How to Do a Basic Bronze International Rumba Routine

The International Rumba is a beautiful dance that allows a great deal of expression and body movement because of its particularly slow timing. Compared to American Rumba, it is considerably slower in tempo, and as a result requires a fine understanding of solid weight transfers, speed of transitions, and good understanding of basic techniques. Below is a Bronze level International Rumba routine you may utilize for practicing the techniques or for competitive purposes.

Things You'll Need

• Dance shoes
• Mirror

Instructions

1. Begin in facing position. Man offers his left hand to the lady and initiates hockey stick to hip twist on beats "4, 1."

2. End in fan position. Man may choose to break side or forward on "2."

3. Continue into an alemana for the lady and follow with an opening out. Finish with a closed hip twist and release the lady into fan position once more.

4. Perform a fan and continue onwards into a hockey stick and end facing forward.

5. You may choose perform an alemana for the lady on the forward break for the man here, or repeat the routine from Step 1.

Tips & Warnings

• Rumba's strongest beats are 1 and 3--remember to show your "slows" very strongly.

• Always perform the routine carefully before attempting full speed with a partner.

Resources

• National Dance Council of America
• USA Dance