When was salsa popular

During the entire dance, the upper body is level, all movement takes place in your lower body. This leads to the swinging hip movements salsa in known for.

From tiny venues hidden deep in the rural jungles, to huge salsa nightclubs celebrating salsa in cities great and small. Here the music is played and salsa dancers rule the night. The dance patterns and movements vary widely from club to club and city to city, but the same sexy, rhythmic movement unifies them all, and also a love of the music we all refer to as "salsa".

The origins of this exciting and provocative partner dance-form go back all the way to the African continent; when men and women who had been torn from their homeland to serve as slaves in the New World, brought the music and style of body movement to the Caribbean and parts of Latin America such as Cuba, Colombia, and Puerto Rico.

The movement was strong and sensual, often closely tied to the old religion of Santeria, or the worship of older African deities called "Orichas". We now refer to these traditional dance forms as "Afro-Cuban rumba". In places like Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, rumba was mixed with French and English country-dances, and what we know as salsa began to take shape.

The music and dance continued evolving and changing, and took on many different names and titles: mambo, cha cha cha, bachata, cumbia, danzon, merengue were just a few.

When these forms of music and dancing came to the US early in the 20th century, they quickly gained popularity. The word "mambo", meaning "conversation with the Gods", was used as a song title by Cuban composer Orestes Lopez, and the dance associated with it became popular at New York's Park Plaza Ballroom and then later at the Palladium.

Salsa's popularity exploded once this dance arrived in the United States in the early years of the 20th century. The first notable exposure of Salsa by American people happened during the Cuban war of when American Soldiers started enjoying the early version of this Cuban dance. In years following the Cuban war, Salsa became a fascination point with numerous American jazz musicians who incorporated Latin styles into their performances.

By the end of the 1st decade of the 20th century, Cuban musicians and promoters started creating and distributing the first radio recordings of Salsa songs. These songs quickly found their way to the U. Confronted with the new and exciting Latin music style, American record labels and radio promoters quickly coined the new term "salsa.

During the s, an explosion of Latin music sounds started spreading all across Central and South America, leading to the development and popularization of modern forms of tango, mambo, flamenco , and several other kinds of music and dance styles. During that time, nightclubs in never-sleeping Havana even more increased their focus on popular Salsa and provided an incredible variety of new sounds to the neighboring United States who were enforcing Prohibition.

With an increased influx of American tourists in Cuba, Salsa quickly traveled back to the United States and several other countries of the western hemisphere. By the end of the s, Salsa and several different Latin music styles become widely popular on U. The peak of salsa popularity in the United States happened during the s. Fueled by the influx of Dominican and Puerto Rican workers to the continental U.

The annual event brings dancers from around the world together to celebrate their passion. This event, which became The World Latin Dance Cup in , now features Latin dances like bachata and cumbia in addition to salsa. Find more Salsa Festivals we publish at our site. Sign up with Facebook. We feature unique content and editorials on our site, helping the reader submerge in the time period and genuinely appreciate the soul of the dance.

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