International Rumba: We were taught years ago to use the half beats so there would be a smooth constant body movement throughout the dance. Now the body action seems to be sharp with fast and slow movements , so the question is how do you use the beats and half beats to do this and on what beats are the movement held and when is the Lady making her turns. Thanks

cdroge.How is it that Rumba is now being played at 24 BPM which is 3 bars slower than the official tempo which is 27. And yet appears faster. It is because they hold onto the and count as long as is possible and still arrive on beat 2 right on the button. Watch the 4 1 count which is 4 and 1 and. With an and count before the 4 which comes from the beat before. If the Rumba is a true Rumba it will have eight beats. Donnie Burns from the Dutch Champioinships in his demonstration does a remarkable job of dancing to a Shirley Bassy number The Greatest Performance Of My Life which is sung at 20BPM. This can be found on youtube.
A Spot Turn can be counted 2 and. On 2 you can be facing down the floor then turn on the and count to complete the half a turn. You will find you have to get a move on to dance in time. Good Luck.

If it WERE a true rumba-- none of it would look like the the " original " form ( Danzon ).

You need to study the roots of the dance and you will come to understand, that what is being portrayed as Rumba completely defies its origins .
What is being performed today, is a " corruption " of Bolero danced on "2" , and i might add,this WAS commenced in the correct direction-- backwards, breaking on "3" .

Terence,you may be correct but that does not help me ?

That remark was in response to Serend. post and the quite often misleading statement about " true " rumba.

We should classify it as todays interpretation .

Integrity in dance, is very important to the future of all genres .

Any dance is combination of at least three key things:

Its history - where it came from and how it developed,

Its current technique - as defined by the leading teaching Societies, and

Its continuing development - mostly in the hands of our best dancers, performing at the very highest level, where development is informed by, and respects, the current technique.

Nothing stays the same for long, and there are no absolutes. Long may the process continue.

Long on explanations but short on specifics.

Who out there is going to say that a true Rumba International Style does not have eight beats in one bar of music. Four of the beats being sub beats and are the ones where we come into a neutral position from a high hip to an even hip and then hit that solid beat with our next step. This is the International Style and the only one we are concerned with.

Well, I'll volunteer. But only really to remind you that Laird introduced quarterbeats into Rumba in the 2003 edition of his Technique to achieve ever-faster foot speeds, and (as he says) at a higher level, for the Lady to achieve fast rotational turns and fast progressive body speeds in conjunction with the Habanera Rhythm.

So in 16s it is: at least until the basic tempo gets slowed to the point where we can introduce 32s, but I think the current style already looks grotesque. Where is this going?

CliveHarrison. Don't worry. I know a teacher who would tell you that after a while when enough money has been made dancing to the incrediply slow music the powers that be will up the Tempo. Then we will need choreography that suits the new Tempo. Myself I do like the slower music. 29BPM is a bit too fast. A competition I was at last week , no Rumba was played faster that 24BPM. There is much more scope for acting of which about 60% of the dance is these days is acting with the slower music...
If I can illistrate a point here. Acting. We have the same in New Vogue here as there is in Latin. If you can imagine we seperate from each other and turn back to face. You could do just that . Or you could look and gesture as if you haven't seen each other for the last six months. The lady might even put her head on your chest. As I say it's all acting today.