Bachata - Tango

[M.A.R.]

Last night I was at the South St.Seaport/NYC, having dinner at a Cuban Restaurant and as I looked down over the outdoor terrace I see people dancing tango.

We went downstairs to the dock between the ships where this was taking place. We sat with our glasses of cabernet/sauvignon and watched the couples glide on the floor, the ladies with their Comme Il Fauts (exclusive tango shoes, learned this term today) and elegant stance and the men leading them as if their were a delicate passionate flower.


Gardel's El Dia que me quieras played on and I was entranced (sp.). As I watched the couples dance I promised myself to sign up for tango lessons. I asked my friend if he thought that bachata would ever reach the international acceptance like tango has. The bachata and the tango have many similarities IMO because they both developed in the bars of the low income barrios. Tango has reached the people of all levels of economic and social classes now and is included in ballroom dancing. Do you guys think that bachata could ever take the route of the tango, as a more passionate elegant genre of music? Maybe as the bachata generation matures and seeks a more refined, elegant bachata we'll see it reach the reputation of the tango. What do you think?

 

[Alyonka]

I like this thread You know, I love tango. My father was really good at it and taught me how to dance it when I was a small. I really think that bachata moves can become popular ? they are just a little bit more complex than merengue or salsa and take a while for a dancer to pick up.

Question: when I was still a teenager living in Europe - there was a very popular video by a French group Kaoma : YouTube - Kaoma-Lambada. The song is called Lambada. When I was in DR and saw people dancing bachata - that reminded me of that video. Does it have anything to do with it? This song was a huge hit many years ago and I still remember it.

 

[M.A.R.]

Alyonka Lambada is from Brazil, and you just brought me back so many memories of when I got married. At the end of the wedding celebration, everyone started dancing lambada, since it was the dance craze of the moment. They all did the line and dance all around the room, it was just so much fun.

btw: Why do you think bachata is that complicated, I think is the easiest thing, now the other latin dances have more complex steps, imo.

 

[Alyonka]

You know, it is strange. I took ballroom dance classes for many years and used to dance volts, tango, mambo, rumba, etc. But somehow salsa and bachata seem to be complicated to me and I have no idea why. I can only dance merengue :ermm: Maybe it is only because I was introduced to these types of dancing only a couple of years ago? Are there any professional dancers on DR1? Maybe they can explain this?

 

[Talldrink]

LOVE this thread... My first two loves: dancing and bachata!!

Bachata is slowly moving up in ranks. They now offer bachata lessons along with merengue and salsa at major dancing studios. However, I dont like 'learned' bachata, is too orchestrated.

I love to dance both bachata and salsa - I get bored dancing merengue. The best is to just learn - follow the rithym and get a good partner. Bachata and salsa can be complicated if you look down at the feet or the others dancing around you. Thats why you have to look up and be in your own world with the music and your partner.

Lambada: I danced that song in SIXTH grade as part of Culture Week during a school assembly! That was so much fun! I was in the ESL Class and our little spanish group taught all those American kids just what we can do with our hips at that early age.

 

[miguel]

Que male eres..........

Do you guys think that bachata could ever take the route of the tango, as a more passionate elegant genre of music? Maybe as the bachata generation matures and seeks a more refined, elegant bachata we'll see it reach the reputation of the tango. What do you think?

NEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!.

Contra, ya veo que tu queres que Gardel se mueva en la tumba, wahahahaha!!.

MAR, let me put it "nice and simple" for you:

Tango is internationally accepted, by just about all levels of economics, as you said, meanwhile crapcha, I mean bachata is still NOT accepted by all levels of ecomonics, NOT even in it's country of origin and that's says A LOT!.

Don't forget that bachata is NOT a new genre, it's been around for generations and still is not accepted by all classes in the DR. It wasn't accepted then and it's not accepted now.

But, I guess everything is possible. Not in the DR though!.

 

[Alyonka]

Yes, that is the thing - how to learn to isolate hips from the rest of your body. Do you think belly dancing has something to do with merengue? Is this another Arabic influence?

 

[Talldrink]

I thought women were born with that ability~!

 

[M.A.R.]

NEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!.

Contra, ya veo que tu queres que Gardel se mueva en la tumba, wahahahaha!!.

It won't happen right now, but like I said when the bachata generations get older it could come back.
but then again look how far it has come in a couple of decades, it was just a couple of decades ago when it was just played in the "cantinas de mala muerte en santiago"???? So I think it is gonna go up in ranks towards the tango status, and btw tango is much older than bachata.

 

[M.A.R.]

I thought women were born with that ability~!

heheheh mujer no!!! like is not true what they say about making love and dancing well.

I think bachata is easier to dance for some people because you don't have to move the hips as much as merengue and salsa.

 

[miguel]

Entiendo.....

It won't happen right now,

and btw tango is much older than bachata.

Ok, then perhaps we can continue this conversation 50 years from now.....

Yes, I know the Tango is much, MUCH older than bachata.

Talk to you in 50......To be continued......

 

[AnnaC]

Here's a couple of videos on Bachata and Tango

YouTube - Sensual Bachata=

YouTube - Tango Argentina=


I don't think we'll see bachata reach the status internationally that the tango has.

