May Looking Good

We are headed for lively month in May. Maypole anyone? There is the famous Cinco De Mayo Fiesta on the fifth. Wahiawa Ballroom Dance Club will have their 50th Anniversary Dance at Helemano Plantation on May 11th. Then the oldest dance club on Oahu, the Aiea Ballroom Dance Association will have their 64th Anniversary Dance at the famous Palladium. And the other goodies in our social scene will be available in all of Oahu.

"Social dancers know that the more they dance, the more

they would want to dance. That is dance’s nature."

The Cha Cha Cha is still very popular with the social dancers on Oahu. It is destined to be used in the entire century. There have been many good reasons for Cha Cha Cha since the beginning. It was danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953. It was almost immediately accepted in Mexico City. And by the end of the fifties the Cha Cha Cha was being danced in Europe and Asia.

 

"Ay Morena" by Miami Latin

 

 

But generally this rhythm was developed from the Mambo by a syncopation of the fourth beat. And it began to be used in the slower Mambos using the chassé instead of the slow step. This new dance was accented on the second beat and had a split fourth beat, To dance it one broke (rock step) on the second beat, not the first. Back on the rock step on three and then the chassé on the 4 and 1. Later in the US, when the music was accented on the one, you broke on the one. Simple?

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than
sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."