Are there any different styles in Rhumba also???

I was downloading some Rhumba vids and also saw various on youtube.... in all those i observed one thing ..all of them looked very serious, performance oriented and formal with the couples doing lot of solo stuff and making artistic poses, sometimes looking more of gymnasts etc.

Now this is very much unlike the rhumba we learnt in class which (in my opinion) was more laid back and relaxed, more romantic and sensual and the kind which i would love to do after a candle light dinner...or some lazy sunday afternoon etc. I personally find the one we have learnt in Quickstep class much better ..


But my question is: Are there different styles in Rhumba too??

well international latin ballroom competition style rumba will seem and look very very different. and i agree there is little romance left in it. i prefer teaching with a more social view and i teach on the 1 as opposed to rumba traditionally being on 2

also there is the american stlye ballroom rumba. their basic step is a box basic.

and finally there is afro-cuban rumba. totally different to ballroom rumba. nothing similar.

anand

Ashish, Anand: I think a better way of differentiating between 'styles' of rumba – or for that matter that of any dance -- would be into ‘social’ and ‘competitive’. Social, anywhere in the world, is different. Much more relaxed, less emphasise on technique, frame, connection etc. In that sense, competitive dancing tends to be sharper and, yes, performance-oriented. And I think the reason it looks so different is not because it is actually different (bar the execution), but because mostly they work with adaptations of basic figures and timing. If you look sharp, I am sure you will see New York and hand-to-hand and fan and aida and everything else there as well – but they are usually executed with different timings.

Not sure I agree with both of you that there is no romance left in Rumba. On second thoughts, I am not even sure that Rumba is supposed to be 'romantic' as what is normally implied by the term. Okay, people tend to say in public that it is the dance of love. But that’s a polite way of saying that it is the dance of lovemaking. :-) So I would argue it is more sexual than sensual (and, yeah, both can be romantic, though the quality of romance could be open to interpretation). In any case, I think the particular quality we are talking about here is very much in competitive rumba, much more so. Though they are not in closed hold, the connection a good couple will have – body language, expression, etc etc – is lot more than you normally see in social dancing.

Rumba on 1 and 2…. Um, trouble is, unlike salsa where there is an option, mostly social dancers dance on 2 (just as the competitors). Ditto, for cha cha… Worry is, if you are dancing on 1, you will be able to dance with only people who dance on 1 -- and they are far and few. You will face the same problem as Cuban salseros, who, because of their style, find it difficult to dance with cross-body dancers…

hi chindu,

thank you for your valuable post.. .. cheers and welcome to the forum..would you like to take charge of our ballroom section since you are an expert at that ?.. we could do with some valuable posts there..let me know

anand

AnandMajumdar wrote:hi chindu,

thank you for your valuable post.. .. cheers and welcome to the forum..would you like to take charge of our ballroom section since you are an expert at that ?.. we could do with some valuable posts there..let me know

anand

Anand, possibly I will be of better use to the forum as a free agent, without any moderator responsibilities. But thanks for the offer! Good to know you are doing well.

hi chindu,

ok dont worry about moderation.. lets just have some kickass action in the ballroom section. unfortunately have given up ballroom completely many many years ago..

so i think u r the ideal suspect to get it moving

anand

Glad to respond. Will leave you to pick the topic... :-)