I know they are latin dances but i've never seen people dancing it

ok paso doble is a pre-cheriographed (sry, i cant spell) dance in which the man represents the maditor and the woman the cape. it cant be done as a social dance, though i have friends who think it can be (they are wrong and were taught wrong) it can only be danced to paso doble (though there are different renditions of it but its the same song) i personally love paso doble, it is a beautyful dance especally when done correctly. it is my favorite dance though i dont know why. bolero is another beautyful dance. its is very sexy and has alot to do with balance. my friend describes the mood of this dance as "when your done you should be looking for a hotel room or a broom closet." some of the moves can be very risque (depending upon what you consider risque) its a great dance i am actually only learning it. Att the moment i can only do it with one of my friends who is a very good dancer giving me heavy lead thru the whole dance. both are great dances. i hope that helped some. im not good explaining technical aspects of dance so i cant be of any help there.

crimson,

I've often thought of trying the paso to the old Four Tops tune: Reach Out I'll Be There.

What do you think?

OB (Who loves Paso too)

kawaii,

To someone who hasn't seen it you might think of flamenco dance with a partner as an imagine. Some of the posture and steps are borrowed from flamenco.

OB

Also to note, paso is one of the 5 international latin dances, while bolero is one of the 5 American Ryhthm dances.

You'll rarely see paso outside of competitions. However, bolero can and is danced socially. The bolero basic has the same foot pattern as international rumba, but the technique is very different. It's done to very slow 4-4 music (inter. rumba timing and even slower). On the 1 or side step, you take take a step similar to a side step in waltz...like a sway. It shares some moves with int. rumba as well (spot turns, alemana, hockey stick), but it's definitely a very different dance. Kind of a mixture of ryhthm and smooth all-in-one.

i supose you could do paso style to anything, but then it wouldnt be paso it would be a dance number. i havent listened to the song your talking about but does it have correctly timed breaks? im just gona take a guess here and say it dosent. part of the paso is the way the music is set up so change the music change the dance. im sure it would be both neat and fun but im a pureist when it comes to paso. to call it a paso it has to be done to paso music, but im sure it would still be cool. good luck with your 4 tops paso, i hope you have fun.

Bolero is a slow Rhumba. Very close to International Rhumba. The slow step is to the side with compression and rise, so that it has rise and fall, which some people do as much as in the waltz. It is a very sexy dance. There was a nice Bolero variation a few months ago; get the dvd and look at the dance there.

I dont know about the Paso Doble; I do see friends practicing it.

Jerry

Yeah bolero is quite similar to international rhumba, but belero has alot of body contact. its hard to belero without body contact

I agree. The body contact and close hold are essential elements.

Jerry

I have been told that Paso Doble was a popular social dance in Spain in the 1920's.

there is a posibility that it may have been a social dance back in the 20's, but it would be a social dance is the same manner it could be today. if you have a dance partner that you have a paso routine with and you are at a social dance and they make the crazy mistake to play paso, then sure it is automatically transformed into a social dance. theres also a chance that back then there could have been well know sets of paso steps that all of spain knew. this is just speculation. ether way paso is not a social dance in the same manner as all other social dances and it cant be. it is the nature of the dance (and if you are from worchester polytechnical instute dance team and are saying "but yes it can!!!" you are wrong and the guy that teaches you (forget his name) taught you wrong.
-Crimson
P.S. i love the dancers of WPI