Conga (Part 1)

A conga is a barrel shaped hand drum that originated in Africa but was developed in Cuba. It is believed to have been derived partially from the Makuta drums used in Congo although it is likely that various drums influenced the development of congas. The name conga is also used to describe a rhythm, various music groups, a type of music as well as a dance but it is mostly used when referring to the instrument.

Conga drums appeared in Cuba in the 18th century where they were first referred to as tumbadora, a name that is still often used today. Since they were heavily used in conga groups playing conga music, these drums eventually became associated with the term conga even though they were used in other genres as well such as Rumba.

Today, congas are widely used in various musical genres internationally such as salsa, merengue, rock, jazz, etc. While it was originally customary to play one conga at a time, it is now common to see conga players with a set of drums playing on multiple congas. Moreover, it is an ideal drum to be played in a group and can often be seen as part of drum circles. A percussionist playing congas is usually referred to as a conguero and they may choose to play these drums while seated or standing.

The description conga is used to describe drums of different sizes. While the terminology applied to each size may differ even in Cuba, generally speaking the following classification applies:

• Supertumba (confusingly this is sometimes also called tumba or salidor by some sources like the terminology given to the second category. Other than that it is also known as super tumbadora): Diameter – 31.8cm to 35.5cm
• Tumba (aka tumbadora, salidor): Diameter – 30.5cm to 31.8cm
• Conga (aka segundo, segunda, tres dos, tres golpes, tres, rebajador): Diameter 29.2cm to 30.5cm
• Quinto (aka primero): Diameter around 28 cm
• Requinto (aka super quinto): Diameter around 24.8 cm
• Ricardo (aka niño): Diameter around 22.9 cm

The supertumba is therefore the drum with the largest diameter producing more resonance than the other drums as well as creating the deepest sound. As the diameter sizes decrease from suptertumba to ricardo, the sound that is produced becomes higher such that a ricardo drum produces the highest sound. Out of the above types of congas it is rare to see drums used in practice outside of the three primary types which are tumba, conga and quinto.

Danzón (Part 1)

Danzón is the name of a Cuban dance which evolved from Contradanza towards the second half of the 19th century. This dance was developed from the French Contredanse which itself is a derivative of the English Country Dance. The term Danzón is also used to describe a Cuban musical genre which is defined by its elegant characteristics using no singers or improvisations and using a clearly defined structure and similar instruments although there is some variation comparing earlier versions with later versions of Danzón. The most well known Danzón song is Almendra by Abelardo Validez.

Danzón is one of the main influences of Son Cubano both in terms of dance as well as music which in turn influenced Salsa music and Casino. While influencing modern Cuban music and culture indirectly through genres like Son, Cha-Cha-Chá, Pachanga and Mambo many contemporary Cuban artists have also been directly inspired by Danzón and have incorporated some of its elements into their work. It is therefore a very important genre for any Casino dancer to get used to as it is one of the key historical genres that have influenced the salsa music and dance of today.

While the predecessor to Danzón in Cuba was called Danza which significantly influenced Son Cubano, the word Danzón is not a portmanteau of Danza and Son contrary to a common misconception regarding its etymology. Rather, the word Danzón is an amplification of the word Danza which is believed to reflect the fact that Danzones are usually longer in duration than Danzas.

Danzón is a a couple dance being slower than its predecessor Danza containing more Afro-Cuban elements. That being said, it lost some of its African elements as it became a symbol of Cuba after it gained independence and became “whitened” by the upper-class white elites who wanted to make the dance more socially acceptable. Thus a dance that was first viewed as utterly scandalous where races mixed easily was changed over time to become immensely popular by Cuba’s white population and at some points almost exclusively danced by the white upper class. An article in La Voz de Cuba published in November 1879 clearly shows the initial attitude towards this dance by the following statement: “Because I love my country, it hurts me to see danzón at gatherings of decent people. But if there is no way around it, if this blindness continues, then I beg of you, at least don’t play danzón and don’t dance it, when foreigners are around”.

Rueda Hand Signs (Part 30) Setenta Y Cinco

Setenta Y Cinco is one of the four Setenta moves taught at level 3 of the Tiempo España Dance Academy Syllabus. Like all Setenta moves taught in our dance school it starts with a Mini Setenta and ends with an Enchufla Ronde. The key element, however, that makes this move different from other Setenta variations is that at the end of the Mini Setenta, leaders will go to the right hand side of the follower keeping all hands connected. This puts both dancers in a nice position where they are joined together using both hands but without being too restricted and still being able to look at each other. In this position the couple turns clockwise for one 8-count continuing to look at each other before the leader turns out of this position underneath their own right hand.

