The Roots of Cha Cha

imdancecrazy — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:34:09 +0000

The roots of Cha Cha lie in the music of Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrin. European dance instructor and choreographer Pierre Margolie heard his music in 1952. Margolie was on a dance treasure hunt of sorts, trying to track down a version of mambo or rumba that had a quick triple step instead of the slow two-beat step.

This triple step became known as the “chasse.” As the dance became popular and evolved it became the differentiating factor in every variation of the form. When you learn cha cha, where you put the chasse within the rhythm determines the dance.

All cha cha tends is done to a 4/4 time beat, though some of the music will have specific triplets in them to accompany the shuffling step of the dance. This rhythm, called the guajira, is very traditional. When it is danced in clubs (usually by Cuban expatriates), it is a very conventional and specific form of dance.

Ballroom Cha cha – This variant puts the “cha cha cha” beat after the “two-three” beats, so that the count goes “cha-2-3-cha cha cha” with the last cha carrying over into the next measure. This can lead to complications when starting the dance.
Cuban Street Cha Cha – Similar to Ballroom in rhythm, this one is only danced to the guajira rhythm.
Country Western – As the dance came to the U.S., the beat was moved to either the beginning or end of the four-count phrase (“1-2-cha cha cha” or “cha cha cha-3-4″) and not carried over to the next phrase of music. In addition, this dance would be performed to any song with a 4/4 beat, though there were several in many genres that had “cha cha” in their name.

Learn the Cha Cha Cha with DanceCrazy Instructional Dance Videos

imdancecrazy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:24:55 +0000

Don’t cha love the look of the Cha Cha Dance ? DanceCrazy loves it too, thats why they made this great cha cha dance video. It has lessons on all your favorite cha cha moves with great tips and cha cha music to help you learn. This is everything you need to get on that dance floor and look good.

Understanding the history of the dances you are learning can be very helpful in order to help set the mood and perspective you are trying to imitate. With that being said, also browse in to DanceCrazy.com page to learn the cha cha dance history.

DanceCrazy has some great cha cha dance instruction videos to help you learn cha cha dance. Our videos are broken down step by step, and shown together with music. We hope you have fun learning the cha cha.