Merengue Dancing Introduction

Series Summary

The Merengue, a Latin American Dance originating in the Dominican Republic, is an upbeat and fun dance that incorporates quick, light movements. There exist different histories of its origin, one being the story of a war veteran who returns from a war with a wounded leg; upon arrival to his hometown the villagers, out of sympathy, danced with a limp to make him feel better – thus creating the Merengue's distinct motion. Another story relates how African slaves saw European dancing and wanted to dance as well but found the movements too boring, and introduced new motions to liven up the dance. Whatever the true origin of the dance, the Merengue is a fun dance to learn! If you would like to learn how to dance the Merengue but do not have the time, learn from our expert Merengue dance instructor for free, online in your own home.

In this free video series learn from expert dance instructor Leslie Sack as she teaches and demonstrates Merengue dance steps and moves such as body frame position, Cuban motion; learn men's and ladies' basic steps, turning signals, right and left turns, two handed turn; learn the Sweetheart Position, Hammerlock Position, combination to chase, handshake turns; and watch a Merengue dance demonstration.

Video Transcript

" Hi this is Leslie Sack with expertvillage.com. My website is lesliesack.com, and the dance is merengue. This is a little introduction to merengue. It is from the Dominican Republic and it is a Latin dance, so that means that you are going to be standing right in front of your partner, taking little tiny steps. Merengue can mean all different speeds. It is usually pretty fast and it is just the lead is 1,2,1,2. I call it the windshield wiper dance. This is a great dance; it seems really easy, but it is actually a great way to learn your Cuban motion, you hip action, and to just learn some other basic concepts about Latin dancing and turns. So the girls could do lots of turns. And it is a fun dance that you can do anywhere. "