Our Dance

By John Cooper, Honokai Hale:

We are all pretty well aware of the classic social dances. Waltz, Foxtrot, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha, Samba, Tango etc. We all know which ones are the most socially acceptable, the top ten more or less. And what has made them so? Of course, the dance must have lasting appeal but not many dancers are aware of the "basic" step.

"Truth will ultimately prevail where there are
pains taken to bring it to light."

Just Dreaming

For most the basic step has determined whether it is accepted by the "trendy young" as well as the experience social dancer. The basic step is to start the dance and to get the partners in sync. Then going into other steps and patterns and constantly moving from and returning to the basic. Once both partners know where home base is they never get lost and enjoy it to the last note.

"Contigo A La Distancia" by Christina Aguilera

The music of these classics has led to understanding how to count the dance. How many beats each count gets and being able to express in your movements the music played. This has always been one of the first and most important element to get. Good Mambo music will get you on the right beat easy.

Since the turn of the last century there have been over 100 good fad dances introduced to the social dancers. Many were just passing fancies and many had good basics but either the music or the hype was not there. The best fad dance we have ever had has been Salsa. Good basic, terrific music, plenty of hype and plenty of teaching organizations on the bandwagon.

"The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise" by Les Paul and Mary Ford.

Reggeaton came in briefly to take over the Salsa spot but quickly receded. Bachata  is doing very well and Zouk, Kizomba and Zumbia are still around. Not much there but there are more coming. Mambo making a big comeback in the Latin Countries with well defined music to back them up.