Cha Cha Dance Classes

The Cha Cha, those famous onomatopoeic words that represent so much fun in the dance world. The dance is of Cuban origin, and like so much dance from Cuba, it all started with the music. A brilliant musician, Enrique Jorrin, invented the 4/4 rhythm with syncopation on the fourth beat and the infamous dance was not far behind. Monsieur Pierre visited Cuba in 1952 to study Cuban dance and was surprised by this unique dance that starts on the second beat instead of the first and splits the fourth beat. He could not resist it and brought the concept back to Europe and ballroom Cha Cha Cha was born.

It is one of several dance forms from Cuba that followed the same beat pattern of starting on the second beat the most famous of which is the bolero-son, or rumba. Cha Cha is a very versatile dance. It can be danced to several different kinds of music such as Cuban music, Latin pop and Latin rock. International ballroom styles have a steady beat, but Cuban traditional dance may involve polyrhythms and more sensual social elements. The signature shuffle of the dance is called the cha cha cha chasse. In essence the feet do chase one another in a three step sequence over the space of two counts of the music. These counts are four and one.

Hip movement is essential most forms of Cuban dance and Latin dance on the whole. Cha Cha is no different. Each step in this dance is followed by hip action. The hips move because the knees are kept bent to allow for broad hip movement. The hips naturally settle in the direction of the leg taking the weight and thus hip movement is quite natural.

International Latin styles call for the weight bearing leg to be straight until it no longer bears the weight. International Latin makes this dance a major part of the ballroom competitions.

Competitions in Cha Cha happen all over the world at many levels. It is the versatility of the dance that makes it so popular. It is also very fun to dance. There is some evolution of the standard especially with competition choreography influence. But the traditional style is still alive and well in the world. Dance schools offer dance classes in this Latin basic dance. Dance studios always keep this dance in their curriculum because it is always in high demand.