StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Salsa Culture and Dances - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper "Salsa Culture and Dances" states that Salsa is a social dance that contains strong elements from Latin American culture particularly from Cuba and Puerto Rico. The salsa movements originated in the Cuban Son, Mambo, Cha cha cha, and several other dance forms along with the salsa music…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.2% of users find it useful
Salsa Culture and Dances
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Salsa Culture and Dances"

The word “Salsa” in Latin America means sauce. Latin Americans are known for their love of spices in their meals. Therefore, salsa just like food is different styles of music and dance patterns put together to produce the beautiful salsa dance. Salsa music is a compendium of different types including guanguancó, son, rumba, mambo, cha-cha-cha- conga, Danzón, the rhythms of Carnival, and plena. Salsa was identified as the great chill pepper sauce that makes up Caribbean music and it designates a movement that is an undeniable music phenomenon (Boggs 190). Over the recent past, various dancing styles have been incorporated into salsa dancing for both men and women including spins, shoulder shimmies, acrobatics, body isolations, leg work, rolls, arm work, body movement, lifts, and even hand styling.

The process of synthesis and creativity is traced to Cuba where the mixing of successive Cuban themes was practiced. Bernada (98) points out the fact that some of the common music styles such as conga, bolero, guaguanco, and even guaracha were all categorized under rumba. Rumba at that time was rhythm and fiesta where various styles of dance including both Columbia and jambu were enjoyed. A similar case is identified with bachata, Cumbancha, and Cumbancha which means a fiesta (Leonardo 123).

Salsa music's main ingredient is Cuban son. The musical structure is made up of piano, trumpets, percussion, contrabass, and backing vocals which are adjusted well with each other to produce salsa music. The salsa fusion and the son transformation into salsa could have been done in the Caribbean quarter of New York City. Several factors played part in the emergence of salsa such as the existence of a community with a large population where the Latin and Caribbean cultures interacted, the marginalization of these communities, and the need for a musical and poetic form of expression for their experiences and express their view regarding the contemporary world (Hutchinson 116). Salsa music emerged and filled the cultural void in a large part of Latin America and the Caribbean in the world of dance music.

In the present times, salsa music has gone global with it being practiced all over the world. Though several changes, it still portrays a great deal of the Latin American culture in the music and dance styles. It has led to various styles being formed in various regions which relate to people in that region, for example, New York style, Los Angeles style, Miami style, and several others. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Salsa dance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1647636-salsa-dance
(Salsa Dance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1647636-salsa-dance.
“Salsa Dance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1647636-salsa-dance.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Salsa Culture and Dances

Cultural Universals

Despite the effects of other cultures to dance, it is possible to identify some societies with specific dances.... These characteristics help in comparing, contrasting, and identifying a culture, making it unique.... Different regions have varying themes that they express in dance even if they have fused the movements with those from another culture.... A clear example is evident from the Puerto Rico region, whereby salsa is the most popular....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Paper

Celia Cruz as a Queen of Salsa

This is attributed to the fact that many of them wanted to assimilate into the prevailing American culture.... The paper "Celia Cruz as a Queen of salsa" discusses that Celia Cruz is well-known all over the world because of her exceptional performances as well as the messages of joy she spread all over the world.... Celia was identified as the 'Queen of salsa,' and remains to be a significant person in Cuban music history.... Cruz encouraged the conservation of marginalized people, as well as, promoting a world Latin American identity, principally utilizing the different syncretic threads of salsa, that originated from Cuban....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Salsa Refers to a Fusion of Informal Dance Styles

The culture surrounding salsa also takes cues from the styles of mambo and rumba.... salsa refers to a fusion of informal dance styles having roots in the Caribbean especially famous in Cuba and Puerto Rico, Latin and North America.... salsa is danced to salsa music.... salsa dance is eventually designed for a world where leg and arm work with mesmerizing body movements give rise to passionate emotions and at the same time tend to be equally romantic....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The origins of modern dance

Modern dance grew into various sub forms such as Postmodern, Contemporary, Expressionist, salsa, Reggaeton, Modern Jive, Hip Hop, Street dance and many more (Dance Tutor, 2009).... Ruth St Denis and Isadora Duncan.... The three ballerinas took to modern dance as a form of protest against the classical ballet dance form that placed heavy emphasis on rigid....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

How to Dance Salsa

According to the study, every region or country has it individual culture and dance is a part of that culture.... Ever region or country has it individual culture and dance is a part of that culture.... Salsa is also a part of the long list of dances available worldwide.... Salsa is also a part of the long list of dances available worldwide.... Salsa, in general, gave the identity and defined the culture of the Latin America particularly The Caribbean....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Latin American Culture Salsa Samba and Tango

Many Latin American dances have African roots, where African slaves brought their music and musical instruments to Latin America.... The music of Latin American dances utilized native dialects and diverse musical instruments, which reflected their diverse origins and resourcefulness.... The Cambridge Companion to Modern Latin American culture.... The narrator of this essay aims to tell about salsa, Samba and Tango.... The history of salsa music and dance is also described in the paper....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

Fundamentals of the Latin Dance

This research paper gives precedence to the political and social meanings exhibited by Latin American and Mexican dances.... The Mexican salsa and rumba dances have common factors that integrate to pass similar messages to the audience.... Rumba promotes the expression and identification of elements derived from Africans that are common in Mexican's culture.... The paper focuses on the different meanings of the dance with a particular focus on the Mexican salsa and rumba....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

What Makes Latin Dance Popular

As earlier mentioned, people use music and dances to express their cultures and belief.... Two, what other forms of dances do people prefer apart from Latin dance?... Latin dances take different forms and names, most of which are danced in pairs (Mikhailov and Rashack 2010).... ccording to Firmat (2008), in the 1930s, a new type of music called the latune was introduced in the American popular culture.... Some of them include salsa, rhumba, tango, calypso, cha-cha, bolero, and limbo just to mention a few....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us