Part V: Emergence of the Clave Based Dances.
by Paul Clifford

In Part IV we discussed how the Clave is used in performing Afro-Cuban dance. Now we will discuss how the Cuban based dances developed.

The following discussion attempts to provide a visual demonstration of the reinvention of Rumba into Mambo, Mambo into Cha Cha and later Mambo into Salsa. The illustrations are provided to assist you in understanding the relationship between the dances and to assist you in becoming an accomplished dancer.

There is a difference between the way the dances are started in American ballroom and street styling and International styling. In the American styling the man starts by stepping back. In International styling (which is closer to the Cuban method) the man starts stepping forward for the simple reason that it establishes who is leading - preferably the man! Apart from the start sequence there is little difference between the two methods. This article uses the International method for describing the man's steps. In the basics the woman always mirrors the man. If he steps forward, she follows his lead and steps back.

For most of the Rumba based dances there isn't much difference between street styling and ballroom styling - at least in the stepping action. However, street styling is not as rigid as some other disciplines and so when I describe hip movements in this article, I do not encourage the contrived hip and body movements performed by more formal dancers (which the Latinos generally ridicule). What I do promote is the natural rhythmic movements which occurs from moving to the music and changing weight at the end of a step.

One final remark before we begin. Preparation steps are not notated in this article. Most beginners are taught to make a preparation step on the first count to ease themselves into breaking on two. In the American method this means the man will take a small step back left or step side left on the first count. In the International method the man would take a small step back right or step side right on the first count. Outside of dance classes, this has to be very confusing for the woman whenever she dances with someone for the first time! She has to second guess which foot and which direction the man is going to start. Her best alternative is to skip the first step and follow his lead on the break. More advanced male dancers simply wait for the clave and start by stepping forward breaking on two.

Above is some European dance notation but many people do not know what it means. So in Part III of this article we discussed how the music is constructed and attempted to visualise the music by inventing a musical notation for dancers. We also defined some rules for how to read it. Just in case you have already forgotten them, here they are again. Our bar is divided into the eight counts of a measure (16 half beats). Accent positions (where the sound is loudest) are shown on the half beat where they occur. Resonances show the duration of a sound. Adjacent resonances are shown in different colors just to differentiate them. Gaps in resonance, indicate no sound.

The first three diagrams indicate how the music started to emerge. The diagrams that follow them illustrate how the dances changed to match the patterns of the new sounds.

Okay! We should now be ready to examine Salsa's ancestor, the Rumba Guaguanco...

Pre-dating the Son clave, there is another clave pattern that uses 4/4 timing called the Rumba clave. In the reverse clave the difference between the two occurs in the eighth count.

As I have remarked throughout this article, the clave pattern has origins in the Native African Rumba which is a style of music that uses a 12/8 feel in the music. It has origins in West African bell and drum patterns, brought to Cuba by the slaves. Variations of these traditional Rumbas occurred in the small towns of Cuba's interior throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Possibly due to the influence of marching bands and the traditional (North African influenced) Spanish music, a Rumba style called the Guaguanco emerged which put the music into 4/4 time. It took the five accentuated beats that had occurred in one bar, and extended them over two bars of the music. This had the effect of slowing down the music, making it less complex and less syncopated and easier to dance.

The slowing down of the Native African Rumba gave rise to an increase in the popularity of the music amongst Cuba's urban classes. To accommodate this new audience the music was simplified again through playing the last beat of the 2/3 clave directly on count 8. By the end of the nineteen century this led to the birth of the "Son".

At the end of the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century, the US found itself regularly intervening in Caribbean affairs. This in turn led to a greater awareness of Latin music and dance throughout the USA and with the advent of phonographs, radio, movies and TV - the world! However, this new audience, while they loved the music, found it hard to dance to it! So dance patterns, which fitted the music, and which were easy to perform were created.

OK! We have had a look at the music, it is time to examine the dances.

Lets take the notation for the music and use it to define the Rumba based dances. First we need to slightly modify how the notation should be read. A dance phrase is divided into the eight counts of a measure (16 half beats). Accents (steps) are shown on the half beat where they occur. Adjacent resonances (duration of movement) are shown in different colors just to differentiate them. Gaps in resonance, indicate no movement.

Just in case you are not familiar with the basic steps for each dance - below each diagram is a brief explanation of the dance pattern. Also to make the notation more relevant to a dancer I have relabeled the Accent and Resonance lines. The Accent line has been relabeled "Steps" and the Resonance Line has been relabeled "Change of weight" - in this context the Resonance line indicates the half beat duration from when a step is taken to when it is completed with a change of weight. Also, so you can relate to which foot or leg the man is using, I have labeled where on the count an action occurs (L=Left, R=Right).

I use the man's steps as it is his role to maintain the timing and initiate moves. So most of the time he simply performs basic movements or variants of them. However, the woman often performs more complicated step patterns; which means the man has to pay attention to the music so he can lead her into moves, where her stepping action will match the music. Between the fancy moves, the woman simply mirrors the man's steps.

