A perfunctory look at any Cuban dance event anywhere will show a diversity of dance workshops. Along with your expected casino and rueda de casino classes, you may get workshops on other popular Cuban dances such as son, chachachá, pilón, danzón, mambo (the Cuban one), as well as Afro-Cuban and folkloric dances.
The variety is there to stay, a testament to the impact and influence of Cuban dance outside of the island—and an explanation, of sorts, of why a Cuban dance congress, unlike a Colombian, Venezuelan, or Puerto Rican one, can stand on its own in the United States without having to be labeled “Latin” and be mixed with dances from other countries.
But then nighttime falls, and with it, the workshops end. The dance social begins.
I do not think it would be illogical of anyone to expect the music played at the social to be somehow tied to the workshops which took place mere hours before. And, in a way, the music does tie in. You see people left and right practicing what they learned in their casino and rueda de casino workshops; the timba plays on and on.
And on.
And on.
And on.
And on…
And just when you think there will be a change in the playlist which will allow you to practice, say, the rumba guaguancó steps you learned in one of the workshops you took, or the chachachá steps, or the mambo steps, or any other step of any other workshop which was not casino—just when you think the music will change, it does not. The timba keeps playing.
It is as if the DJs did not talk to the instructors, asked them what they taught, or even looked at the type of workshops that were being offered.
It is as if the instructor did not make requests for music specific to the contents of their workshops to be played during the social.
Thing is, they didn’t. DJs didn’t talk to instructors, or vice versa.
It is at this point that I start questioning the reasoning behind offering workshops in dances other than casino and rueda the casino.
I question it because, if the DJs do not play music which ties in with these other dances which are being taught, this then can be taken as a sign that these other dances are not important. Indeed, why would anyone want to learn to dance chachachá if the DJs will not play chachachá? I know I would not. But I am not most people. And most people still take these classes. And for the hour or so which these classes last, they have fun; they learn something new. But then the class is over, and because there is no follow-up later at the social, they most likely forget what they were taught.
So what is the point, then, of teaching these other dances which we never are going to dance outside of the workshop?
Let me begin by saying that I do not have an answer, but I do have some suggestions.
The following is what I think could be done to deal with this issue. (With this I am not creating definitive guidelines, mind you, but simply opening the floor for reflection and debate as to what would be the best way of achieving this “pretty cool” scenario I proposed above.)
First, these events need to create demand. If dance workshops in dances other than casino are supplied, but a demand is not being created by having DJs include the music of these workshops in their playlist, although some people will take the workshops because they are curious, there will be no incentive (demand) to actually learn the dance—and by learning I mean becoming proficient in the dance to the point where they can dance to whole songs. These demands to the DJs should be made by instructors with the backing of the event organizers.
Because if there is no demand, supplying these workshops ends up seeming pointless. Indeed, learning the basics of son, chachachá, danzón, rumba and other dances do seem pointless without a follow-up at the social; that is, without the chance to practice and get better.
Second, let us acknowledge that the DJs have a lot to do with this, yes, but that we cannot forget about the workshops. To really do justice than any one Cuban dance, more workshops of the same dance should be offered. Indeed, it would be a little illogical to expect someone to know how to dance son after one workshop. Of course, it would also be illogical to expect someone to know how to dance son after five or six workshops. However, it would be logical to expect this someone to have a better knowledge of son after five or six workshops, enough to take it home with him/her and be incentivized to keep practicing.
When one then combines these son workshops with the music which goes with it during the socials, and the music gets played at various points during the night and throughout the weekend, one then creates a reason (demand) to explain why all these son workshops (supply) are being provided, and thus make them seem relevant. (By the way, son is just the example I am choosing. The same can be done with any other dance.)
Consider this: if, at the social, people find themselves sitting down because they do not know how to dance to the ten-minute set which the DJs play every thirty minutes (let’s say, a set of traditional son, or son montuno), and, as they sit, they see that there are all these other people who, because they took the workshops, know how to at least fend for themselves when it comes to this music, chances are that the next day they will take a couple of son classes so that, when they DJs play son again the next night, he/she will not be sitting down during the next set. (Think about it. Isn’t that how you started with casino, because you wanted to be able to dance like the other people, instead of sitting down and watching them?)
So, in a nutshell, what I am suggesting is to change the apparent discrepancy between the music played and the workshops taught into a relationship based on reciprocity—aren’t those the best ones?—where the content of the workshops are working in conjunction with the content of DJs’ playlists.
The rewards of this could be pretty amazing:
- One, the Cuban dance community will see a flourishing of dancers affluent in more than one dance, and who therefore have a better understanding of the different dance traditions of Cuba.
- Two, there will be people who appreciate and dance to music other than timba. Personally, I think this is a pretty big one, since it seems that for most people Cuban music started in the 90s, and in thinking this way they are missing out on a lot of the amazing stuff that came before that—not to say that a lot of the more “traditional” Cuban bands come to the U.S. every now and then and people do not know how to dance to the music they play.
- And Three, the Cuban dance events will be more well-rounded, being a closer representation of the diversity of Cuban music and dance—if such thing can ever be achieved by anybody, or any event—as opposed to a being a very casino-centered dance event.
