the Spanish "Chacha" meaning "nursemaid", or "chachar" meaning
"to chew coca leaves" (Smith, 1971, 161), or from "char" meaning "tea"
(Taylor, 1958, 150), or most likely from the fast and cheerful Cuban dance:
the Guaracha (Ellfeldt, 1974,59). This dance has been popular in Europe
from before the turn of the century. For example it is listed on the program
of the Finishing Assembly in 1898 of Dancie Neill at Coupar Angus in Scotland
(Hood, 1980, 102).
It has also been suggested
that the name Cha Cha is derived onomatipeically from the sound of the
feet in the chasse which is included in many of the steps (Sadie, 1980,
5/86). This would account for it being called the "Cha Cha Cha" by some
people, after the rhythm:
whereas others call it the "Cha Cha" after the rhythm:
These differ only as to which beat of the musical bar is stressed by the
dancing: beat 4 in the first case, beat 1 in the second (Rust, 1969, 105).
In 1954, the dance was described
as a "Mambo with a guiro rhythm" (Burchfield, 1976, I/473). A guiro is
a musical instrument consisting of a dried gourd rubbed by a serrated stick
(Burchfield, 1976, I/1318).
The Mambo was originally
a Haitian dance introduced to the West in 1948 by Prado (Burchfield, 1976,
II/809). The word "Mambo" is the name of a voodoo priestess in the religion
brought by the Negroes from Africa (Ellfeldt, 1974, 86). Thus the Cha Cha
Cha had its origins in the religious ritual dances of West Africa. There
are three forms of Mambo: single, double, and triple. The triple has five
(!) steps to a bar, and this is the version that evolved into the Cha Cha
Cha (Rust, 1969, 105) (Sadie, 1980, 100).
The "Cha Cha" is danced
currently at about 120 beats per minute. The steps are taken on the beats,
with a strong hip movement as the knee straightens on the half beats in
between. The weight is kept well forward, with forward steps taken on the
toes, and the torso movement is kept flat. The chasse on 4&1 is used
to emphasise the step on beat 1, which held a moment longer than the other
steps to match the emphasis of the beat in the music.
JIVE
This dance originated with the
Negroes in the South East of U.S.A., where it had an affinity with the
war dances of the Seminole Indians in Florida. One reference suggests that
the Negroes copied it from the Indians (Benton, 1963, 4/17). Another suggests
that the Negroes brought the dance from Africa, and the Indians copied
it (Evans, 1975, 41). The latter is more likely, as the word "Jive" is
probably derived from "Jev" meaning "to talk disparagingly" in the West
African Wolof language (Sadie, 1980, 9/652). The word "Jive" also has a
similar meaning in Negro slang : "misleading talk, exaggerations" (Wentworth,
1975, 293), although this could have been derived from a modification of
the English word "jibe" (Burchfield, 1976,426). The word has several other
slang meanings : "gaudy merchandise", "marijuana", and "sexual intercourse".
It is unclear whether any of these meanings predated the use of the term
for the dance, and hence which is a metaphor for which (Wentworth, 1975,
293).
In the 1880's, the dance
was performed competitively amongst the Negroes in the South, and the prize
was frequently a cake, so the dance became known as the
Cake
Wwalk (Compton, 1963, 4/17). It often consisted of two parts performed
alternately : a solemn procession of couples, and an energetic display
dance, all done in finest clothes. The associated music became known as
Ragtime,
possibly because the participants dressed up in their best "rags" or clothes,
or possibly because the music was syncopated and "ragged" (Buckman, 1978,
160). The music and dances subsequently became popular amongst the Negroes
in Chicago and New York (Javana, 1984, 34).
