Merengue: secret wiggle-weapon?

[David Bailey]

People have talked a lot about salsa / MJ crossovers, and there are indeed benefits to doing both - you can translate some moves over between them, learning a new dance discipline is always good for you, and of course you’re likely to pick up style / flavour tips from salsa to apply in MJ, and even vice versa. However, I’m not totally sure that the two dances have a lot in common, apart from both being mass-market popular dances which people know.

But if we look at the much-maligned merengue, I think there’s a good case to make that learning this style may provide more immediate benefits to a MJ dancer than learning salsa. Merengue is so simple, it’s even easier to learn than MJ (!), and it’s done to the same type of beat, but just twice as many of them

But mainly it’s about the Wiggle Thing. Many otherwise superb dancers seem to have trouble with this - from my point of view, I’m never sure with a new partner whether I can lead a wiggle-related move, such as a double-speed arm jive variant. If it goes wrong, she will be moving twice as slowly as me, leading to anarchy and chaos. Or more so than normal, at least.

As a salsa dancer, I will of course sneer at merengue tracks as being beneath me :grin: , but I have to confess that I use a lot of merengue style in the Latin MJ tracks, and rightly so, they work that way.

So, I wonder if learning merengue might help MJ dancers. Wiggling (which I think is generally regarded as a Good Thing) is pretty much inherent in merengue, you could almost argue that Wiggling is the only part of merengue.

Any opinions?

[Lou]

So, I wonder if learning merengue might help MJ dancers. Wiggling (which I think is generally regarded as a Good Thing) is pretty much inherent in merengue, you could almost argue that Wiggling is the only part of merengue.
Interesting idea! :) I tried dancing Merengue footwork with Richard at Portishead a couple of weeks ago, and it's pretty spot on for MJ. Of course, he's a natural wiggler, anyway. :wink:

Hmmm.... maybe a Merengue warm-up prior to a Latin themed class would be a good idea?

[Andreas]

Very good observation there, David :wink:

Merengue is indeed the dance to do to work on ones wiggles. Even more pronounced are wiggles in Bachata but that is also slightly more complicated (easy enough though). Lambada is another one that is better than Salsa for wiggles :whistle:

:waycool:

[David Bailey]

maybe a Merengue warm-up prior to a Latin themed class would be a good idea?
Sure, or even a normal-themed class. We're not talking about a complicated dance here after all :) Any volunteers, teaching people?

[Andreas]

maybe a Merengue warm-up prior to a Latin themed class would be a good idea?

I always used Lambada for a warm-up, with a few Merengue turns. It is still easy enough but gets mind and body kick-started. :D

[David Bailey]

I always used Lambada for a warm-up, with a few Merengue turns. It is still easy enough but gets mind and body kick-started. :D
Merengue has turns? I thought it had kind of slow shuffles... :) :whistle:

[Andreas]

Merengue has turns? I thought it had kind of slow shuffles... :) :whistle:

:eek: :confused: :( :angry: :mad: :tears: :rofl: :wink:

[David Bailey]

:eek: :confused: :( :angry: :mad: :tears: :rofl: :wink:
:eek: :rofl: :worthy: :whistle: :cheers:

[bigdjiver]

They really take their wiggling seriously.


http://www.salsa-merengue.co.uk/VidTutor/merengue/lbaction/int_lba.html

There is at least five video clips on here and several web pages showing how to wiggle, change phase, and walk here.

[Lou]

They really take their wiggling seriously.
http://www.salsa-merengue.co.uk/VidTutor/merengue/lbaction/int_lba.html
There is something quite disturbingly hypnotic about those video clips.... :eek:

[Gadget]

I like this quote:

Make the dance fit the body, not the body fit the dance - the body will break before the dance ever will.
:D

[Lory]

I've been lucky enough to go the Dominican Republic a few times and it's fantastic APART from that b*****y meringue music, it's drives me nuts after the first 20mins. :sick: :tears:

Therefore, it's essential to use a good quality set of headphones and listen to lot's of smooth R&B at regular intervals to act as an antidote, I find it's the only way to cope! :waycool: :na:

[MartinHarper]

Isn't that more of a double-speed thing than a wiggle thing?

[David Bailey]

Isn't that more of a double-speed thing than a wiggle thing?
Yes, in the sense that the rhythm is every beat, not every 2 beats like MJ.
But no, in the sense of "speed" - i.e. merengue turns can be so langorous they're more like slow motion sometimes; you don't really do turns or spins in merengue.

I think the standard merengue step pretty much imposes a "wiggle", that is, a acknowledgement or recognition by the dancer of the mid-beat. That's why I suggested it...

[Andreas]

I think the standard merengue step pretty much imposes a "wiggle", that is, a acknowledgement or recognition by the dancer of the mid-beat. That's why I suggested it...

The wiggle is a natural consequence of the way you step in Merengue: into a straight leg. So you essentially step onto a bend leg and then straighten it. That shifts your hips nicely ;)