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Dances - history and background

Cuban salsa

Salsa means sauce and so the dancers should depict a very hot and spicy interaction with each other - it is a dance of courtship.

Salsa is still relatively new compared to other Latin American dances such as the cha-cha-cha or the samba, and as such is still in the process of evolving.

Salsa dance was a response to a variety of new instruments, like the bongos and the cow-bell, that were introduced to Cuba in the early 20th century.

The overall look of the Cuban salsa should be sensuous and fluid, with the dancers moving around each other and the floor in circular movements.

Cuban salsa should be danced on the ball of the foot and the steps should be kept small at all times.

Drops and lifts are permitted - but Cuban salsa is all about looking after the lady so these moves should be delicate and subtle.

Rock 'n' roll

Rockabilly is an interpretation of the music and should have a real 'let go' or loose feeling.

It is high energy and should be rammed full of tricks, spins, lifts and drops.

The rockabilly originally evolved from the jitterbug, and was first danced in America and Europe in the Fifties.

Its roots can be traced to the Cuban Latin rhythms known as habanera.

Its popularity grew and grew as the fledgling rock 'n' roll stars such as Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis replaced the old swing music on the radio and in nightclubs.

Unlike the jive, rockabilly is normally danced on a flat foot, almost on the heel.

A strong leading man can lead his lady to perform a new trick without prior practice.

The hustle

Most disco dances have strong roots in swing and Latin, and the hustle is no different.

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Disco itself is believed to have originated in New York in 1970, and it very quickly went through many different incarnations - there were line dances for groups of people, solo movements and partnership dances.

It was these partner dances that later became known as hustle and there were many of them including Latin, Spanish and swing Hustle and, by far the most famous, New York hustle.

The addition of free spins for both dancers gave rise to the hustle dazzle, which still retains its mesmerizing look in today's hustle dance world.

Twirls are a must and we should see a lot of moving in and out of each others arms - it is a fast, smooth dance, with the lady spinning almost constantly.

Classic disco

Disco is such a common word today but actually has its roots in several more established dance crazes and music, like swing dances and big bands, as well as Latin dances like the merengue.

The first disco club was the Peppermint Lounge in Paris, which opened in the Fifties.

In 1968 disco was still an underground scene. Cuban dancers in Florida were dancing a form of swing to synthesized music which created a continuous beat that could be mixed from one song to another.

By 1970, couples started doing what was initially tagged disco swing. Then, in 1975, Van McCoy released his famous track and the dance became known as the hustle.

In 1978 John Travolta starred in the movie Saturday Night Fever and the disco scene exploded.

In June of the same year, London sponsors held the first ever World Disco Dance Championships.

Classic Sevenites disco is fun, lively and energetic and should be danced to fast-paced music.

Couples should dance with great synchronisation and symmetry. As most of the routines are danced apart (either side by side, or in front of each other) it is vital that the dancers are in time and harmony with each other.

Argentine tango

Referred to as The History of Love in Three Minutes, the Argentine tango is about the man's control and the woman's seductiveness - it is the most passionate dance that a couple can perform.

The Argentine tango originated in Buenos Aires at the turn of the last century.

Traditional European dances were mixed with the habanera, a popular dance from Cuba, to form a new style, the milonga.

In turn, the milonga mixed with a dance that was performed in the streets by small-time crooks or 'compadritos' and the tango was born.

The tango began to blossom in the brothels - the men would have to dance several tangos with a woman as a prelude to further activities.

By 1913 the tango had become a worldwide phenomenon, but had undergone further adaptation in order to clean it up.

This was the birth of the more acceptable ballroom tango.

The man controls the woman in several different ways, at times even using his feet to move her feet into the correct position.

It is much smoother and more intimate than the ballroom tango, with the couple's upper bodies close together and lower bodies apart.

Quite often the lady will rest her head on the man's chest, or their faces will be very nearly touching.

Most of the activity happens from the waist down - and is characterised by kicks and flicks.

There should be salacious interlacing of legs and bodies. The dance should also feature lots of leans and plenty of lunges.

Lambada

Lambada was originally known as the forbidden dance. The word lambada refers to both the rhythm of the music (a fusion of carimb贸 and merengue) and to the dance itself, which incorporates elements of other Latin dances such as the forr贸, the samba and the maxixe.

As is often the case, the dance came about as a result of the music. In the Seventies a new type of music originated in Northern Brazil - it was mix of salsa, merengue and reggae music.

The new sound soon formed a new way of moving and the lambada was born.

This new dance soon spread south, and was noticed by some French music producers. They were really taken by the sound and produced Kaoma's 1989 number one hit Lambada.

The dance is fluid, with most of the work going on waist up. We should see lots of winding hip movements, turns and plenty of spins.