While this move is not particularly difficult to learn, it looks and feels nice to both followers and leaders. The key element described above, that is introduced in this move, is included in various more difficult variations so it is a good feature to get used to. While social dancing many people may repeat this feature various times due to the fact that it is easy enough to achieve and looks and feels nice as well as giving leaders the time to think about their next moves although it is recommended not to exaggerate the turn as multiple repetitions will quickly become monotonous and less enjoyable for everyone unless they are at least varied by the use of alardes, creative footwork etc.

The move name “Setenta Y Cinco” has no special meaning and is simply a number given to this move to distinguish it from others. I.e. while the move can be translated as 75, the meaning is more like saying “the fifth variation of Setenta”. It is in essence one of the many moves in Cuban salsa where no clever name was invented initially so it simply became known by this number to differentiate it from other moves. That being said, many dance schools and Rueda groups have categorised their own variations of Setenta as Setenta Y Cinco so this move name has become very ambiguous in terms of what is meant by it in the dance community internationally.

The name of the move consists of the hand sign for Setenta, followed by the hand sign of Cinco which is simply the palm-side of the hand being displayed to the Rueda such that the amount of fingers shown signal the number five.

Winter Holidays

It is once again the time of the year where we close down Tiempo España Dance Academy for a few weeks to recharge our batteries and come back with new energy in the new year.

It has truly been a fantastic year for our dance school and we are very proud of how far both our teachers and our students have come. We enjoyed every minute of teaching our students and are particularly impressed with the Rueda quality especially in our higher level classes which has far surpassed most Ruedas we have taken part in before opening our dance school.

It is particularly nice to see how much our dance community has grown and how many friendships have been formed in our classes with many people meeting up multiple times a week.

It has not always been easy making sure that there are no disruptions to our classes and our teachers deserve a special thank you for all the hard work they have put in again this year to make sure that everyone could get a good class. Thanks to all their efforts and dedication we hardly had to cancel any classes again even when multiple people were sick or on holidays.

As usual, we will use the time we are away wisely to review and practice a lot of new material that we will teach in the coming year and given how advanced many of our students have become we are very excited to try out even more complex variations in 2019.

Our last class of the year will be in Leeds on Wednesday 12th of December and our first class next year will be in Selby on Monday 14th January at the usual times. We may not answer queries, emails etc. at the same speed we usually do while we are away but we will endeavour to get back to everyone as soon as possible.

We hope you all have a great winter break and wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year when the time comes and we are already looking forward to dancing with everyone again when we are back in January.

Rumba (Part 11)

In 1950 a new musical genre appeared in Spain that originated in Barcelona’s neighbourhoods particularly in Gràcia and Raval. The genre was developed by the Romani community who combined gypsy music, Rock’N’Roll, pop and Rumba Flamenca.

While this musical style has often been wrongly classified as Flamenco, Rock’N’Roll or pop it is a separate musical genre with its own identity that is often seen as one of Catalonia’s most significant cultural achievements of the 20th century. Many Romani have long fought for this musical style to be given the recognition it deserves against the commonplace misclassification of this style as a “Flamenco”. It would be an affront to proponents of this style that has finally achieved international recognition to call it Catalan Rock’N’Roll, Catalan Pop or Catalan Flamenco and all of these titles would be equally wrong in that they would focus on just one musical aspect that influenced this genre rather than recognising it as a new style in its own right. Instead, surprisingly, the term “Rumba” Catalana has become the title of this genre although the terms Rumba Gitana, Rumba Española or simply Rumba have also been used to describe it. All of these terms categorise it as a derivative of Rumba which is factually further from the truth than classifying it as Flamenco or Rock’N’Roll given that the influence of Rumba on this style is tangential at best.

The reason for this deplorable title is that it is seen as closely connected to Rumba Flamenca (another misnomer that should not be referred to as Rumba as discussed in the previous post) but it is not a Flamenco itself. To differentiate the genre from the genre that influenced it “Rumba Flamenca” while illustrating that these genres are connected, the term Flamenca was dropped but the term Rumba remained. The focus was on making sure that people would not confuse different types of Western musical genres but borrowing the title of an Afro-Cuban genre to describe something entirely different was once again not seen as problematic or controversial.

