Rumba (dance)

Rumba is a dance organically related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. Throuhgout the history one may trace several styles of dances called "Rumba".

Some dancers considered rumba the most erotic and sensual Latin dance, for its relatively slow rhythm and the hip movement. Rumba is actually the second slowest Latin dance: the spectrum runs Bolero, Rumba, ChaChaCha, Mambo in order of the speed of the beat.

Cuban rumba

Rumba arose in Havana in the 1890s. As a sexually-charged Afro-Cuban dance, rumba was often suppressed and restricted because it was viewed as dangerous and lewd.

Later, Prohibition in the United States caused a flourishing of the relatively-tolerated cabaret rumba, as American tourists flocked to see crude sainetes (short plays) which featured racial stereotypes and generally, though not always, rumba.

Rumba is thought to have contributed to the origin of the cha-cha-cha, and indeed most figures (if not all, somehow) can be reinterpreted in cha-cha-cha.

Early American rumba

This kind of rumba introduced into American dance salons at the beginning of the 20th century, characterized high tempo, nearly twice as fast as the modern ballroom rumba, typical examples being the The Peanut Ventor and Siboney tunes.

Steps

Ballroom rumba

American Style Rumba is characterized by the Latin motion (hip sway) arising from a knee being bent, as opposed to the straight leg style used in International.

International style

Steps

American style

Steps