Originally, the word Rumba (Room-Bah) was a generic term used to describe a music style rather than a dance style. The Ballroom Rumba that is danced today is not really the "Rumba of Cuba." The Ballroom Rhumba of today is really an offshoot of the "Son" (slower) or" Danzon" (even slower)" done in Cuba, a much slower and polite version of the true, sexually "frantic" (& FAST) Rumba. The "Son" was a popular middle class Cuban dance which is a modified version of the Rumba ... and the danzon' is even a slower version than the Son.

    Originally, it is said that the real Rumba came to Cuba through the African Slaves imported from Spain into that country over two hundred years ago. Cuba eventually banned the dance as being to wild to dance in public. Eventually the law was forgotten about and some people started dancing it which helped people become more aware of the dance during the 1920s and by 1925 President Machado put the ban back into effect, his decree stated: "this class of music (referring to african music) and the 'rumba' are contrary to the good custom and public order of Cuba." However it was reported that the upper classes in Cuba did not dance the Rumba anyway, as it was to wild and frantic.

   The Son is played in two parts (chorus and verse) while the Son dancers only dance to the chorus. The claves (instrument) create the mood of the dance. However, it may have been originally a Pantomimic dance of Africa that found its way to Cuba (Afro-Cuban.) The son as a music began to take shape in the latter half of the 19th century in Cuba's Oriente province, and gave birth to several hybrids including the afro-son, guajira-son, son-pregón and son-montuno. The son is perhaps the most important form at the root of today's popular salsa music. After a period of change and development here in the States, the Son evolved into a popular sensual couples dance known today as the "Rumba."

   Today there are three distinct styles of rumba done in Cuba with the dance primarily being danced as a freestyle or solo (non-lead and follow) dance. The first being called the "Guaguancó," which is a seduction between the man and woman whereas he can try get carnal and "attack" her. The second is the "Yambú" which has a flirty woman dancing with a older man (man can be young too) who cannot get carnal or "attack" her and finally the more polite "Columbia" which is more the traditional rooster and hen dance where the male struts his masculinity around and about the female."

   Lew Quinn and Joan Sawyer is said to have tried the first real attempt at introducing the Rumba to Americans as far back as 1913, followed by Emil Coleman in 1923 and by Benito Collada in 1925 at a club called "El Chico" in Greenwich Village. In 1929 a small interest was growing in Latin-American music and in 1930 a Nuevos Ritmo (new rhythm) song called "The Peanut Vendor" by Don Azpiazu's Havana Casino Orchestra was released which became a hit as a new DANCE to American dance forms.

   By the 1930's all of America had become knowledgeable of Latin music and the Rumba. The "American Rumba" of today is a version of the son that Quinn and Sawyer tried to introduce years ago. Today it is known as a "Latin-Ballroom" couples dance (lead and follow) and correctly titled the "Dance Of Romance." The American and International styled Rumba's can be a very beautiful dance when done by a polished couple.

   Many of the erotic movements of the Ballroom Rumba stemmed from the original dancers of cuba doing the tasks of the day such as "shoeing the mare," "climbing a rope," or the "courtship of barnyard fowls." The costumes that many performers originally wore, represented this in the woman's long ruffled train of her skirt (hens feathers) or the mans ruffled shirt sleeves and or chest which represents the cocks hackle feathers. Today's latin costumes look more like Lingerie. The Ballroom Rumba is a nice dance for dancers to showcase their technique ability and a polite sensuousness and romantic flair on a dance floor, whereas the Cuban rumba is more a rhythmic street dance and can appear to be of a cool, yet hectic and sometimes wild abandon with the technique more about the rhythm, roots and soul of the dance, rather than being a commercially pretty dance form.

   The Rumba is sometimes spelt as Rhumba. The Jamaican Mento dance closely resembles the Rumba. The Rumba was replaced in popularity by the Mambo, and later the Cha-Cha.

   Also a new dance (c.1975) called the Night Club-Two Step was originally known as "Disco Two Step" (Buddy Schwimmer) is a modern semi-version of the Rumba, (a few say samba), it is done to modern slow music by pop artists such as Madonna, etc. NC-2 is mainly done in the West Coast Swing and Country Western community.