In fact, the word lambada is an obscure Brazilian Portuguese word, and refers to the wave like motion induced in a whip.

This flowing wave motion is reproduced by the dancer's body, and is one of the main elements that distinguishes lambada from other Latin dances.

Top lambada dancers can get their heads virtually to the floor. The lady should perform on the balls of her feet with a twisting motion so that their steps become more of a grind (as if stubbing out a cigarette).

There should be lots of drops, but partners must remain close.

Jitterbug

A good jitterbug should transport you back to the Forties. It derived from the lindyhop but was cleaned up by a white dancer called Arthur Murray into a version that was more acceptable for the white college teenagers.

Even so, these white youngsters adopted the dance to rebel against their parents. These young rebels became known as the jitterbugs and were the punk rockers of their generation.

But the jitterbug's transition to acceptable dance wasn't over. It's popularity was huge, and very soon dancehalls couldn't accommodate all the wild kicks and arm movements.

The answer was to make the jitterbug a 'slotted' dance which means it appears more controlled and gentler. The man is always at the centre of the woman's 'slot' or her line of dance. The woman is directed by, and dances around, the man.

There should be a more obvious lead and follow in the jitterbug than in the lindyhop. It can look a little awkward, with lots of flicks of the arms, head and hair and twitches of the shoulder.

It is also danced in a more upright stance. The hold in the jitterbug is about counterbalancing your partner, not leaning into each other like the lindyhop.

Lindyhop

The lindy is an extremely energetic, fast, happy dance.

It is a partner dance that originated in Twenties Harlem - although it has its roots in the charleston.

It is a mix of all the charleston-based, early swing dances that now have lindy moves named after them - the Texas tommy, tandem charleston and break away are three of the most famous.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh was attempting the first ever solo flight from New York to Paris and people were absorbed with his 'hop' across the Atlantic.

A dancer by the name of George 'Shorty' Snowden was at the end of a long dance marathon when a reporter watching asked what this crazy new dance was called. "The Lindy Hop", George answered, and the name stuck.

It is the granddaddy of all swing dances - jitterbug, balboa, shag, west coast swing. Even rock 'n' roll, boogie woogie and disco owe their existence to the lindyhop.

A good lindy should look fluid, energetic and sophisticated. It has to swing and look effortless but is often wild and frantic with loads of kicks, jumps, lifts, hops and spins.

It can be danced as fast as the couple are able to go, but equally can be danced in a slow and sexy way. It is an incredibly versatile style.

Couples bend over in quite an attacking stance, they really lean into one another. This enables them to build up the speed that then becomes essential for the numerous lifts or 'aerials'.

The lindyhop is also defined by good breakaway choreography and side by side variations that see the couples dance the same synchronised steps next to each other.

Mambo

Mambo is originally an Afro-Cuban musical form, but the big band style mambo sound that is associated with the dance today was developed in New York.

Mambo originated as a street dance in Cuba where there were substantial settlements of Haitians and 'Mambos' - a voodoo priestess who serves Haitian villagers as a healer, adviser and organiser of entertainment.

The explosion in the dance's popularity is attributed to Perez Prado. He introduced brass sections and drums, and in the early Fifties his mambos Patricia and Mambo No 5 took Latin America and the United States by storm.

By the mid-Fifties mambo mania had reached fever pitch. In New York the mambo was played in a high-strung, sophisticated way that had the Palladium Ballroom, the famous Broadway dance-hall, jumping.

Simply put, mambo is an Americanised version of the salsa, and often called New York style salsa.

It is a dance in which the man and woman challenge each other for control, strength and dominance.

Like the other Latin dances, the mambo is characterised by 'Cuban motion' - the recognised term for authentic Latin hip action.

There should be lots of fast footwork and each step should be performed on the ball of the foot. It is a linear dance - the couple dance forward and backward rather than around in circles. We should see lots of aerial lifts and stunning drops.

Shag

The shag is a swing dance dating from the early Thirties. The forerunners of all the swing dances, namely the charleston and particularly the lesser known collegiate, are responsible for the existence of the shag.

This new form of the collegiate first appeared as a side dance that the black lindyhoppers performed in the Savoy ballroom during the early Thirties.

Like other swing dances this was then picked up by white kids, cleaned up, and turned into what became known as the Carolina shag in the Forties.

It experienced a revival during the early Nineties when its dancing cousin, the balboa, became popular once again.

The shag basic step is one of the most comfortable, and smooth, partnering steps in swing dance. It is all about footwork and a good bounce should be evident.

It is distinguished by its hold - couples hold each other so that their upper bodies are incredibly close, sometimes even dancing cheek to cheek. However, from the waist down their bodies are further apart.

It is a dance that can have a variety of styles and looks depending on who is performing. It can also be full of mirror moves - complex moves involving both partners doing the same thing as if in a mirror.