Dancing through the night in a Latin country, a person may encounter a variety of.
different dances, especially from those of the United States. Some dances a person may.
encounter are the Salsa, Merengue, and the Mambo. .
Salsa, the dance, is basically a reinvention of the Mambo, which came from.
Rumba. Salsa is a pattern of six steps danced over eight counts of music. The basic.
steps start with a tap left on the first beat, a step forward on the same foot, a rock back.
onto the right foot and the sequence is finished by stepping back left to close. This is the.
forward movement, which is followed by the back movement. Tap right, step back right,.
rock forward left and close right. The woman always mirrors the man's steps, so while.
the man performs a forward movement, the woman performs a back movement and so.
on. The origin of Salsa comes from Cuba. Although, New York created the term "Salsa",.
it did not create the dance. The term became popular as nickname to refer to a variety of.
different music, from several countries of Hispanic influence. With this kind of variety,.
Salsa can very from location to location.
The Merengue, the simplest dance to learn, is the national dance of the.
Dominican Republic. Merengue is a sequence of eight steps, which are as follows: step.
to the side, drag foot to close, step to the other side, drag foot to close, step forward (or.
back), drag foot to close. This dance is danced by couples. The lady always steps.
opposite to the man. There are two stories about the origin of the dance. One story states.
the dance originated with slaves who were chained together and, of necessity, were.
forced to drag one leg as they cut sugar to the beat of drums. The other story says that a.
great hero was wounded in the leg during one of the many revolutions in the Dominican.
Republic. A party of villagers welcomed him home with a victory celebration and, out of.
sympathy, everyone dancing felt obliged to limp and drag one foot.
