Hitting the Dance Floor 101-Know your genres

By Notorious MLE -

When you go out dancing in Colombia or at “Salsa/Tropical” dance nights in other countries you’ll be encountering several different types of music. Here's a short overview of the most common. Each title links to a youtube video with an example!

Salsa –Duh!

Merengue-From the Dominican Republic and the easiest dance in the world.

Bachata –Also from the Dominican Republic and usually slower/romantic. It’s very popular in the US right now and I’ve noticed that gentleman like to use it as an excuse to snuggle up.

Cha-Cha-Older people tend to cha-cha more than younger but it’s always nice to have this in your arsenal.

Rumba-Not as common, but so very beautiful. The rumbas are slow songs and it is especially sweet to see older couples swaying with the ease that only comes with years together.

Reggaton-The easiest way to describe it is to say it’s a mash-up of hip-hop and latin beats.

Cumbia-Traditional Cumbia is very different than the kind of Cumbias you hear in the clubs and danced very differently as well. A great example of a cumbia you would hear in a club is "La vida es un carinval" by Celia Cruz. A good example of traditional Cumbia is La Pollera Colorada.

Vallenato-This genre features the accordion and is crazy popular on the Caribbean coast.

That was a lot of videos for today! Come back tomorrow for our first dance lesson!

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