Merengue (dance)
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 A couple dances the merengue |
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| Genre | Latin American dance |
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| Time signature | 2/4 |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
Merengue (
/məˈrɛŋɡeɪ/[1]) is a style of dominican music and dance. Partners hold each other in a closed position. The leader holds the follower's waist with the leader's right hand, while holding the follower's right hand with the leader's left hand at the follower's eye level. Partners bend their knees slightly left and right, thus making the hips move left and right. The hips of the leader and follower move in the same direction throughout the song. Partners may walk sideways or circle each other, in small steps. They can switch to an open position and do separate turns without letting go each other's hands or momentarily releasing one hand. During these turns they may twist and tie their handhold into intricate pretzels. Other choreographies are possible.
Merengue was made the official music and dance of the Dominican Republic by Rafael Trujillo. In an origin's version, the dance originated from the slaves working in sugar beet fields. These slaves were connected to one another by a chain strapped to their ankles and had to walk in such a manner as to drag one leg.
Although the tempo of the music may be frenetic, the upper body is kept majestic and turns are slow, typically four beats/steps per complete turn.
In the social dancing of the United States the "empalizada" style is replaced by exaggerated Cuban motion, taught in chain ballroom studios for dances of Latin American origin (cha-cha-cha, rumba, mambo, salsa).
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[edit] Link to Haitian méringue/mereng
According to Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity by Paul Austerlitz, "we will probably never know with certainty the true origin of this music, but theories about it express deep-noted feelings about Dominican identity. One theory links merengue to the Haitian mereng. Although they differ in important ways, the Dominican Republic and Haiti share many cultural characteristics. Like merengue in the Dominican Republic, mereng (in Haitian Creole; méringue in French) is a national symbol in Haiti. According to Jean Fouchard, Mereng evolved from the fusion of slave musics such as the chica and calenda with ballroom forms related to the French contredance (1988: 5-9). Mereng's name, he says, derives from the mouringue music of the Bara, a Bantu people of Madagascar (1973: 110, 1988: 77-82). That few Malagasies came to the Americas renders this etymology dubious, but it is significant because it foregrounds what Fouchard, and most Haitians, consider the essentially African-derived nature of the music and national identity. Dominican merengue, Fouchard suggests, developed directly from Haitian mereng (1988: 66)."
[edit] References
- ^ William R Trumble, Angus Stevenson, ed (2002). "merengue". Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. 1 (fifth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1750. ISBN 0198605757.
- ^ Blatter, Alfred (2007). Revisiting music theory: a guide to the practice, p.28. ISBN 0415974402.
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[edit] See also
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