Merengue got me confused!!

[Smooth and Silky]

A couple days ago, we were dancing to salsa, a little samba...great. Then they start playing merengue and i'm soooo lost as what to do. One person was saying hip movement only, one was saying bend ur knee's kinda like riding a bicycle.

And should you be practising it with another man's dance partner??

[Guarachero]

Not necessarily. Observe how Merengueros do it, then you do the same always adding to it your own style. A good Merengue source will be any dancer from Dominican Republic. Of all Lating rhythms, Merengue and Bachata are probably the easiest to learn and they are among the most contagious. If you cannot find a Dominican, aske a Cuban to do a demonstration of "Conga de Carnaval," most popularly known in Havana by "Arrollar."

The root is the same as those of Dominican's. Both islands inherited it through their African-Spanish ancestry. The difference was that Cuba never danced in couples and Santo Domingo specialized it and refined it to what we consider to be one of the most sensual and elegant dances of Latin America.

Try it. It's easy. It took me three of four tries in a ballroom to get it.

You may find videos at activevideos.com/index.htm or other places.

Guarachero

[Miami Rueda dancer]

its similiar to marching in place with your foot at alittle bit of an angle... you and your partner start to turn slowly... at least thats what we do here :D

[Guarachero]

That's right. That's the way is done. After that, your extra ingredient is your own style and grace.

Guarachero

[peachexploration]

A couple days ago, we were dancing to salsa, a little samba...great. Then they start playing merengue and i'm soooo lost as what to do. One person was saying hip movement only, one was saying bend ur knee's kinda like riding a bicycle.

And should you be practising it with another man's dance partner?? Here are some helpful clips that show the basics. hotsalsa.co.uk/merengue.html Once you get the basics down, you'll be dancing merengue in no time. Probably, by the end of the week. ;)

[peachexploration]

Smooth, how's it going so far? :)

[Ms_Sunlight]

Myself and the husband love doing a merengue in regular clubs when the music feels right. A surprising amount of non-latin music has the right kind of beat for it. It's easy and fun to do if you're in a non-salsa environment.

In fact we're going to Barfly (they do rock/indie/punk music which I also love) tonight and a merengue in there is always a laugh!

[TemptressToo]

I find that the numerous Dominicans I dance with dance both merengue and bachata very "close." Merengue is usually full-body contact until they release you to do some spins and turns....but for the remainder of the dance, you find yourself pressed against your partner.

It is still fun...and now that they have became friends, I've grown accustomed to the closeness.

[hopelessly_addicted]

Hi Smooth & Silky!

I'd just like to let you know that you aren't the only person to be confused by merengue! Everyone told me that merengue is the easier of all latin dances, but I found it even harder than salsa basic steps!

its similiar to marching in place with your foot at alittle bit of an angle... This kind of description was not adequate enough for me to really get merengue for some reasons.. The lack of structure perhaps (that the only step there is to do is one that imitates marching and so a good hip movement seems to be required) was the cause of it.

I think the way I got merengue was by becoming more comfortable with salsa basic steps. I dance my merengue with the same hip movement that I'd use for salsa except I'm just stepping side to side. Hope this makes sense..

Last night, I had an awesome merengue with this Argentinian salsa/tango instructor. Like what TemptressToo said of Dominicans, he danced merengue in a real close embrace, the way you'd dance bachata. Man, it felt so good! :D

[Miami Rueda dancer]

hehe I guess I should of explained it better! :shock: and yes its a great feeling to dance to a fast merengue song :D

[hopelessly_addicted]

hehe I guess I should of explained it better! :shock:

Oh no, MRD! I thought that you might misunderstand ;) Almost every tip I received on how to dance merengue was along the line of what you just posted simply because I think most people find merengue so easy! So whereas some (or the majority) can take that tip and execute it, I just could not.. but that doesn't matter now because now I can do merengue! 8) :lol: