This system caught on eventually to become the basis for International Rumba today but not before it was modified many times again to make it more Westernised such as mixing it with movements from ballet. What is more lamentable is the fact that to distinguish it from American Rumba the description “Cuban System Rumba” became shortened to “Cuban Rumba” such that once again people were dancing a completely westernised and modified version of Son under the name of Rumba but believing they were dancing exactly the same way as the Cubans did since they were dancing “Cuban Rumba” instead of “American Rumba”. This terminology is one of the most confusing aspect of this dance even today as many people continue to believe that Rumba refers to Ballroom Rumba while Cuban Rumba is the version of this that Pierre initiated as opposed to American Rumba, that is, both the terms Rumba and Cuban Rumba have become associated with dances which in its current form have little in common with any of the dances from Cuba least of which the original Rumba dances. In effect what Pierre tried to achieve by his research trips, while certainly being invaluable in creating documentations around pre-revolutionary Cuban dances and being instrumental in shaping the Latin ballroom dances, had in fact the opposite effect he desired in the long term: Instead of bringing Western people closer to the Cuban model, the dance evolved in such a drastic manner that it is hard to see similarities to the Cuban dances from which it was derived and what remains is the description “Cuban” and “Rumba” which distracts from Cuban tradition and culture and the original Rumba complex to the point where people are more oblivious than ever to what it is they are dancing and where the dance comes from.
It is believed that on one occassion Pierre had the chance to witness Guaguancó in Cuba, one of the actual Rumba dances, to which he remarked that the dance is “so super-rhythmic that it is quite beyond the reach of any European dancer”.