This dilution of the word Rumba meant that with the popularity of Rumba Catalana the word Rumba became more and more associated with musical styles that had next to nothing in common with the original Rumba complex. Particularly in Spain the word Rumba has been used since the end of the 20th century to talk about any derivative of Catalan Rumba such as styles including hip-hop, funk, soul and tecno elements. New titles such as “Rumba Pop”, Tecno-Rumba”, etc. were coined to further differentiate these styles from Rumba Catalana and Rumba Flamenca making the definition of “Rumba” in the Western world increasingly less clear.

Rumba (Part 10)

It is possible that the original Rumba in Cuba as well as Guaracha were influenced to some extent by Flamenco, a dance of Andalusian origin dating back to the 18th century, through the Spanish colonization of Cuba. Spanish colonialists continued to play Flamenco during their entire rule and as well as having an impact on some of the Cuban music and dance elements, eventually the Cuban products that emerged had influenced in turn the Flamenco of Spanish colonists. This type of Flamenco was imported back to Spain, reaching Andalusia in the 19th century where it was referred to as “Rumba Flamenca” or simply “Rumba” by the Spanish to distinguish it from other types of Flamenco.

Rumba Flamenca music is often referred to as a “cante de ida y vuelta” (roundtrip songs) as it is a type of Spanish music that influenced the music in the new world which in turn influenced the Spanish music itself. In this sense the description “Rumba” for this type of music as a reference to the original Cuban Rumba complex is certainly more justified than some of the other western products this description has been used for. However, the specific influence of Flamenco on Rumba is highly debated and minimal at best when comparing it with the influence of Flamenco on other Cuban musical elements. Similarly, while Rumba Flamenca contains some traces of Rumba as well as Son Cubano, musicologists agree that this type of music was predominantly influenced by Guaracha rather than Rumba.

The dance that became known as Rumba Flamenca is essentially of Catalan origin although it is more flirtatious and sexual than other styles of flamenco so this is often seen as the Cuban influence on this style possibly from Rumba.

Whichever way one looks at the history of Rumba Flamenca, the categorization of this music and dance form as “Rumba” is once again regrettable and misleading when it contains at best minor influences from the original Cuban Rumba complex and is more closely related to other Cuban musical and dance styles such as Guaracha. Many Spaniards refer to this genre simply by the term “Rumba” rather than “Rumba Flamenca” adding to the confusion as people quickly believe this form to be the original form of Rumba when they hear it without a modifier. The descriptions gypsy rumba and Spanish rumba may also be heard in this context but this creates further ambiguity as they are more widely used to mean Catalan rumba as discussed in the next post of this blog series.

Rueda Hand Signs (Part 29) Ponle Sabor

The move Ponle Sabor can be translated as “Add flavour” or “Put some flavour into it” which may refer to the creative features that make up this move which make some of the basic elements look significantly better. Alternatively, the name may come from the freedom that this move provides for both followers and leaders due to the fact that dancers are connected with only one hand for the duration of the entire move, leaving the other hand free for styling.

Ponle Sabor consists of a Parte El Brazo Con La Mano Derecha followed by the exact same move but with a Ronde at the end which looks and feels nice for leaders and while being very basic by nature is not a feature often observed in other moves.
The move continues with an Enchufla Ronde Con La Mano Derecha leading straight into a Sacala. At the end of the Sacala the leader’s right hand comes over the follower’s head to lead another Sacala which is again a very unusual combination of basic moves but effective and aesthetic in the way these elements are combined.
At the end of the second Sacala leaders turn to the left and then turn themselves into the follower’s right arm. At this point leaders place the back of their left hand onto the follower’s right hand leading a right turn for followers which is however immediately interrupted by the leaders counteracting the motion by leading a CocaCola to finish the move.

It is especially the last part of the move that is quite unusual and can take some time to get used to. It feels like a very quick Coca Cola mainly because the initial follower motion has to be reversed. For followers it is particularly important to keep their hands at least at waist height as this makes it possible for leaders to pick up the free hand and lead the next part of the move.

The hand sign for Ponle Sabor consists of the caller making a circular motion with their free hand in front of their body signalling that they are enjoying some food which is a perfect analogy for the meaning of the move name “Add some flavour” or simply Ponle Sabor.

       

To see a video of the move Ponle Sabor as well as the hand sign, please click on: https://youtu.be/-3GuIUVgzTg