Rumba

Rumba's development in Cuba dates back to the middle of the 19th century, during the Spanish colonial period. The original meaning of rumba refers to a community party, usually outdoors. Neighbors would gather to dance at such parties. In this sense, many claim that rumba refers as much to a festive atmosphere as it does to a specific dance music genre.

As is the case with all those music genres derived from Africa, the participants would play instruments like drums or use common artifacts as percussion instruments. This would be accompanied by hand clapping, singing, and of course, dancing. The occasions for these rumba parties, or "rumbones", would be events like birthday or baptism, a holiday, wedding or welcome home party. This tradition still persists in Cuba. Below is a video demonstrating the fundamental steps of Rumba:

Rumba has three main divisions: the yambú, the guaguancó, and the columbia.

The yambú is performed in slow tempo and is often thought of as an old people's dance. The dancer's gestures may mimic old age and/or the difficulty of daily tasks. And in yambú, you don't perform the pelvic movement.

The guaguancó is the modern, urban form of rumba. Its opening section, usually wordless vocal flourish reminiscent of southern Spanish singing, is called la diana, the Spanish word for reveille. After an elaboration of the text, called decimar, a chorus enters with a repeated refrain in the section called the capetillo, and here the dance element "breaks out": a couple, dancing apart, simulates the man's pursuit of his female partner, and her attempts to turn away and cover herself. The tempo of the guaguancó  is slightly slower than that of the columbia  and faster than the yambú.  The dancer's purpose in the guaguancó  is the vacunao,  or the vaccination. In her book Rumba, Yvonne Daniel presents a graphic description of the dancers in the guaguancó.  She compares the choreography of this dance to "a rooster chasing a hen, preening himself, puffing his chewst oput, strutting about, and relentlessly pursuing his potential mate." As the performance continues, the couple goes through several dance steps simulating a process of attraction and rejection. At the appropriate time, the male dancer executes a vacunao  by gesturing  with a pelvic thrust toward the woman. She responds with an accepting gesture and the ritual is consummated.

The columbia began in the rural areas of Matanzas, and is a male solo dance that features many acrobatic and mimetic movements. This may be the most complex form of rumba. In it, the dancer imitates ball players, bicyclists, cane-cutters, and a variety of other figures. He may also reproduce steps of the Abakuá íreme.

Below is a video demonstrating Columbia: