SocialDancer. If you can Google Core Rhythm joekdv Choose the third down.
YOUTUBE JOEKDV'S CHANNEL.
Ballroom Latin dance excercise.
If you need to teach the timing do what the four dancers do but use the count of 2 3 4 1. instead of 1 2 3 4. to your own music.
It is a great thing to start a class with. And wouldn't do any of us any harm if we did it at home. Could also be used as a warm down.
Behind the dancers there is a hugh screen with a ladies midriff showing the hip movement that can be added. Then look at the Samba Core Rhythm. If anybody doesn't know what a body tick is they will after watching it. Good Luck.

latia7. Go to Learn the Dances on this site to your left on the home page. Then International Style Latin and choose Cha Cha. Pick the very first one and listen and copy. The first step you will see is, for the man forward on the LF which would be beat two if music was being played.
The answer to your question is in the International Style the count with the music is not 123&4 but 234&1. In the demonstration the counting starts with the word two which is forward LF.
Having said that Sequence Dancers who dance things like The Sally Ann Cha Cha where everybody dances exactly the same steps would break on one with the count of 123&4.

Yes.. and as i stated, with Guajira.. it still does.

Visit a true latino club, and ask the DJ to play Cha.. most will say we dont play b/room music.
when they do play Guajira ( which is very rarely ) one will see the B/room types breaking on 2, and the latinos on 1 with a totally different style and structure .

Again, a lack of understanding about latin rhythms.

The " break " beat is TWO,in Rumba and B/room Cha defined by bass , clave and even piano.

Where the syncop is placed, if it is part of the musical structure, defines its " accent ".

You are confusing DOWN beat with dominance from a dance standpoint.

Prepping any dance with a step is not uncommon, and has little to do with the directional start ( other than its correctness )

NO,
Your choice of " break ", should be determined BY the music being played.

Chances are, that if you are in a b/room setting, 2 will be the correct action.
heres the difference.
The american style Cha commences (man ) side left on 1 back R on 2..on the FIRST bar NB>>.. this is the ...CORRECT direction for ALL latin .
it falls under the call and response theory ( to lengthy).

One might ask.. Well, if I start fwd on 2 on the 2nd bar , then that must be correct, no ?... rhythmically yes, culturally no .

And before it gets raised... the Amer. Rumba is Square and the Bolero breaks on 3.... add mambo on 2 and Salsa on 1 ,2, or 3 dependant on style

I've no desire to visit a "latino club", but I do enjoy social dancing, and I expect (but often don't get) a balanced programme of all the main dance styles. The variety of my evening's dancing is one of its principle attractions, and I'm not about to feel bashful or ashamed that the Cha Cha, breaking on 2, might not be faithful to elements of the historical roots of the style.

If I had such hangups, I'd never dance a tango again, and would have to give up the jive too, just because the current dance has a history. The waltz will have to go too - they didn't do it like that in 17th C., and in fact, we won't dance a step. The band will just go home, and we will all demand our money back.

Dance is a constantly evolving form: and no one stopping off point on the line of development has any more intrinsic validity than any other - and that has to be true of the starting point too. If there are "clubs" that want to dance living history, I wouldn't want to stop them, but if the MUSIC is saying 234&1 (or 123&4), and anyone in the room is doing the opposite, then they're not dancing at all, IMHO.

So that means that most sequence dancers can't dance (but then I knew that already), and they are deaf (which they very probably are, judging by their average age).

There was no inference that you should !

The explanation was given to the several posters who WERE interested in the origins....

And, something you should know.. I have competed ( all levels ) in ALL styles, Amer. and Intern. and coach and adjudicate in both styles ( also examined ).
Your personal choices are fine by me.. thats NOT the issue.. the discussion ( I thought ) was about relevance.. and its applications that are available in the varying degrees of social and comp. dance .

If you believe that knowing little or nothing about the structure of music.. thats OK.. as a Coach and teacher it is incumbent upon me ,to have ALL the info. at my disposal.. how you choose to partake, is your business .

As to visiting a " latin " venue, your life enriching is surely less ,without the experience .

As you tell us so VERY often, I couldn't be in any doubt about your claims to experience (although, of course, it could be all 100% fantasy, like Polished's claims to erudition), but it really has no bearing at all on the discussion, and the repetition does get rather tedious.

Am I implying that "knowing little or nothing about the structure of music" is OK? Don't think so - although from a dancer's perspective, one could be gloriously ignorant of the history of the musical style, and still be the World's #1 in the current style.

If there actually ARE any "latin" clubs in my home city, I very much doubt that I would come out again other than in a body bag, so I'll pass on that one, thanks, but in another place and time - yes, certainly.

My credentials are quite easily checked.. for openers , I lectured at the IDTA congress on Amer. smooth 2yrs. ago.
if you need any more background ( which is on record ) i can e mail it to you .

How could I need to check? This is a public discussion forum. You may or may not be who you claim to be (but actually I don't know who you do claim to be - and I'm not asking, because it wouldn't make any difference).

If, in another universe, Walter Laird, Victor Silvester, Guy Howard and Alex Moore were all happily discussing the topics of the day, I might be a BIT impressed, but ...

As things stand, we are all free to air our views, and to agree, or, indeed, disagree with one another. If my opinions are sound, I would expect a forum such as this to move towards a consensus of agreement with them, if they are nonsense, I would expect someone to say so, and to say why. I am happy to be judged entirely by what I write. I make no claims which imply that my opinion has greater intrinsic validity than any one else's.

Why would I need to?