In Cuban Rumba the dance steps commence with the man stepping forward on the 2^nd beat of the bar in which the 2 and 3 beats of the clave occur (1^st bar of the reverse clave, 2^nd bar of the forward clave).

In the first movement the man steps forward left and changes weight onto the left foot on the next half beat. In the next movement, he commences to rock back right on the 3 count (there is no foot movement) and waits for the next half beat before changing weight. On count 4, he steps side left with an interval of two half beats before he completes a change of weight on the next half beat.

On count 6 he repeats the sequence but stepping back, rocking forward and completing with step side right. His partner mirrors his moves. Having completed the measure the dancers are back to where they started and to continue simply repeat the two patterns or perform variants of them.

Unlike the march patterns of European dance, which would require the dancer to start on the first beat, the clave based dances start on the second beat. Also, where the march pattern requires whoever is stepping forward, to step heel first, the latin dances require you to step toe first. This puts the emphasis on the completion of the step, where the weight is placed onto the foot.

Although Cuban music was influenced by European march patterns, the dancers resisted them. Look again at the stepping actions.

Notice that the first bar has a one beat rest, a step and thereafter, an interval of three half beats occurs between each step. Also notice, only one foot (the same foot) actually steps in each bar. All action and excitement comes from the change of weight. This matches the music's pattern where the pulse beats are ignored and the musical emphasis is placed on the next count. In the Cuban dances the steps are there simply to frame the lower body movement caused from changing weight onto a foot.

What differentiates Afro-Cuban dance from European dance is the incorporation of African drum rhythms and an emphasis on hip movement (change of weight) rather than the stepping action. If we examine the duration between foot and hip movements of the Rumba Son Montuno, the half beat intervals for each change of weight are incremental (0,1,2) throughout the progression of four beats.

For Europeans/Americans this arrangement takes the emphasis away from performing the hip action, making the call of the dance - step, rock, extend side or more commonly quick, quick, slow. Using this call the lower body movements occuring from a change of weight become a natural consequence of the stepping action.

At an elementary level, Mambo is just a fast Rumba and Salsa is just a fast Mambo.

Through the influence of North American jazz, the tempo of Rumba music became faster and the dance steps were modified to give us Mambo. Rumba's long step on count 4 (and count 8) with its characteristic completion with a change of weight half way through count 5 (and count 1), was replaced by a shorter step on count 4 (and count 8). This caused dancers to change weight earlier - on the next count. To keep the dancer in time with the music, a half beat pause was needed.

As the tempo of the music became faster still, the last step had to be shortened again. This caused the dancers to change weight on the half beat after stepping, and pausing for one beat to keep in time with the music.

As the tempo of Mambo music became even faster, it’s dance steps had to be modified again and so we have Salsa. To stop the dancer moving off the beat, the Mambo's one beat step on count 4 (and count 8) was replaced by a half beat step, with a placing of weight on the next half beat. Because the music is screaming for you to move on the next beat, an additional step, a tap followed by a half beat pause, was introduced on count 5 (and count 1) to act as a brake, to stop the dancer moving. Salsa music seems to scream for you to start moving and keep moving, so many dancers start with the tap on the first beat of the music.

Notice that when performing the tap, there is no change of weight. This allows you to stay in clave, by allowing you to use the same foot to break on two.

In my article on the "Origins of Salsa the Puerto Rican Influence" we discussed that between 1915 and 1930 around 50,000 Puerto Ricans migrated to the USA. However, between 1940 and 1969 an additional 800,000 Puerto Ricans also migrated to the USA (especially to New York City). It can't be a coincidence that, this is the period that popular Latin music went through a dramatic change and influences outside of the Cuban traditions changed the music and the dance, leading to the development of first the Cha Cha and then Salsa.

The music rhthym for the Cha Cha was a section of the Mambo and has origins in Cuba. However, it has been suggested that the dance originated in New York. As the story goes, NY club audiences liked the particular shuffling sound in the music and encouraged the bands to play more of it!

It has also been said that the Puerto Ricans found Mambo too slow and to spice it up, incorporated a touch of their home grown dance, Plena y Bomba. Thus from the Mambo was born Cha Cha Cha. The Puerto Ricans took the basic Mambo pattern and excited the 4th and 8th beats causing the dancer to step side and on the next half beat simultaneously change weight onto that foot while stepping side on the other. The same occurred on the next beat until on the 5& (1&) count the dancer changed weight again before restarting the pattern.

The Shuffling sound produced by the side steps gave the dance it’s name - the Cha Cha Cha.

Cha Cha’s popularity in the nightclubs didn’t last long. Puerto Rican influenced Bomba, Boogaloo and other dances took control throughout the 1960s. Until in the 1970s Mambo was reborn as Salsa!