Cha Cha Cha: the origins 

Cha Cha Cha: it’s a Latin American dance from Cuba, that was born at the beginning of the 1900s, when the musician Enrique Jorrin started playing a part of Danzon with a new rhythm syncopated in 4/4. 

It was “Nunca”, a Mexican great success that, following some modifications, was launched as “Laengañadora“. The rhythm was the same as a slow Mambo that Cuban dancers used to dance with a triple hips movement and it had been modified with three steps movement. This is How Cha Cha Cha was born. 

There are a lot of hypotheses on the meaning of the new name: the first supports the idea that Cha Cha Cha stands for the specific rhythm of the dance.It represents the sound of an accompanying instrument (whatever it was) which originally marked the cadence (rhythmic base.

The second theory supports that this dance reproduces the rhythmical sound of the shoes on the floor at the moment of the execution of the triple step. Finally, the third theory supports that “cha cha” is the name of a Cuban rattle, used while dancing.   

This dance is part of the Latin American dance with Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive recognized by the World Dance Federation ( international governing body of sports dance) and, in Italy, by FIDS (Italian Federation sports dance. 

The dance resists the time and it has been the dominant pop rhythm in Latin America for about fifty years.

Characteristics and steps of the dance 

This dance lightens the complexity of Mambo, allowing the dancers, thanks to pauses, to dance in a more harmonic and sensual way. 

Cha Cha Cha exalts irony and shows the hidden sensuality. Being an evolution of Danzon, it had the same musical structure, that is  A-B-A-C and it was this last part that has been modified by Jorrin. 

In this dance the music rhythm time is 4/4 and the speed of the execution is about 28-30 beats per minute.  The counting and the lasting of the beats is: 1,2, 3, 4. The beats all have the same lasting, the first is emphatic (it is played louder than the other three).

The rhythm that is counted during the execution of the steps is: “two-three-Cha Cha Cha”, it doesn’t start from the beginning of the beat, but from the second beat. 

The basis steps are: 

•  2nd tempo : the dancer transfers his weight towards with his left foot, keeping the right foot still; the lady dancer is in front of him and transfers her weight backwards. 
•  3rd tempo: the man transfers the weight of his body backwards, keeping still both of the feet. (The lady transfers her weight towards)
•  4th and 1st tempos (or Cha Cha Cha): the man makes a chassé (they are three little steps on two musical beats and they get resumed in a slippery movement in which a foot “sends away” the other) towards his left (the lady makes a chassé towards her right).
• Both dancers get back in feet together, the man closing with his right foot, the lady with her left one. Si ricomincia invertendo il ruolo tra la ballerina e il ballerino.

The basic step is usually followed by other different figures to create a basis sequence, such as New York, Spot Turn, Hand in Hand and Alemana.

Piece of advice for dancing Cha Cha Cha

For dancing Cha Cha Cha dance you need few but important requisites: 

• A partner: even if it’s typically impossible to learn the steps by yourselves, you won’t ever learn to lead or follow your partner unless you train with them.                    

• A smooth floor: The ideal would be a parquet, but it’s not strictly necessary. Tile floors are good enough, even if after a while feet will start to hurt. Carpets, instead, make it difficult to spin.                                        

• Smooth shoes allow to slip and spin easily. The ideal would be professional dance shoes, but even elegant shoes with leather sole would be fine. Trainers might make it difficult.