All dancers know Rumba and yet no one knows much about it. Throughout the world, it has been accepted as a preferred style not only to listen to it but to dance to it. The music can be varied in tempo, slow, medium and sometimes fairly fast. Rumba music just to listen to it is famous in Concert halls throughout the world. In dance circles, the more experienced will prefer it to other new coming fad dances that arrive almost daily. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba.
The term ‘rumbo’ connotes ‘route’ in Spanish while the term ‘rumba’ connotes ‘heap pile’. Since there were so many styles, "por ese rumbo" meant "somewhat like that." So all the similar dances acquired the name Rumbo or Rumba, which later, because of its low class, remained Rumba. Meanwhile the dance itself was also changing among the natives, with little influence from the Europeans or the Blacks. And it mostly changed when the mestizos (mixed) began to move to the cities and towns. In a couple of generations the mestizos were the biggest groups in the towns and cities.
The dance moves and some of the simple music styles were imported from the Mexican civilizations of two thousand years ago. Since the early 20th century the term Rumba has been used in different countries to refer to distinct styles of music and dance, most of which are only tangentially related to the original Cuban rumba, if at all. In addition, "rumba" was the primary marketing term for Cuban music in North America, and the biggest goof up was to ignore the original basic and Arthur Murray made his own in a box step. Later Fred Astaire made his own in a box step. There is an alternative basic. Wow.
“Social dancers believe that we could learn to dance Rumba more softly.”
The term ‘rumbo’ connotes ‘route’ in Spanish while the term ‘rumba’ connotes ‘heap pile’. Since there were so many styles, "por ese rumbo" meant "somewhat like that." So all the similar dances acquired the name Rumbo or Rumba, which later, because of its low class, remained Rumba. Meanwhile the dance itself was also changing among the natives, with little influence from the Europeans or the Blacks. And it mostly changed when the mestizos (mixed) began to move to the cities and towns. In a couple of generations the mestizos were the biggest groups in the towns and cities.
"Cruel Summer" by Bananarama (1984)
The dance moves and some of the simple music styles were imported from the Mexican civilizations of two thousand years ago. Since the early 20th century the term Rumba has been used in different countries to refer to distinct styles of music and dance, most of which are only tangentially related to the original Cuban rumba, if at all. In addition, "rumba" was the primary marketing term for Cuban music in North America, and the biggest goof up was to ignore the original basic and Arthur Murray made his own in a box step. Later Fred Astaire made his own in a box step. There is an alternative basic. Wow.
"Social dancers know that much of what was is said and written has not mattered,
and that much of what has mattered has not be said or written.”
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