Bailes populares Dance
Popular dances are the dances of the countryside, the street, the solares and the dance halls. Unlike the salon dances, they don't come from European ballrooms but from the son and Afro-Cuban rhythms: from the oldest rural forms such as nengón and changüí, through the son, to the casino that timba is danced to.
From the countryside to the city
The oldest layer comes from eastern Cuba. Changüí arose in the early 19th century around Baracoa (Guantánamo), in the sugar refineries and rural communities of enslaved people. It descends from the nengón and is related to the kiribá; together they are seen as predecessors of the son.
The son arose in the late 19th century in the mountains of eastern Cuba, around the Sierra Maestra. Around 1909 it reached Havana, and in the 1920s radio and records made it the dance of all Cuba.
Alongside the son
- The bolero arose in the 1880s in Santiago de Cuba, within the trova: slow and romantic. In the 1930s and 1940s the bolero-son was popular.
- The guaracha is fast, comic and satirical. Its witty lyrics suited the son, and many bands played both.
- The pilón became a dance craze in the 1950s, created by singer and bandleader Pacho Alonso and percussionist Enrique Bonne. Its rhythm follows the motion of pounding sugarcane.
Casino developed from the mid-1950s in the dance halls, named after the casinos deportivos. Its basis is the son, with figures from mambo, cha-cha-chá, rumba guaguancó and North American jive. Typical is the couple's circular movement, unlike the linear salsa styles of North America. Casino was traditionally danced contratiempo, today more often a tiempo. Casino gave rise to the rueda de casino, the circle group dance with called figures.
Timba, which arose in the late 1980s, is danced as casino, with plenty of room for rumba and Afro-Cuban movement. It is also linked to despelote, a provocative, sensual dance style. Read more about the background in the history section.
Dances
- Timba
How to dance timba: Cuban popular dance at its most intense. Despelote, the bomba, reggaeton and how dancers react to the gear changes of the music.
- Casino
Casino, the Cuban partner dance from 1950s Havana: closed and open position, figures and turns, and how it relates to timba.
- Changüí
Changüí, the rural dance and music of Guantánamo and an ancestor of son: danced without clave, with a gliding step to the tres and the marímbula.
- Son
Son dance, the foundation of all Cuban partner dancing: smooth, intimate and grounded, danced close to the partner. The roots of mambo, casino and salsa.
- Pilón
Pilón is a cheerful Cuban dance and music from the early 1960s, created by composer Enrique Bonne and singer Pacho Alonso, both from Santiago de Cuba. The arms imitate pounding coffee in a pilón (wooden mortar).
- Guaracha
Guaracha dance is son dancing at a faster tempo and with a lighter, more playful attitude — the physical expression of Cuban popular music's great comedic tradition.
- Bolero
Bolero dance is the slowest, most intimate expression of Cuban partner dance — a close embrace, subtle movement, and complete surrender to the emotional weight of the music.
- Kiribá
Kiribá is an old peasant dance and music from Baracoa (Guantánamo), which together with nengón is a forerunner of changüí and son.
- Nengón
Nengón is an old peasant form of son from eastern Cuba, rooted in Baracoa (Guantánamo) and with its own variant in the Cauto, the nengón del Cauto. Together with kiribá it is considered a forerunner of changüí and son.
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