The Rumba

Growing up I had my fair share of dealings with the Rumba. My first encounter with the dance was when I was around 3-5 years old and I took ballet, gymnastics, ballroom dance, tap, and hip hop at my dance academy. As you may assume I learned the Rumba in ballroom dance. Since that was now over a decade ago if I hadn't had 2 other encounters with the Rumba I doubt I'd remember I ever learned it. My next encounters happened around the same time because during 4th and 5th grade I took ballroom dance class at school and I also spent a lot of time at my grandmothers house and we'd watch shows like Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, and Judge Mathis. In ballroom dance we learned about dances and their history then we learned the actual dance. Some of the dances that I remember are the Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango, and of course the Rumba. Dancing with the Stars featured some of these same dances and more. Below I linked a video with some of the most popular Rumba performances on Dancing with the Stars.

As I stated these encounters were years ago and I don't quite remember much of what I learned but watching the video refreshed my memory of the Rumba a bit and I really like the sensual and elegant moves of the dance. I definitely didn't remember the history of the dance so it was surprising to relearn that it's an Afro-Cuban dance. Unfortunately, I feel as though dances like the Rumba lose some of their history and meaning when unrelated American songs are placed behind them like they do commonly on Dancing with the Stars. It is important for people to know the impact of the African diaspora because America and other countries wouldn't be the same without it.