Need help with latin music/dancing, you are our last chance!

C

ChrisMike

New Member
Since we vacationed in several latin countries we have learned to enjoy that up beat tempo, happy go latin music. I think it is in our blood now!
Early this year we decided to learn to dance and to learn the music and what goeas with what. Our Plan-- we bought Latin CD's, lots of Merengues, Rhumbas, Salsa, Cha Cha Cha's, Bachatas, Mambos, you name it we got it, every country you can think of, we got it. We have tried to learn the basic music so we could recognize it easie later, like on the dance floor. Well, what we have now is massive confusion! so many diffrent sounds, I get a headache just thinking about it. Then we decided to visit several Latin Clubs and we got even more confused, everybody was doing their own thing. Then I decided to order some dance tapes, Salza, Cha Cha, Rhumba and still looking for Morengue. Well, this idea backfired like an old car. Stay with me on this one! All we wanted to do was to learn couple of dances and learn to recognize some basic sounds that we could dance to. What dance goes with what music? Basic sounds!
Basic dance!

We are not ready to quit, can someone advise us on our next step.


Chris
 
Hi ChrisMike. Welcome to the DF! Listening to the music is a great start. What dance classes are you taking now? Or is it just videos you're watching right now?
 
Hi Chris, and welcome!

Gosh, I couldn't imagine trying to learn which dance goes to what by listening to music and watching videos or going to clubs. Particularly when you're in clubs, there are so many different styles going on that even someone with a lot of dance experience has to look hard and long to figure out what some couples are doing (or trying to do).

I think there's nothing that beats good old fashioned lessons. You need a real live teacher showing you the dances. What may be initially confusing is that the count on many of the dances is similar--Quick Quick Slow--only changing by tempo, direction, and which beat you step on.

The good news is that many of the Latin dances are closely related, so that if you work on one, you can transfer what you know to another, or maybe pick up a different one more easily. One good mix to start with might be this:

1. Rumba
2. Salsa (LA style)
3. Cha Cha
4. Merengue

From there, you can branch out into other forms. Just change the beat where you step in salsa, and you lay the foundation for mambo. Or by doing the cha cha and leaving out the chachacha step. The rumba helps your full range of Latin motion and gives you a relatively slow dance, the cha cha helps develop speed and precision, and the merengue just lets you cut loose! Alternatively you may want to learn bachata instead of merengue but what you do in the other three would make bachata really easy to pick up.

What you might consider doing is picking up some introductory group classes in all these dances, and then approaching an individual teacher about private lessons to get things moving. It may be that a private teacher will have other ideas about what dances you can learn. Any you will find that learning the dances in a studio is a little different from practicing them in a club.

The advantage of learning in a studio, however, is that you can learn a number of dances at once, you'll get clear foundations on the basics, and good technical principles that you can translate when you go out into the wider world.

One other thing--samba is a really neat dance, which I've found quite useful. It's not quite like the others in count, so that may be worthwhile as another substitute for merengue. Ultimately what you want to do is dance them all--so do what you like and have fun.

Best of luck,

Genesius
 
Genesius Redux said:
You need a real live teacher showing you the dances.
Click to expand...

GR is right, ChrisMike. That was my reason for asking "what dance class are you taking?". There really is no better way to learn than with a "live" teacher. :D Have you chosen one in your area?
 
peachexploration said:
Genesius Redux said:
You need a real live teacher showing you the dances.
Click to expand...

GR is right, ChrisMike.
Click to expand...
And I third that. Going straight to clubs is like getting thrown into the deep end of latin dancing. As for learning dances from videos, we have a thread on this subject -- see Can you learn from a video?
I'd definitely recommend getting some lessons first and picking up basic moves of just one dance or two. If the latin dance scene in your area is anything like mine, the two good dances to start with are salsa and merengue. Often you can learn both at the same place.

Your approach of collecting and listening to the music first, though perhaps unorthodox, is not a bad idea at all. Listening to the music a lot really helps with your sense of latin rythms. It may be overwhelming at first, but after a while it will become much easier. It also heps if you take dance lessons at the same time so that you can start moving to the music as you listen.
 
Welcome to df ChrisMike. For music I would suggest that you do something like pick Elvis Crespo's "Suavemente" for merengue, "salsa Fresca - Hits of the 90's" for salsa, for bachata something average like "bachatahits203/2002". You don't need tons of music. Some dances can be learnt by observation and imitation and some not. I think that bachata and merengue can be done that way as that's what I did. Cha cha and salsa are a little more difficult so dance classes are a better approach for those.
Or, anyway, that's my opinion.
 
