Why no latins in latin?

[kayak]

So we were watching the PBS America's Ballroom Challenge series this evening and got to wondering why all the Latin competitors seem to be from eastern Europe/Russian descent? The names didn't sound like anyone came from the Latin countries. If I combined the letters of all three of my names, it wouldn't even match the length of most of their first names

 

[reb]

It might help to define Latin (a dead Indo-European language?).

 

[Musique]

great that you raised this point.

there are several youtube clips of top class dancesport tango and samba that attracted lots of comments likes "you call this tango/samba?", "nice dancing, but it's not tango/samba".
as a result, someone named his clip of dancesport tango as "European Tango", which i found to be very accurate a description.

dancesport tango or samba or even rumba chacha is not how those dances are danced in their places of origin. so few latins in latin is no surprise. but it does bother me a little, when i think of the name "European tango/samba". it feels like i'm learning something not authentic, fake,... you know what i mean, i hope.

 

[Laura]

I know of a guy from Nicaragua, a woman from Cuba, and two guys from Columbia who compete/have competed in dancesport-style Latin. But yeah, Latin-American people in dancesport-style Latin dancing seem few and far between.

 

[DancingJools]

You're right, but current competitive-style ballroom dancing is a highly stylized form of dance that only traces its roots to "Latin" or "Ballroom" as the terms are used in the social sense. So yes, Brazilian Samba and Cuban Cha Cha are now only remotely similar to dancesport forms of the same name. Becaue of the rigorous training involved, many of the top names in the field come from backgrounds that encourage such training at a young age, primarily Eastern Europe, Italy, and a few other European countries. Numerically speaking, there are a lot of competitive dancers from Japan, and China is making rapid inroads. Being "latin" nowadays doesn't have much to do with success in the International style of Latin.
The same can be said about the Standard dances, not just Tango, but Waltz and Foxtrot also. The competitive style is only remotely similar to a wedding dance. In all these styles, it doesn't matter any more where the dance or the dancers came from.
I wouldn't call it "fake". It's just different.

 

[tangotime]

The reason ?-- simple , when you look at what the non latino community has done to "their" dances and rhythms, they dont even recognise it any more !!. Spend some time in authentic latin clubs , and you will readily see ( and hear ) why they so dislike the " ballroom " scene .

As I have stated in the past, when the english teachers imported the latin rhythms to the " colonies ", what did they do ?-- change everything to suit their needs ! - ( can someone tell me, why oh why , would you change Bolero ? ) . We know all the musical reasons that are given, going from danzon ( 2/4 ) to 4/4 time, for e.g. , but that does not hold water .The smouldering version of Bolero, for me, bares no comparison .

We also know that times, and music, bring about change, but that is not an exscuse to depart so far from original concepts , that the dances , morph into a different animal .

 

[Peaches]

but it does bother me a little, when i think of the name "European tango/samba". it feels like i'm learning something not authentic, fake,... you know what i mean, i hope.

Well, of course it's "European tango" or "European samba." Generally speaking, I see very very few links between the original AT, and ballroom tango. Or Brazilian samba and ballroom samba.

It's not that you're learning something fake (and yes, i know what you mean)...it's that you're learning a completely different dance. No biggie. It's not that one is real, and the other is inauthentic. It's that there is Tango, and Ballroom Tango (if you're AT centered)...or there's Argentine Tango and Tango (if you're ballroom centered). Just different animals that happen to share a name...

Just my $.02.

 

[White Chacha]

American Rhythm rumba/chacha/swing/mambo, at least, used to be closer to their respective ancestors. But now at least the first three are becoming indistinguishable from the corresponding International dances.

 

[Sagitta]

Because it is ballroom which is a different animal from street latin. ;-) Very different. Very very very very different.

 

[Me]

Because it's not Latin - It's Dancesport.

If for some unforeseen reason Argentine Tango were officially folded into International Latin, no self-respecting Argentine would show his/her face. You would, however, find a plentitude of dancers painting themselves brown, snapping, posing, and snarling at one another. (What? Am I wrong?)

 

[madmaximus]

But, but, ... wasn't the ORIGINAL Latin country ROME?
Last I heard that was still in Europe, right?





(Okay, sorry, just feeling frisky today--crazy day).




m

 

[K_8ie]

American Rhythm rumba/chacha/swing/mambo, at least, used to be closer to their respective ancestors. But now at least the first three are becoming indistinguishable from the corresponding International dances.

I beg to differ

 

[tangotime]

Just curious-- when did rome become a country ?-- did I miss the memo ?

 

[tangotime]

K

Which part of the statement do you disagree with ?

 

[Genesius Redux]

So we were watching the PBS America's Ballroom Challenge series this evening and got to wondering why all the Latin competitors seem to be from eastern Europe/Russian descent? The names didn't sound like anyone came from the Latin countries. If I combined the letters of all three of my names, it wouldn't even match the length of most of their first names

Because now that the Russkies have given up on communism, they are reentering the decadent ballroom community in great numbers. Most people in Latin America, on the other hand, are idealistic enough that they still believe in freedom.