Excellent piece once again Daybert! I agree with all you have said. We have just returned home from the Australian Rueda de Casino championships/festival weekend in Sydney and, while the diversity of workshops did not come close to that at San Francisco (we must put SF and/or Atlanta on our to-go-to list), there were a few Rumbas and Sons being played during the parties and people attempting to practise what they had learned – not many but an improvement on other events I have been to. Great to see. What was actually interesting was the lack of people dancing rueda socially – at a rueda event! Perhaps those likely to were not inclined to after their competition rounds. Do you see much social rueda dancing at US events like SF and Atlanta?
Social ruedas are big here in the states primarily due to the fact that that’s how everyone diary started casino dance. I know I did. It was Miami style and all we did was dance in Rueda. Atlanta is awesome! You definitely have to make a trip to that event! San Francisco I havnet been yet but I am looking forward to it!!
Hi, Martin. Thanks for reading this piece and taking the time to reflect and comment on it. It is always welcomed. As to your question, indeed, the same thing happens here; that is, you do not see that many ruedas happening. I think that a reason this could be so is that casino started as a rueda-centered dance (remember my post about ruedas in and outside of Cuba), and as the years have gone by, people have realized that casino can be danced in other ways, and because of the low-level of technique of ruedas, they get pretty boring, pretty fast. Thanks for reading again.
Hi both Jared and Daybert. Yep, I was actually thinking of your (Daybert’s) earlier posts on Rueda when I wrote – I wonder whether the Miami Salsa “code” has reduced the joy of social rueda a little by making it only something that those who know the common steps can participate in. The empahasis on lead-follow in Casino may lend itself more to improvisation (on the part of the caller) AND flexibility in the rest of the rueda group and therefore make it easier for callers to tailor their rueda to various levels of abilities in the group without it just becoming a boring series of rote-learned steps… like a bigger and more complex version of lead-follow in the context of a couple dancing Casino on their own. The lack of social rueda dancing probably has a lot to do with the notion that ruedas can only LOOK complex and spectacular if they’re choreographed – not true of course!
Once again, this has been a great read and a topic that’s been brought up in conversation with friends. What I’ve noticed is the same thing you have: Lack of diversity. Particularly to the cuban dances. I’ve been to bachata festivals that still have a lot of ‘American salsa’ workshops and absolutely no casino workshops. The afro-cuban workshops have been slowly creeping in to festivals here in the states but maybe one or two if it’s not a cuban or Rueda festival. This is something that does fall on the coordinators of the events and what there idea of diversity is. Which is probably something they have been used to for the last 10 or so years. In newer festivals there have been hip hop workshops and fusion hip hop with bachata, kizomba, fusion kizomchata (fusion of bachata and kizomba), bachatango, etc. but only one Casino workshop. So yes, my sentiments are there with you. Why not have more instructors from the not so typical dance school such as Casino or find someone who can teach Son to people so their eyes and ears can be open. Again it’s all in the hands of the event coordinator. But the demand for it does have to be there also so I would say there would need to be more than one voice speaking up to these coordinators. At this point we just have to wait and see what happens once people take notice to what others have to say.
Thanks again for another great article!!
In addition, as far as the music, yes I completely agree. The instructors should be coordinating with the DJs to make sure music is being played to what they teach. So it should go hand in hand without saying but that’s obviously not being done. Recently I have been listening to older Son music by artists such as Beny More and Cachao and it’s just amazing how awesome they are, probably because of my appreciation and taste. Most DJs don’t even think of playing see music at a social or even at a latin dance event. It baffles me! It’s all great music! No matter the artist! It really just makes me want to be a DJ but I know me and I’d want to dance too! Also I wish more live bands would WANT to come to these events. It’s exactly how it would be many many years ago!
Yes Jarryd! More diversity in the music and more live music! The music is what first encouraged me to learn the dancing, probably true for most people I think (at least in our area) – I’d love to see the festivals become more music-oriented with multiple live bands playing all throughout the day and generate interest in the different dance styles from there; even better if we could have combined musicality/dance workshops in some or even many cases. Actually it’s a bit silly that it doesn’t happen in most cases when you think about it – the dances have in many cases become so separate from the music and focused on learning just a series of steps that the music and its structures seem to seldom be mentioned. Daybert has talked about these sorts of ideas in his other essays too – it would be great to see some changes evolve!
Great essay! You KNOW I agree. But for two other reason. I am a woman “of a certain age.” I enjoy dancing with men/women who are likely not inclined to want to spend hours on end dancing to timba which I think for some older dancers can read as more of a younger person’s dance compared to some of the older ones you mention. I think diversifying the music has the added benefit of diversifying the ages of the dancers. And for those of us who relish dancing with the suave old gents, one of the reasons is that they are great and patient teachers. I loved dancing with them in Cuba and wish that I encountered more in DC. Second, I co-sign on wanting to stretch. When Darwin played a full-on cha cha cha at my birthday at HV I was THRILLED to be able to try it socially and my lead rose to the occasion happily. We students definitely do want to try the other dances socially. We don’l look awesome doing it but, to preserve the dances, enthusiasm and being able to try counts for something,
I think that it’s OK that Timba is the main type of music played, and this is because Timba contains rhythms and elements from many genres of Cuban music.
Maybe the DJs should be doing a better job selecting Timba songs which relate more to the material offered in the workshops.
Also, a lot of the stuff you do in the workshops can easily be incorporated in Casino.
Also, at least some of the teachers I know practice the material they have just taught with Timba music, at the last 10 minutes of the workshop.