I agree with GR: if you take classes learning will go much faster.

Try out salsa and merengue for the beginning (it is easier to get a feel for them and they are most popular in clubs. Look around for dance studios and try signing up for a salsa/merengue group course (group classes usually meet once a week for four weeks and each such course usually costs around 50 bucks).
The course would introduce you to the basics with no confusion. After you get the basics, the tapes you got would be of more use!

Some info: mambo and salsa are very similar (sometimes the same!). they have basically same music, sometimes little different count: in mambo you are supposed to make a step on beat 2 and "skip" 1, in salsa often you step on one and "skip" 4. I think of mambo as a competitive version of salsa: there are more rules and more technique, but it is same thing.
Merengue is a dance very easy to count, easy to learn and easy to improvise.

Cha-cha and rumba were derived from mambo, so mambo, salsa, cha-cha and rumba have similarities, but each of these dances has a different feel to it: the slow count in mambo or salsa (the one that you "skip") is replaced with a triple step in cha-cha. Cha-cha is more difficult to learn than salsa because the triple step is fast and requires some of practice to learn to execute correctly (close your feet). It is also a competitive dance.

Samba is very different from all of the above (one of rare dances that is not derived from mambo:-)). If samba movements are done incorrectly it looks either boring or vulgar, so I don't recommend you to learn it as your first dance. Also, because it is more difficult it is less common in clubs.
 
Kitty said:
Samba is very different from all of the above (one of rare dances that is not derived from mambo:-)). If samba movements are done incorrectly it looks either boring or vulgar, so I don't recommend you to learn it as your first dance. Also, because it is more difficult it is less common in clubs.
Click to expand...

Nevertheless, a turning basic in samba can save your life when assassins are shooting at you. See the James Bond thriller Thunderball for details. For that reason it should be the first dance you learn! :wink:
 
Totally agree with everyone else on the Classes.

You need to know at least a basic step in each before you will understand the music.
I cant just say to to you that Cha Cha Cha is danced as , "2,3 ChaCha Cha" because you have no idea of how fast or slow those steps need to be.
Id suggest starting off with Rumba.....it does lay a lot of basic foundations for you like GR said.

And just listening to the music in itself is complex if its not properly explained to you. I had quite a long and frustrating conversation with a teacher over the Cha Cha music! I couldnt quite come to grips with the fact that its a 4 count bar but you dance 5 steps :lol: :lol:
If its the music you want to understand, then you will need to understand these music counts.
It takes a lot of time and practice to find the beats.
(
I swear I can still hear a distinct cha cha cha in Julie Londons version of Sway!)



Genesius Redux said:
Kitty said:
Samba is very different from all of the above (one of rare dances that is not derived from mambo:-)). If samba movements are done incorrectly it looks either boring or vulgar, so I don't recommend you to learn it as your first dance. Also, because it is more difficult it is less common in clubs.
Click to expand...

Nevertheless, a turning basic in samba can save your life when assassins are shooting at you. See the James Bond thriller Thunderball for details. For that reason it should be the first dance you learn! :wink:
Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
GR you make me laugh so much! :D


Although I agree with Kitty....Samba is a really tricky dance to learn, while I know the (absolute) basics I still refuse to dance it socially with someone I dont know, I lose the timing, cant get the "bounce" because Im worried about time..., then I forget the steps miss the leads...a big snowball really :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I think it would be quite comical to watch myself!
 
Hiya ChrisMike, and welcome to the DF! :D

Aside from everything already said, check out Adwiz's site, www.dancesportmusic.com/

Since you'll be able to listen to cha chas, rumbas, and sambas -- and *know* that that's what you're listening to for each one -- I'd think that might be very helpful.

HTH and good luck!
 
Thanks for all your replies. Your replies will help us foucus on 1 or 2 items, I think we were trying to do to much, as a result of that we got lost. We are not dancers, but we do have the best moves sitting in the chairs! Well, we are now determined to change that.

Most dance lessons in respect to latin music are in Chicago on weekdays,
we are 70+ miles NW of Chicago. So, we bought some tapes and are trying dance lessons that way. Some of these tapes......I will tel you.....
hm...... I think we were looking for basic music and basic steps to expand on. I even called a Latin radio station in Miami trying to get them to help.
I wish that someone had a CD with JUST all types of Merengues, Cha Chas, Salsa, etc., I think it would help us.

Chris
 
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