A few months ago I took a lesson from a well respected instructor locally to me.
He said that the cuban motion I was doing was incorrect and out of style.
Instead of the old way which I knew to be stepping to a bent knee with a slight delay then straightening, accenting a bent knee posture, he said that you step more towards a straighter leg much sooner then settle into the hip for a quicker more accented action on the forward step (slow-american style)with the weight fully transferred over the foot.
To me it looked very much like the traditional American style that I learned many years ago was outfazed by a more International action and technique.
Am I insane or is this a true trend that I have missed out on over the past 12-15 years?
Why are teachers essentially teaching International styling wrapped up in an American package?
Please shed some light.

Clueless . The International style is better. I believe the American Style will ultimately follow the International Style in particular arriving on a straight knee.I'll put this up once more. How is it the music is being played some five bars a minute slower and yet the steps are faster. Answer they hold onto the (and) that is in between the beats and really snap into that next step. Especially on 4 1 which is counted and 4 and 1 and ( hold it ) 2. Remember the ball of the foot arrives before the beat and the heel lowers right on the beat. It is in the Manuals as Ball Flat. There is far more scope for acting in the International Style, The teacher I go to says there is at least 60 percent acting with the way the Rumba is done today. Good Luck

The 2 styles are very distinct .

The relaxed knee action to straight leg has essentially remained in place in the Amer. style as of today , in most schools .

I suspect the " shift " that may be occuring is due to teachers who have been exposed to the Intern. style of motion and are starting to include it in their methods.

Having been around Cubans for more yrs than I care to mention, they are strongly opposed to the way that the motion is now ( and has been )being danced and displayed .
The " natural " action that characterises their dances ( which the Americans incorporated into their syllabus ) tends to make the other methods look artificial ( in Cuban eyes )... but gee , how would we know ??

I've been in two different studios, and the first, an Arthur Murray, taught the traditional Cuban Motion. The second teaches the revised. The instructors competed primarily in international.

They also revised the timing to QQS from SQQ that I had previously been taught. I've heard enough Rumba music to know that some sounds QQS and some sounds SQQ, and I'm rather of the opinion that you should dance to the sound, not follow a rigid rule, but opinions don't pass the checkout.

ericlund. If you do eventually get into the Internation Slyle I would give that counting Q Q S or S Q Q away and count 2 3 4 1. If in the American Style you check on one then why not count it 1 2 3 4 the same as Salsa.

Actually, you SHOULD dance to the Clave rhythm, which can and does occasionally reverse from 3/2 to 2/3 .

The majority of " teachers " will probably not understand this concept.

it is critically important, because its how the dance should be structured rhythmically.

Not that it really matters, because everyone probably devises some form of counting that works for them, but when doing the square Rumba, I have always counted it QQ1, QQ2, QQ3, QQ4, mainly because it helps remind me that most of my turns or block turns or Open Cuban Walk, etc. are going to be triggered on QQ3. When we do the Grapevine, then it can go up to QQ8 to do the entire sequence, and so on.
This topic came up once before, but the square Rumba is the only one I've ever learned. But it does incorporate some Rumba walks and such that I believe are more common in the International style.
Regardless, it is a very cool dance that I have always enjoyed. The hardest thing, really, was keeping my steps super small. It didn't take long to figure out that the square Rumba looks a lot better as a pretty much stationary dance when you are first learning it.

The " count " is not the problem.. its the commencing direction .

There is something known as " call and response " in Cuban rhythms, all emanating from a cultural aspect.

It dictates that the man " beckons " and the lady moves away.. she then responds by moving fwd .

So.. in Sq rumba, the side, together commence, is more accurate than a fwd start ( it follows 1-2 of the bar on QQ )but.. it MUST be on the 1st bar of the couplet .

Terence. Dancing cannot stand still. The type of dancing you often speak of. Can it be danced to Enya singing Only Time or Colm Wilkinson singing
Till You Came into my Life. or Chris de Burgh The Lady in Red. How about Shirley Bassey singing The Greatest Performance of my Life. All of these have been danced , and can be seen, by Wentink. Killick. Burns. How about Lets Get Loud Jenifer Lopez which at the moment seems to be most popular for a Cha Cha. This is the future of Latin Dancing to music. As well as dancing to music not yet written. I think the writting is on the wall. traditional music will take a walk.

Does the words " Latin Music " mean anything thing to you ???....

I seriously doubt it... what is it that you do NOT understand , that the latin dances were predicated on LATIN music.. ya know clave and tumbao.

There is NOTHING remotely latin about the pop garbage you list.

There are hundreds of thousands of latinos that have never, and probably never will ( with few exceptions ) dance to the " music "that you have implied as "suitable latin ".

Your references are ALWAYS about the B/room, social and comp. arena. As i have previously stated.. there is a whole world out there that will NEVER subscribe to the dis service that has been done to their culture thru dance.

I do, however , teach what is presribed in the Intern. style if requested.. even then. I only use authentic rhythms .

Now, do understand... I am not against using such type music for a show or dem. ( even then, its a maybe ).. and the public , as usual, is extremely ignorant ( and many teachers )on the wealth of the indigenous melodies that are readily available .

This is largely due to the mis conceptions ,that movies and TV shows have foisted on the general public.

I have taught Rumba, cha salsa, Mambo etc. for more yrs than you care to know,, I have NEVER resorted to the " pap " that is frequently championed as latin music .

As to " trad. music " walking ,,, there are more latin music releases every week, than can even begin to becompared with the " songs " that you seem to believe are the new trend.. again you show little or no knowledge about the music scene .


Just to qualify and make it clear..

the reference is to Rumba and Cha only.. and so as you know why.. the number of remixes from the 40/50 and 60s being remastered, is huge .