Rumba Guaguanco

The Dance

Rumba Guaguanco is an Afrocuban folkloric dance and music style that capture the heart and soul of the Cuban street. It also has great importance within the Cuban repertoire and has highly influenced both salsa music and Cuban salsa dance. It is so important that it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage dance.

The dance depicts a mating ritual between a man and a woman, where the man tries to impress his lady partner and the woman fends off the flirtation yet keeps flirtatious herself. This style of dance incorporates a lot of body movement, steps, and a theatrical approach to dancing. 

Once learned the dance enriches any salsa dance, general dancing abilities, and the understanding of Cuba’s culture and music. If you let the dance get into your soul it might even touch you in unpredictable ways, giving confidence in authentic expressions, and assertive playfulness with our sexuality and attraction.

With the strong influence of Rumba in Salsa it’s hard going through an entire party of Salsa without hearing Rumba Guaguanco at least once – it is one of the few dances every Cuban Salsa dancer needs to get to know to fully enjoy and understand Salsa.

The Course

Our course will be very structured, handling the basic steps in the beginning and building up to short routines. Once we are confident in them we go

The course includes 8 lessons, each going through key subjects and a Rumba routine to practice. Often we will end a training session by incorporating the routine into salsa or in a Rumba social to build confidence.

During the first three classes, we will go through the most common steps in Rumba Guaguanco. We will explain the steps, posture, and body movement in great detail, giving you plenty of time to practice the steps and move freely.

In the rest of the classes, we will focus on a practical approach to Rumba. Our intention is to give you the confidence to dance Rumba when the Rumba comes – so no Choreographies, only live dancing and different elements to practice. We will also give focus occasionally on expression and mimics which is an inseparable part of Rumba.

One special class will focus on Salsa con Rumba, so you’ll be able to incorporate what you have learned into Salsa as well, as nowadays many many Salsa songs have Rumba sections in them.

Who is it for?

The course starts from the very beginning and builds up to intermediate level (in Rumba). Both men and women are welcome and no prior knowledge is needed. One class will be on how to incorporate Salsa with Rumba – this particular class requires basic knowledge of Salsa.

Advanced dancers will get a chance to polish their moves, and learn deeper layers of the dance and technique.

The Teacher

Ido Will be the main teacher for the course. We might have guest teachers joining us for some classes.