The tempo on the video on last years Rumba Final which is on
the dancingchannel.tv. You can take it from me without checking yourself is played at 24 bars per minute. The last dance as a competitor for Brian Watson and Carmen is also 24 bars per minute.That's a long way from 27-29 which it used to be, and miles away from 32 which isn't uncommon on the Social scene. The dancers today use a hip movement far more than even a few years ago. Slow music more hips. The first thing to go if the music is fast is the movement of the hips. There isn't enough time. The Foxtrot Final on the same program was 28 bars per minute which is a far cry from 30- 32. With the slower music being played in those two dances it must have some influence on how the dances will be performed. What do you think.

Because its International Style, not American Style!!

ClivelHarrison.Actually in Lairds Book 1998 it says 27-29 bpm. It changed and you have just 27 bpm in 2003. The next one will be 25 bpm. This is the Tempo that it coming straight off the disks. This is the Tempo being used in major competitions, and sometimes one beat slower. If you follow Latin you will have noticed that in a demonstration for years they have been dancing to slower music. The next question to come up is. How come if the music is slower they look so slick. The answer is the foot moves into place fast right on the beat. It has to move fast to catch the beat, because they have stretched the bit in between to its limits on that count of and. There is the movement of the hips , which never stop. To faster music it gets lost.So with the change in Tempo we have a change in style.Good Luck

Anne

In 2003 edition, Laird writes: "Knowledgeable dancers now understand that fast music does not assist in the achievement of fast, artistic, controlled, high quality dancing. The control of weight transfer will suffer. The control of foot and body speeds will become erratic. In fact almost every facet of each dance will be affected and the result will be a dramatic loss of quality, mood and character - a complete breakdown of the desires and objectives of the art of dancing!

The vast improvement in the standard and quality of dancing over the past two decades is, without doubt, directly related to the steady reduction in tempos during this period."

Methinks he has a point.

ClivalHarrison. When Andrew Sinkinson gave his farewll dance a Foxtrot at Blackpool. The tempo he danced to was a shade over 24 bpm. He really made the most of the music.

The reality is this--Most dancers have not aquired the skills to perform ( comp or show ) at slower speeds .

It takes many yrs of floor time , to develop the characteristics , of the the "swing " dances. if you then apply the same principles to Latin, the same rules are in effect.

One only has to look at how the speed for Bolero was danced ( forties and fifties ), and the speed, how its " child "-- Intern. Rhumba was originally performed .

As they say-- the wheel turns .

Laird (6th ed, 2003) gives 27 bars/minute as the tempo for standard rumba.

"The tempi for each dance shall be:

Waltz
28-30

Samba
50-52

Tango
31-33

Cha Cha Cha
30-32

Viennese Waltz
58-60

Rumba
25-27

Slow Foxtrot
28-30

Paso Doble
60-62

Quickstep
50-52

Jive
42-44"

This is per the IDSF Web Site.

Here is the web address.....

http://www.spaeker.de/ru/corules.htm#Rule5_11