Rhumba

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Ballroom rumba
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Rhumba, also known as ballroom rumba, is a genre of ballroom music and dance that appeared in the East Coast of the United States during the 1930s. It combined American big band music with Afro-Cuban rhythms, primarily the son cubano, but also conga and rumba. Although taking its name from the latter, ballroom rumba differs completely from Cuban rumba in both its music and its dance. Hence, authors prefer the Americanized spelling of the word (rhumba) to distinguish between them.[1][2][3]

Music

Rhumba rhythm.[4]
Rhumba

Although the term rhumba began to be used by American record companies to label all kinds of

El manisero" (The Peanut Vendor) in New York City.[5] This single, released four months later by Victor, became a hit, becoming the first Latin song to sell 1 million copies in the United States.[6][7] The song, composed by Moisés Simons, is a son-pregón arranged, in this case, for Azpiazú's big band featuring three saxophones, two cornets, banjo, guitar, piano, violin, bass, and trap drums.[8] With vocals by Antonio Machín and a trumpet solo (the first one in the recorded history of Cuban music) by Remberto Lara, the recording, arranged by saxophonist Alfredo Brito, attempted to adapt the Cuban son to the style of ballroom music prevalent at the time in the East Coast.[6]

Soon, Azpiazú's style was followed by other Cuban artists such as

boleros and canciones such as "Amapola" and "Siboney".[10] This music movement, which also included many American big bands that covered Latin standards, was dubbed the rhumba craze. Notable bandleaders of the rhumba craze include Xavier Cugat, Jimmy Dorsey, Nathaniel Shilkret, Leo Reisman and Enric Madriguera.[6] Rhumba was also incorporated into classical music, as exemplified by symphonic pieces by composers such as George Gershwin, Harl McDonald and Morton Gould.[3]

The kind of rhumba introduced into dance salons in America and Europe in the 1930s was characterized by variable tempo, sometimes nearly twice as fast as the modern ballroom rumba, which was developed as a dance in the 1940s and 1950s, when the original music movement had died down. Nonetheless, the rhumba craze would be the first of three Latin music crazes in the first half of the 20th century, together with the

cha-cha-cha
craze.

Dance

American style rhumba box figure
Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood has dance steps in the sidewalks on Broadway Ave. This one shows Rumba steps.

Two variations of rhumba with opposing step patterns are danced around the world. American style rumba was imported to America by band directors like Emil Coleman and Don Aspiazú between 1913 and 1935. The film Rumba, released in 1935, brought the style to the attention of the general public. American style rhumba is taught in a box step, known for its slow-quick-quick pattern danced on the 1, 3, and 4 beats of 4-beat music. International style rhumba was developed in Europe by Monsieur Pierre after he compared the established American style with contemporary Cuban dancers. International style is taught in a quick-quick-slow pattern danced on the 2, 3, and 4 beats of 4 beat music, similar in step and motion to the cha-cha-cha.[11] Both styles were canonized in 1955.

International style

Rhumba is one of the

son; the international style was derived from studies of dance in Cuba in the pre-revolutionary period.[12]

The modern international style of dancing the rumba derives from studies made by dance teacher Monsieur Pierre (Pierre Zurcher-Margolle), who partnered Doris Lavelle.[13][14] Pierre, then from London, visited Cuba in 1947, 1951, and 1953 to find out how and what Cubans were dancing at the time.[15]

The international ballroom rumba is a slower dance of about 120 beats per minute which corresponds, both in music and in dance, to what the Cubans of an older generation called the bolero-son. It is easy to see why, for ease of reference and for marketing, rhumba is a better name, however inaccurate; it is the same kind of reason that led later on to the use of

salsa as an overall term for popular music of Cuban origin.[citation needed
]

All social dances in Cuba involve a hip-sway over the standing leg and, though this is scarcely noticeable in fast salsa, it is more pronounced in the slow ballroom rumba.

revolutionary period, and have developed their own life since then. Competition figures are often complex, and this is where competition dance separates from social dance. Details can be obtained from the syllabuses of dance teaching organizations and from standard texts.[12][18][19]

American style

There is also a variant, commonly danced in the United States, with box-like basic figures.

See also

References

  1. .
  2. .
  3. ^ .
  4. .
  5. ^ Daniel (2009). p. 156.
  6. ^ .
  7. ^ Giro, Radamés (2007). Diccionario enciclopédico de la música en Cuba, Vol. 4. Havana, Cuba: Letras Cubanas. p. 147.
  8. ^ "The Peanut Vendor (Victor matrix BVE-62152)". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  9. .
  10. ^ Díaz Ayala, Cristóbal (Fall 2013). "Lecuona Cuban Boys" (PDF). Encyclopedic Discography of Cuban Music 1925-1960. Florida International University Libraries. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  11. ^ Daniel (2009). p. 164.
  12. ^ a b Lavelle, Doris (1983). Latin & American dances. 3rd ed. London, UK: Black.
  13. last name
    was Lavelle.
  14. ^ Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing 2004. 100 years of nce: a history of the ISTD Examinations Board. London. p. 62
  15. ^ Lavelle (1983). The introduction tells the story of Pierre's visits to Cuba, but with inaccurate dates.
  16. ^ Laird, Walter (2003). The Laird Technique of Latin Dancing. International Dance Publications Ltd. p .9, puts it like this (after taking a step to side): "Transfer full weight to this foot allowing the pelvis to move sideways and back so that the weight is felt to be near the heel of the standing foot. The knee of the supporting leg is locked back." This description incidentally illustrates the difficulty of describing body movements in print.
  17. ^ bronze and silver medals of dance teaching organizations. (Medal examinations (dance))
  18. ^ Laird, Walter (2003). The Laird Technique of Latin Dancing. International Dance Publications Ltd.
  19. ^ McMains, Juliet E. (2006). Glamour addiction: inside the American ballroom dance industry.