Do the Merengue
You've seen the dance of the Dominicans and caught the bug. What looks like an incredibly simple dance step is surprisingly difficult and requires skill in the finest of details.
Contents
Steps
Mastering the Basics
- Throw on some merengue music. Fernando Villalona, Juan Luis Guerra, Eddy Herrera, and Toño Rosario are good places to start, though New York merengue has its own veritable following too (think Mala Fe, Henry Jimenez, and Aybar). You could also just find your favorite Internet radio and type in "merengue" and let it do the work for you!
- However, merengue is totally versatile. Since it's a basic step that requires 4/4 time -- which most music is -- you can do this step to just about anything. Give it a try to your favorite artist!
- Take a Latin dance hold. This is a closed dance position. Here are the details:
- Hold your arm out so it makes an L shape at shoulder level.
- The man's left hand holds the lady's right hand.
- The man puts his right hand on the lady's shoulder blade and the lady puts her left hand on the man's shoulder blade; their arms should touch (with a bit of pressure) with the man's arm below the lady's. There should be no gap between the two arms at any point.
- Be close but not too close -- about a foot apart.
- Begin marching in place on the 1 beat. Ladies start with their right foot, men on their left. March so that you take a step on every beat. 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on.
- Men: start on your left foot, marching in place, bending your knees slightly with each step. As you bend your knee and shift your weight, your hip should naturally fall. It is this hip movement that makes the merengue what is. You don't need an excessive hip shaking or gyrating -- just that natural hip movement that takes place when you shift weight.
- Women: start on your right foot, bending your knees slightly, doing the same movement as your partner. Your knees are mirroring each other, but not touching (or, God forbid, ramming into each other). Feel your hips move back and forth, slightly up and down as you change weight with each beat.
- Get into a rhythm with your partner. When you both start to feel the grove, feel free to move on to partner work (in other words, turns. The fun stuff!).
- Men, don't forget to lead! Your partner should be able to close her eyes and know exactly what's happening. With each slight movement, you are cuing her where to go and what to do. It's the slight pressure from the arm you have around her that will do most of it -- don't yank her around!
- At the same time, it's important not to give her false signals. If she feels you start to do something, she'll respond. So make sure you follow through!
Adding Partner Work
- Start traveling across the floor. With this basic marching step (it's one heck of a sensual march), start moving back and forth, left and right. Men, take your partner slowly in a 360-degree turn. Don't rush the music or try to do some impressive double turn -- just take the full 8 beats (or even 16 if you're feeling groovy) to get around in a circle. The beauty of the merengue is in the slow, fluid movements.
- Do 1-handed turns. It's turning time! While still doing the basic step, here are the basics:
- Slight out into an open position. This basically means that the woman slides her hand that's around the man down his arm and grabs his hand -- both sets of hands are clasped now.
- Grab either the left or right hand and drop the other. The man should lift the hand he chooses into the air, indicating to the women how to turn.
- Then, the woman (or man, but the man usually follows in succession) turns to the inside or the outside underneath her arm -- the man will indicate this by turning the woman's hand to the right or left.
- Keep the basic step going the entire time! Turn at the same pace you're stepping -- a casual 1, 2, 3, 4.
- Do 2-handed turns. Slide out into the same open position you would for 1-handed turns, and, this time, lift both hands up into the air. From there:
- The woman goes under both arms in a 360-degree turn. As a result, her arms are now crossed. To get out of this, you have two options:
- The man can turn her back the opposite direction, just repeating the same move back the way she came.
- The man can turn himself, uncrossing the arms as a result, returning to a normal, open stance.
- Do the hammerlock turn. For this one, start the same as the 1-handed turn; that is, raise one hand up in the air but don't drop the other. Turn her to the outside -- as a result, she now has one of her arms wrapped around her back, one arm out, and is positioned at the man's side. The man's hand is resting on the woman's hip.
- If you'd like, keep that momentum and turn in a slow, 360-degree circle. Then, unwind the woman by taking her free hand (the one not wrapped around her), and spin her back the other direction, resuming a normal stance.
- Men, to make sure the woman takes a full turn, place your thumb on her hip and make her face you. It's just a slight repositioning of angles.
- Do cuddle turns. This is the same as the hammerlock turn, only the lady turns to the inside. Because of this, both her arms get wrapped around her and she stands directly in front of the man (as opposed to at his side, like in the hammerlock). But then the man should move her to his side, both her arms still wrapped in front of her. You should now be standing hip to hip, facing the same direction.
- Then, take that momentum and move around in a circle, the woman moving in a larger circle backward.
- If you'd like, take the hand that's on her hip and push her to the other side of you. Then circle again!
Tips
- Merengue is actually a very simple dance and that comes from it's simple rhythm. Listen to the music which should have a constant march-like pulse. Count along with it in your head, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8."
- Be creative - as long as your feet keep marching to that rhythm you can do anything.
- This is a good start, but to excel in any dance takes both practice and training. Find lessons to add a whole lot of pizazz to your Merengue like spins, dips, shines, etc.
- Relax!
- Keep your knees bent. Remember: the knees move the hips.
Things You'll Need
- Music to dance to
- A partner
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