How to Dance the Cha-Cha: Basic Forward & Back Steps

Series Summary

The famous cha-cha ballroom dance was invented in Cuba in the late 1940’s and early 50’s from a new musical style developed by composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín known as cha-cha-cha, or chachachá, which combined rumba and mambo rhythms. The name comes from the sound that the dancers’ shoes would make on the floor when moving to this new beat. The cha-cha is danced in 4/4 time, requiring small steps and a lot of hip motion. It remains a popular dance in international competitions.

In this series of free video dance lessons you’ll learn how to dance the cha-cha-cha. Expert dance instructors Susan Fisher & Alex Ruiz will teach you all the basic steps of the cha-cha-cha, including how to get the right posture, understanding the rhythm of the dance, and a variety of breaks, crossovers, and turns that will have you dancing like a real pro in no time.

Video Transcript

" On behalf of Expert Village my name is Susan and this Alex, we’re here at Yuca Lounge with Salsa Mia and today we’re going to teach you the basics of Cha-Cha-Cha. Okay so now what we’re going to start working on is on the basic steps of Cha-Cha-Cha. Okay Cha-Cha-Cha is a really formal dancing involves some body movement and some coordination. Our first basic we’re going to go forward and back. Okay we’re going to start dancing on the second beat of the time and we’re going to go 2, 3, Cha-Cha-Cha, 2, 3, Cha-Cha-Cha so we do this on 2, we go back to the right, step in place with the left and on the first Cha-Cha, we’re going to bring our right in front, Cha-Cha-Cha and we go 2, 3, Cha-Cha-Cha, 2, 3, Cha-Cha-Cha, 2, 3, Cha-Cha-Cha, 2, 3, Cha-Cha-Cha, is always done in place when you do your Cha-Cha-Cha, 2, 3, Cha-Cha-Cha, 2, 3, Cha-Cha-Cha."