What is the difference between the Latin Ballroom Dancing?
What is the difference between Salsa, Mambo, Samba, and Cha-Cha? I’m looking to take dancing lessons at Arthur Murray Dance Studio. I’ve never danced any of these type styles and I’m not sure which one would be to my most benefit. Maybe something that is most likely to be used in a club or at a dance. My boyfriend is from Cancun and he can dance very well, and I want to know how to dance so when we go out somewhere I’ll know what I’m doing hahaha
There are two types of dancing – the Latin Ballroom (cha-cha, rumba, samba, jive, paso-doble), you mostly learn these together, or the original and derived dances – Samba de Brasil, Cuban Salsa, LA Salsa, Mambo (Salsa on2).
The understanding of the differences comes with the amount of knowledge you gain.
Depends on what music you wanna dance to.
If you never done any partner dancing or step-based dancing before, I suggest to start with an easy one, which I would consider salsa (level 1 dance). Salsa gives you lots of space to express yourself and it’s better to do, if you’re a confident type of person. Bachata is a good choice as well, little slower, still latin – lots of hip movement.
Other choice could be swing, very energetic, again depends on what you like to dance to, if you enjoy dancing, down the line you can do West Coast Swing, which can be danced pretty much to anything (including RnB, Soul, Alternative Rock, Cha-cha etc), but that’s level 4 dance, so here better start with East Coast or Melange. Rather footwork orientated dancing. More info on this – check the link below.
In general for dancers beginners, these are the best dances: East Coast Swing, Melange (4Count Swing or 4 Count Hustle), Hustle, Bachata, Merengue, Salsa or Chacha.
Have fun whatever you decide to do! 
August 1st, 2010 at 2:19 pm
You don’t pick one or two. You’ll either learn the five Latin dances in the International style (cha cha, samba, rumba, paso doble, and jive) or the five Rhythm dances in the American style (eastern swing, mambo, a different rumba, a slightly different cha cha, and bolero), plus some social dances. They reinforce each other, so learning a bunch is actually easier than learning one or two at a time. There isn’t much difference between salsa and mambo; some would say there’s no difference at all. Chances are good that your boyfriend won’t dance any of the dances you learn at AM, but that’s OK. The thing is to learn to dance, and if you learn well what they teach, you’ll be able to dance with your boyfriend anyway. You could take a trained ballroom dancer who’s never seen bachata, for instance, and she’d be dancing it like she’d done it all her life after about thirty seconds.
References :
August 1st, 2010 at 2:41 pm
There are two types of dancing – the Latin Ballroom (cha-cha, rumba, samba, jive, paso-doble), you mostly learn these together, or the original and derived dances – Samba de Brasil, Cuban Salsa, LA Salsa, Mambo (Salsa on2).
The understanding of the differences comes with the amount of knowledge you gain.
Depends on what music you wanna dance to.
If you never done any partner dancing or step-based dancing before, I suggest to start with an easy one, which I would consider salsa (level 1 dance). Salsa gives you lots of space to express yourself and it’s better to do, if you’re a confident type of person. Bachata is a good choice as well, little slower, still latin – lots of hip movement.
Other choice could be swing, very energetic, again depends on what you like to dance to, if you enjoy dancing, down the line you can do West Coast Swing, which can be danced pretty much to anything (including RnB, Soul, Alternative Rock, Cha-cha etc), but that’s level 4 dance, so here better start with East Coast or Melange. Rather footwork orientated dancing. More info on this – check the link below.
In general for dancers beginners, these are the best dances: East Coast Swing, Melange (4Count Swing or 4 Count Hustle), Hustle, Bachata, Merengue, Salsa or Chacha.
Have fun whatever you decide to do!
References :
http://danceclub.ie/2009/12/dance-classes-east-coast-swing/