This exuberant dancing and
music amongst the Negroes contrasted with the limited and dour dancing
of the upper white classes of the U.S.A. and U.K. in the wake of Prince
Albert's death in 1861 (Rust, 1969, 78). With the death of Queen Victoria
in 1901, society perhaps felt more free to engage in more and energetic
dancing, and a series of simple dances based on those of the Negroes become
popular in white society e.g.: the Yankee Tangle, the Texas Rag, the Fanny
Bump, the Funky Butt, the Squat, the Itch, the Grind and the Mooche (Buckman,
1978, 167). Many had animal names, betraying perhaps a rural and pantomimic
origin : Lame Duck, Horse Trot, Grizzly Bear, Crab Step, Eagle Rock, Buzzard
Lope, Turkey Trot, Kangaroo Dip, Fishwalk and Bunny Hug. The current Jive
still has a Bunny Hug as one of the standard steps. The dances were all
done to Ragtime music, with stress on beats 2 and 4, and syncopated rhythms.
They all used the same elements: couples doing a walk, rock, swoop, bounce
or sway. The closed position was considered by many to be indecent, and
sometimes the lady wore "bumpers" to preclude body contact (Rust, 1969,83).
An interesting change occured
around 1910, when the individual dances were brought together, and the
dancers encouraged to do these in an arbitrary order. It made every male
dancer into an instant choreographer. The change was described as a change
of interest from steps to rhythm (Rust, 1969, 84). It coincided with the
publication of Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1910, which
rapidly became a worldwide hit.
As Ragtime evolved into
Swing
through the 1920's, new dances became popular. The
Foxtrot
was invented by Harry Fox for a stage show in New York in 1913 (Compton,
1963, 4/17).
The Charleston
was said to have originated in the Cape Verde Islands (Raffe, 1964, 60).
It evolved into a round dance done by Negro dock workers in the
port
of Charleston (Rust, 1969, 89), and became popular in white society
after inclusion in the stage show "Running Wild" in 1923 by the Ziegfield
Follies, which toured U.S.A. (Rust, 1969, 89). It subsequently became so
popular worldwide that many sedate ballrooms put up notices saying simply
"PCQ" , standing for "Please Charleston Quietly" (Rust, 1969, 89).
The Black Bottom (the name of
a
suburb of Detroit) became popular after inclusion in the stage show:
George White's "Scandals" in 1926 (Sadie, 1980, 2/769).
The Foxtrot, Charleston and Black Bottom, and the various animal steps
combined to form the
Lindy Hop
in 1927 (Sadie, 1980, 11/5). It was named after
Charles
Lindbergh who made the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight that
year, because of the amount of time the dancers appeared to spend in the
air (Javana, 1984, 34). In 1934, the dance at the
Savoy
in Harlem was described by
Cab
Calloway as "like the frenzy of jittering bugs", so it soon became
known as the
Jitterbug
(Burchfield, 1976, II/425).
The current version called the Jive has basic steps composed of a fast
syncopated chasse (side, close, side) to the left followed by another to
the right (right then left for the lady) followed by a slower break back
and replace forward. The hips are moved half a beat after each of the steps,
and the weight is kept well forward with all steps being taken on the toes.
In the chasses, by keeping the leading foot high on the ball of the foot,
and the trailing foot fairly flat, an optical illusion is created called
the "moonwalk", which gives dancer an attractive weightless appearance.
In its beginnings, in 1927, the dance became equated with youth (Javana,
1984, 34). Older adults disapproved of it and tried to ban it from dance
halls by the rationalisation that because Jive was non-progressive, it
disturbed the other dancers who were progressing anti-clockwise around
the dance floor (Rust, 1969, 98).
The association between youth and this dance has continued through its
subsequent metamorphoses as Swing
,
Boogie-Woogie
, Be-Bop ,
Rock & Roll
, Twist ,
Disco
,
Hustle
and
Ceroc. Young adults have always
been inclined to feel alienated by insecurity from parental criticism,
and inadequacy from lacks in understanding and coordination. From time
to time throughout history, they have obtained emotional satisfaction by
identifying with peers in a cult of dancing. Of the various responses possible
to alienation: illness, crime, rebellion and cult, a dancing cult is the
most benign (Rust, 1969. 170).
As always, dance is involved in the deepest emotional responses of our
personalities, and hence with the foundations of society.
REFERENCES
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