{"id":10229,"date":"2013-08-26T21:49:22","date_gmt":"2013-08-27T02:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=10229"},"modified":"2013-08-26T21:49:22","modified_gmt":"2013-08-27T02:49:22","slug":"salsa-merengue-mash-up-with-wally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=10229","title":{"rendered":"Salsa & Merengue Mash Up with Wally"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first ever Zumba convention session was with Walter “Wally” Diaz<\/a>, a Zumba instructor based out of Coral Gables, Florida. Wally presented the history and background of various rhythms such as merengue, bachata, cha cha, mambo, pachanga, boogaloo, and salsa. He demonstrated the basic steps and variations and then we did a master class. He is amazing! And his assistants (backup dancers?) were as well. I had a fantastic workout!<\/p>\n

Besides getting a workout, the objective of the session is to give class participants the skill to identify the various rhythms and put the steps into practice. Once we identify the rhythm, we should listen to the song several times to identify the intro, musical phrase, chorus, musical bridge, and final cut (outro) to apply the Zumba formula. Here are some of the photos I took from that amazing session.<\/p>\n

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MERENGUE<\/strong>
\nThis is a two-step dance (almost like marching), but the knees are slightly bent and hips move side to side like a pendulum.<\/p>\n

BACHATA<\/strong>
\nThe basics to the dance are three-step with a Cuban hip motion, followed by a tap that is often accompanied by a “pop” of the hips on the 4th beat. Knees should be slightly bent so that you can sway your hips easily. The hip movement is an important part of the dance.<\/p>\n

CHA CHA<\/strong>
\nDanced with two slow movements and three fast ones. It’s easier to demonstrate than describe in words. Just remember to cha cha cha.<\/p>\n

MAMBO<\/strong>
\nStep touch three times then step back.<\/p>\n

PACHANGA<\/strong>
\nA “happy go lucky” dance of Cuban origin with a Charleston flavor due to the double bending and straightening of the knees. Step, step, double kick (Charleston step).<\/p>\n

BOOGALOO<\/strong>
\nYou can use all rock and roll steps with the basic steps of salsa. <\/p>\n

SALSA<\/strong>
\nThere are eight beats, but beats 4 and 8 are pauses. The pattern is right-left-right-pause then left-right-left-pause.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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My first ever Zumba convention session was with Walter “Wally” Diaz, a Zumba instructor based out of Coral Gables, Florida. Wally presented the history and background of various rhythms such as merengue, bachata, cha cha, mambo, pachanga, boogaloo, and salsa. He demonstrated the basic steps and variations and then we did a master class. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21,1617],"tags":[2147,1169,2148,951,943],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10229"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10243,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10229\/revisions\/10243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}