At least not in our lifetime

I'll be a traitor here and say that I love Salsa best as well as watching it danced. YouTube - Yanek y Diana - Cuban style Salsa= It's so intriguing.

Here's a slower version YouTube - Israel Gutierrez Performance=

 

[miguel]

Yo tambien......

I'll be a traitor here and say that I love Salsa best as well as watching it danced.

"Take a number" as I am the number ONE traitor as I like Salsa more than all other genres PUT TOGETHER, including Merengue!!.

But back to the topic.

MAR, you may want to try a Julio Iglesias old CD, (late 90's), "Tango". It's pretty good.

Roger and OUT!!!!.

 

[Talldrink]

Anna, thanks for the videos - loved the bachata one the most!!

 

[M.A.R.]

que tumba nota tu eres...

I don't think we'll see bachata reach the status internationally that the tango has.

At least not in our lifetime

thanks a lot Anna :ermm:

Let me object respectfully, but I think it is possible, bachata has reached mainstream in a short time and if it keeps up, of course it can be accepted and danced by many in more classy places.

Last night there by the water and under the nightsky, and the skyscrappers :ermm:you're saying the wine and the ambiance got to me???? :cheeky:

 

[M.A.R.]

But back to the topic.

MAR, you may want to try a Julio Iglesias old CD, (late 90's), "Tango". It's pretty good.

Roger and OUT!!!!.

You mean to tell me that you would still call it "crapchata" after watching that video of the bachata sensual dancers. Didn't you feel something that kept you watching, that's exactly how I felt when I was watching those tango dancers last night, when the woman would run her leg down the man's leg and he would pause just to feel it, it was magic, very sensual, just beautiful, just like that couple in the bachata video dancing to aventura's bachata.

 

[Alyonka]

I thought women were born with that ability~!

We might be all born with certain abilities but some people keep on working on their skills and some don't. A Cuban friend told me that people don't need a reason to dance in Cuba - it is done everywhere and at any point in time. But have you seen people dancing on the street in the US? I have never noticed. I actually only first went to a place in the US where people dance several years ago although I have been here for 11 years. Back home we used to dance at any family gathering and it is normal for girls to take dance lessons at least twice a week.

Do you guys think that in the US people dance salsa and bachata differently from the native countries, in some sort of "Americanized" way?

 

[Talldrink]

Every place dances it a different way... But if you take dance lessons for Salsa - most can follow ON 2 dancing.

 

[margaret]

In my opinion, tango particularly the Argentinean tango as opposed to ballroom tango and International tango, is in a league of it?s own. It includes a wider spectrum of emotions, movements, and variations. It's can be refined, restrained, full of tension, playful, saucy, flirtatious, seductive, insolent, menacing, violent, pensive, sad, remorseful, submissive, reconciling, transcendent and more. I can't say that about bachata, although I love bachata. There are some fine dancers who take it to a whole new level, but I?ve met many men who just don?t like bachata music or dance and they vacate the dance floor and make room for the few people who dance it really well and the majority who just dance the more mundane version of it while they chat up their partner. I've taken Argentine tango lessons and I find it very challenging (no hips!? what?s up with that?!). I?m hopeless at it, unless the guy really constrains me. I don?t follow tango very well. But it?s still on my To-do list, as I really admire it. I never had the opportunity to dance with any extraordinary bachata dancers when I was in the Dominican Republic, where I imagine bachata takes on a whole new form of expression. So for that reason, I?ll keep my mouth shut (...for a change and listen to your thinking MAR.) I was imprisoned in Bahia Principe Rio San Juan. Although I did dance with one chubby bus driver in the 6:30 AM breakfast buffet just before leaving. Thanks to Johnnie, I look fat guys who drive buses in a whole new way.

Here in Toronto, my best bachatas were with one Peruvian guy, a huge Maltese guy, a short little Mexicano, a very handsome Polish guy who is elegant but takes up too much room on the dance floor and an Italian who exaggerates that little hip thing (?down, up-down?). All the salsa dance studios offer bachata and other dances in 2-day workshops at various levels, so there are many non-Latin salsa dancers who are discovering it. But most of my Latino dance partners, don?t really like bachata, although most Latin I know do. I was going to say that if Latin people don?t love it, it will never catch on like tango. But then I thought of the Argentineans that I know who don?t dance tango and that blew my whole argument. I think I need more research.

Yes, gringos/gringas dance a more choregraphed salsa IMO. We didn't grow up with it and you have to remember that most of us don't even understand the lyrics, so that has to influence our dancing. But there are some amazing ones out there, who can follow anyone Cuban, Colombians, Puerto Ricans, Venezuleans and they add tango, flamenco, afro-cuban styling and belly dance to the salsa. But really for the musicality, ritmo and playfulness, we gringas all love dancing with good Latino dancers. But there are a lot of Latin salsa dancers who are pretty boring, doing the same moves over and over again. But it's a social dance after all, and sometimes people take it too seriously. Toronto is mainly On1 with On2 growing in popularity among more advanced dancers.

 

[M.A.R.]

. I was going to say that if Latin people don?t love it, it will never catch on like tango. But then I thought of the Argentineans that I know who don?t dance tango and that blew my whole argument. I think I need more research.

This could be true, last night there were mostly white and asian, I mean they could have been Argentinians, there were even two asian men dancing!!!