Latin dance is a general label (and a term in partner dance competition jargon

Glossary of partner dance terms

This is a list of dance terms that are not names of dances or types of dances. See List of dances and List of dance style categories for those.This glossary lists terms used in various types of partner dances, leaving out terms of highly evolved or specialized dance forms, such as ballet, tap...

) that refers to various forms of ballroom dance

Ballroom dance

Ballroom dance refers to a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television....

 and folk dance

Folk dance

The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....

, and can include a wide range of dances originating in Latin America (including Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 and Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

).

Ballroom examples include the cha-cha-cha

Cha-cha-cha (dance)

The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a dance of Cuban origin.It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953...

, rumba

Rumba (dance)

Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings.In some contexts, "rumba" is used as shorthand for Afro-Cuban rumba, a group of dances related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. The most common Afro-Cuban rumba is the guaguancó...

, samba, mambo

Mambo (dance)

Mambo .In the late 1940s, Perez Prado came up with the dance for the mambo music and became the first person to market his music as "mambo". After Havana, Prado moved his music to Mexico, where his music and the dance was adopted. The original mambo dance was characterized by freedom and...

, danza

Danza

Danza is a musical genre that originated in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico. It is a popular turn-of-the-twentieth-century ballroom dance genre slightly similar to the waltz. Both the danza and its cousin the contradanza are sequence dances, performed to a pattern, usually of squares, to...

, merengue

Merengue (dance)

Merengue El camino1ro de Secundaria-In popular culture:* Merengue was mentioned as a song performed between Babs and Charlie in the song by Steely Dan....

, tumba

Tumba

Besides Grave in Spanish, Tumba can refer to:Places:*Tumba, Sweden - a town in Botkyrka, Sweden.*Tumba - an ancient Neolithic settlement in the Republic of Macedonia.*Tumba - a village in the Vranje municipality of southern Serbia....

, bachata

Bachata (dance)

Bachata is a style of dance that originated in the Dominican Republic. It is danced widely all over the world but not identically.The basics to the dance are three-step with a Cuban hip motion, followed by a hip tap on the 4th beat just like in other Latin dances . The knees should be slightly bent...

, bomba

Bomba

Bomba is one of the traditional musical styles of Puerto Rico. it is a largely African-derived music. The rhythm and beat are played by a set of floor drums, cuá and a maraca. Dance is an integral part of the music: the dancers move their bodies to every beat of the drum, making bomba a very...

, plena

Plena

Plena is a folkloric genre native to Puerto Rico. Its creation was influenced by African and Spanish music.-History:The music is generally folkloric. The music's beat and rhythm are usually played using hand drums called panderetas, but also known as panderos or pleneras. The music is accompanied...

, paso doble and bolero

Bolero

Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...

. Some also consider tango

Tango (dance)

Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....

 and Argentine tango

Argentine tango

Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of...

 in this list.

The International Latin dances of Dancesport(recognized by the WDC, WDSF, IDSA, and IDU) are Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, and Jive.

Latin folk dances of Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 include the chacarera

Chacarera

The Chacarera is a dance of Argentine origin. It is a genre of folk music that, for many Argentines, serves as a rural counterpart to the cosmopolitan imagery of the Tango...

, gato

Gato

Gato is a Spanish and Portuguese word for cat.Gato may also refer to:-People:*Gato Barbieri, a Latin jazz musician*Gastón Gaudio, an Argentinian tennis player nicknamed El Gato*Chris Leath, techno producer and dj...

, escondido and zamba

Zamba

Zamba is the national dance of Argentina. It is a style of Argentine music and Argentine folk dance.Zamba is very different from its homophone, the samba - musically, rhythmically, temperamentally. It is European compared to the Samba, in the steps of the dance and in its costume...

. Typical Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

n folk dances are the morenada

Morenada

The Morenada is a music and dance style from the Bolivian Andes characterized by a mixture of African and native elements...

, kullawada

Kullawada

The Kullawada is an Aymara folklore dance that is part of the Bolivia Andean culture. Originating in the region around the Lake Titicaca, it is traditional to be danced among alpaca and sheep wool weavers. The dancers wear colorful, elaborately decorated costumes for the dance, which is meant to...

, caporales

Caporales

Caporales is a traditional Bolivian dance originating in the Department of La Paz, Bolivia; it was created and presented to the public for the first time in 1969 by the Estrada brothers, who were inspired in the Afro-Bolivian Saya character of the Caporal, a dance that belongs to the region of the...

 and the recently created tinku

Tinku

Tinku, an Andean tradition, began as a form of ritualistic combat. It is native to the northern region of Potosí in Bolivia. In the language of Quechua, the word “tinku” means encounter. In the language of Aymara it means “physical attack.” During this ritual, men and women from different...

. In Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 one of the typical dances is the cumbia

Cumbia

Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...

.

See also

• International Latin American Dance Champions
  International Latin American Dance Champions
  The International Latin American Dance Championships were created after the Second World War in England by Elsa Wells, and are now organised by Dance News special events...
  
  
• World Latin Dance Champions