Latin Dance Research Paper

Christopher Ledesma

Professor Adrienne Stroik

History 151

13 April 2017

Which Latin Dance Appeals to You? Dance has been around for ages. It comes in all different forms, styles, and purposes. From the four main purposes of early dance such as, fertility, healing of the sick, warfare, and even solidifying the community. To even partaking in social dancing. It is universal and something everyone can do no matter a person’s ethnicity, religion, or gender. Instead of the mind expressing the emotions that we are feeling, many can use their bodies by dancing instead. Some dance to the rhythm of music or even just simply moving their bodies without music. If there is one thing that many cultures all over the world have in common, it is dance. Dance

Or if they have, they might not have heard a lot about it and think that it is something that just happened over a matter of a few years. But actually, Bachata, has been around since the early 20th century and very few people are aware of this. In an article it states that, “During this time, bachata began its development as a style in the Dominican Republic. Early bachata was a mix of bolero music with traditional African elements, a new musical fusion and a breath of fresh air for the island.” (My Dance Productions). Even though many felt that this new dance was something fresh and exciting for the island, many also thought rather poorly of it. People that were apart of the upperclass frowned upon the dance style and thought of it as dance that was for the poor and uneducated. Bachata was also seen as being vulgar. The reason why many people think that Bachata has just emerged in recent years is because it was censored for so long. This was done by no one other than the man himself, “General Rafael Trujillo (1891-1961) ….assumed control of the Dominican Republic in 1930.”. (History Vault). He was known as a very cruel dictator and for abusing the peoples human rights. While he was in power, bachata was never recorded because of the censorship that was going on around the Dominican Republic. The lack of popularity of Bachata was mainly political. In 1961, Rafael Trujillo was assassinated. After his assassination Bachatas were able to be recorded. But even after Trujillo’s assassination, bachata was still not a big hit with the people in certain parts of the Dominican Republic. It had made way in areas such as brothels and bars, but not in other areas. On a website article, it states that, “The word bachata was even viewed negatively.”. (UdemyBlog). It was not until the 1980’s when bachata began to gain some popularity in the Dominican republic. Eventually it started being