Celebrating "La Hispanidad"
The Evolution of
Latin Dance Music
Origins
Aztec round dance (c. 1520)
Aztec round dance for Quetzalcóatl & Xolotl
(a dog-headed god who is Quetzalcóatl's companion)
Original: Chamber of Deputies, Paris
Courtesy of the Newberry Library, Chicago
Latin dance has a deep cultural history rooted in traditional dances of the Mayans, Incas & Aztecas.
Portuguese & Spanish explorers colonize Mexico, Central America, the Carribean & portions of South America. A few Europeans wrote about the local ritual festivals.
Ancient Mayan Deer Dance
Yaocuauhtli Danza Cultural Aztec
Umapata Inca Dance
late 15th -
early 16th century
Blended ritual: Guatemalan dance-drama
Moros y cristianos: The dancer depicting the Moor is on the right & the Christian is on the left.
15th-16th
Century
European Influences
After the military conquest in the New World, religious music, processions, dance, & festivals became tools of cultural transformation & social control.
Catholic priests & monks allowed & encouraged indigenous dancers to continue their rituals but altered to incorporate Catholic saints & ideas.
15th - 16th century
17th & 18th Century
Upper-class European Immigrant Influence
Fashionable European dances swept quickly through Latin America:
- minuet
- allemande
- sarabande
- chaconne
- galliard
- pavane
- volta
- contradanzas (common into early 21st cent)
Elements of these European dance styles were adopted into indigenous dance:
- interlacing lines, bridges, circles, grand right-and-left patterns
17th - 18th century
African Influence
Merengue:
heritageinstitute.com
19th century
- Social dances became fashionable in elite society.
- They became more popular & spread across urban & rural areas where African slaves left a lasting impression on the styles.
- Incorporated African dance elements: polycentric rhythms & movements, improvisation, body isolations & whole-foot steps.
African
Influence
3 Popular Modern Latin Dances
- Merengue - the national dance of the Dominican Republic; a standard Latin American dance. A combination of 2 dances: the African & French Minuet (late 1700's - early 1800's)
- Bachata - a dance from the Dominican Republic. Both the music & dance have been influenced by Cuban Bolero, the Merengue, Salsa & Cumbia.
- Salsa - a dance born in NYC in the 1960s - 70s, it's a hybrid of traditional rhythms from Cuba (Son ) & Puerto Rico (Bomba y Plena ), with influences from Jazz & R&B. Common characteristics: syncopated clave rhythm, Spanish lyrics, and a strong rhythmic pulse punctuated by the trumpet or trombone.
Modern
Latin
Dance