www.CostaRicaTicas.com

some of you guys talk about dancing with the normal girls.
what kind of dancing?
i am not a dancer but would like to be
what kind of dance lessons do i need?

salsa
cumbia
bachata
reggaton

other good ones but not really for DR
cha cha
samba
swing

You forgot to mention the most popular dance- merengue

Mi Amor,

I've been to the non-working girl dance clubs and of course to the key largo.

The popular LATIN dances in the Costa Rica nightclubs are:

Merengue
Cumbia
Salsa (Danced new york style on 2)
Bachata (is dominican and played sparingly in Costa Rica)

You will also hear american hip-hop and reggaeton in the clubs since the young chicas love that stuff.

So, you must be wondering...Am I supposed to learn all of those dances ? Well, you could if you wanted to be good at all those dances, but that would take years of classes and years of practicing with many partners.

What would I learn first and get sorta decent at it so you can dance with most of the women ? I would learn Merengue first as it is the easiest, then Cumbia (i've always thought it looks funny watching the people hop up and down, but damn these latinas love dancing the cumbia as much as eating gallo pinto)

Salsa is by far the hardest and all you will be doing is learning hundreds of turn combinations...

Here is a another thought, If I had a choice between being a decent spanish speaker versus being a good dancer....I would choose being able to speak spanish. Why ? While the chicas may be momentarily impressed with your dancing skills, you can only really develop good friendships and relationships with the ladies by improving your spanish.

Interesting post Hung Lo. You taught me something. I have been saying I was going to take some dance classes for a couple of years now. I assumed that I would learn salsa. Tell me something and this may be a dumb question. Are there particular songs for salsa and meringue or if a song came on you could choose to dance one or the other, depending on which one you knew. There is a school in San Pedro, close to Machu Pichu, called Mericumbe. A friend took some private lessons there and learned a fair amount in a few lessons . Enough to have a good time anyway.

ok

Man that speak with FORK tongue
( and can use it )

Have ALL the chicas after him,,

Really Nucknfuts

_________________
Throughout the history of mankind there has never been one shred of evidence that supports that life is serious..........
Don't believe everything you think ............

Language is #1, but I will tell you from my experience ... dancing should not be neglected. You dont have to be amazing ... just simple patterns , be a good lead and enjoy yourself

Thirdworld,

Yes, believe it or not, each style of dance: salsa, merengue or cumbia has its own music. To the casual observer, it all sounds the same and all they see is a couple on the dance floor moving around and doing some turns...

Within the first bar of music, you can tell whether the song is a salsa song, a merengue, or a cumbia. A person that has taken classes and has learned to hear the beats of the music can tell within that first second of a song whether it is salsa, merengue or cumbia.

To answer your other question...(From a latin dancer's viewpoint)

You can only dance merengue style to merengue music with only people that know how to dance merengue.

You can only dance salsa style to salsa music with people that know how to dance salsa.

You can only dance cumbia style to cumbia music with people that know how to dance cumbia.

But, if you have learned how to dance all types of latin music, then you will never have a shortage of lady partners.

You can understand more clearly what I am trying to explain by going to...

Merecumbe dance school. There are several locations around san jose.
I would encourage you to take some lessons. There are group lessons and you don't even have to bring a partner becuase many young singles just go there to learn how to dance. They usually have dance socials at the local clubs too.

I believe the cost is a couple of dollars. Good Luck.

You guys forgot my favorite latin dance for when I'm in CR: the "Horizontal Mambo".