DANCING LATINO, Let’s Travel Radio’s November showcase is a one -hour
special on Latin Dancing. Hear it on www.letstravelradio.com, Nov.25-Dec.15.
Over the past century Latin Music and its resultant dance forms have
exploded in popularity throughout the world, from Africa, where the
rhythms of this genre first started, to major countries in Europe where
it took root, to the portals of South and Central America, and the
Caribbean, where it gained its impetus, to the U.S., where it is
found everywhere people gather to party, to celebrate life.
DANCING LATINO is a world phenomenon. It is a definite part of
the culture of many nations. The music is transcendent, and the
dancing has become an art form. Leading performers have included
the likes of Tito Puento, or “TP”, “King of the Mambo” and Celia Cruz, “Queen of Salsa,” Johnny Pacheco, the music composer and founder of
Fania Records, “the Latin Motown” and the first of many music producers who brought the music to fore along with the dance craze that followed.
From Cuba, from Brazil, from the many precincts of the Caribbean,
from Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, and finally to the U.S., and finally back to Europe where it gathered momentum, DANCING LATINO, has become a world-class component wherever it travels.
Merenque, the Cha Cha Cha, the Mambo, Salsa, Rueda de Casino
aka Cuban Sala, Rumba, Samba, Tango, Folklorico, even Flemenco.
These dances have become part of our culture.
Michael Zufolo for LTR reporting.