Television

Films List (Some are VHS release only)

1930 - Fifth Avenue Girl (Tropicana # Ginger Rogers)

1931 - The Cuban Love Song

1933 - When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba

1937 - Universal Newsreel (Ronrico dance)

1939 - Rumba

1939 - Rumba Land

1941 - Cuban Rhythm

1942 - Harlem Rhumba

Other Videos, DVD's

1945 - Rhythm of the Rumba

16mm - Shoeing the Mare (Varios & Vida)

1946 - Let's Rhumba

1946 - Viewmaster reel #572 - cuban rumba dancers

1949 - Barkley's Of Broadway

1949 - D.O.A. (Dead On Arrival)

1949 - Marakatumba... ma non è una rumba

Rumba Instructional DVD's

1952 - Rhumba Caliente

1954 - Que Bravas Son Las Costenas

1966 - Crazy Quilt

1982 - Rumba

1987 - La Rumba

1989 - Last Rumba in Paris

1990 - Rumba

Stage / Ballets

Newspaper / Magazine Publications

1930 - Artists and Models (Paris-Riviera Ed)

1930 - Third Little Show

1937 - Pins & Needles

Other Related Dances of the time...

Bambuco

Flamenco/ Spanish

Maxixe

Ronrico (new Rhumba 1937)

Bolero

Guagira

Mento dance

Salsa (aka: mambo)

Bossa Nova

Guaracha

Merengue

Samba

Carioca

La Conga (Conga)

Mex Hat Dance

Spanish Dance

Cha-Cha

La Cucaracha

Naningo

Tango

Chorro

La Rhumba

Night Club (or disco) Two-Step

Danzon

Little Boat Dance

Pachanga

The Son

Jamaican Mento

Mambo

Paso Doble

Waltz

Dancers, Choreographers etc.

Political

Al Toneatti & Marion

Laure Haile & Andre

Marge & Gower Champion

Carole Lombard

Mrs. Nora Osorio

Clifton Webb

Ramon & Rosita

D' Avalos and Aleida (Let's Rumba)

Ramon Navarro

Ramon and Renita (the Ronrico)

Fred Astaire

Renee & Stella

George Raft

The De Marcos

Ginger Rogers 

Veloz and Yolanda

Gluck Sandor (Pins & Needles)

Varios & Vida

Gomez & Winona

Gerardo Rumba Dancers (1941)

Irene Castle

Books, Magazine Articles on the Dance...

Title

Author

Published

Publisher

Down Memory Lane

Murray, Arthur

1954

Greenberg

Let's Dance (The Champions)

Thomas, Bob

1954

Grossett & Dunlap

$ Rumba: Dance and Social Change in Cuba

Daniel, Yvonne

1995

Indiana University Press

Musicians

Singers

Poets / Writers

Arthur Benjamin

Edyie Gorme

Caney

Mel Torme

Edmund Ross Rumba Band

Igna Zio Cervantes

Jon Bock

Machito

Perez Prado

Ralph Rainger

Rumboso Orquetra (1807)?

Tito Puente

Xavier Cugat

Misc. Research Words that may be related ... to help your searches

Flamenca

Mambo / Salsa

Timba Rigurosa

Apache Dance

Guaguaguancó

Oya

Yambu (yambú)

Cajon

Latin

Rhythm

Zoot Suit (also Riots)

Columbia

The Clave - A five-note, bi-measure pattern which serves as the foundation for all of the rhythmic styles in salsa music. The clave consists of a "strong" measure containing three notes (also called the tresillo), and a "weak" measure containing two notes, resulting in patterns beginning with either measure, referrred to as "three-two" or two-three." There are two types of clave patterns associated with popular (secular) music: son clave and rumba clave. Another type of clave - 6/8 clave - originated in several styles of West African sacred music. (from: Salsa Guidebook for Piano and Ensemble, Mauleon, R. (1993)

Other...

Basic Step:
(Leader starts Left foot, Follower starts Right foot, Forward, Face Partner, Ballroom Hold)
Quick---Quick........S l o w (= 3 STEPS or 4 BEATS)
---1,------2, ---------3----4 (repeat again with other foot backward).
(3 steps starting forward then 3 steps backward = 8 Counts of music, 4+4).

note:
Can also be done "Side to Side" or in a "Box Step"
(see waltz) pattern.
Exaggerate hip movements, Leads are very smooth. Dance is done slow and romantic (ORIGINAL VERSION WAS DONE FASTER). Dance is done in place (doesn't travel).

Can be done S l o w.... Quick-Quick