As music (and dance) form, is mostly strongly identified with the Dominican Republic. Its vibrant rhythm, infectious horn lines and contagious lyrics has made Merengue (like Salsa) a transnational phenomenon, spanning an increasing the number of adepts around the world in an ever-shrinking globe.

History of Merengue

What is not commonly know is that there are several kinds of merengue in the Dominican Republic alone, and there have been forms of the merengue indigenous to other Latin American countries, some of which have become extinct.

The from of the merengue that we are most familiar with originates from El Cibao region of the Dominican Republic and is called Merengue Cibaeno. It was considered by some to be the music of the underclass, a little like what bachata is now. The merengue’s rise to prominence and acceptance by all classes was stimulate by two key events.

The first was its role in maintaining Dominican cultural identity from the time when the United states took over the running of the Dominican Republic’s customs house in 1905, which has great repercussions on national sentiment. The second was the adoption of the merengue as a national symbol by the dictator Rafael Trujillo. These factor are largely responsible for the dominant portrayal of the Dominican Republic as the home of the merengue.

Merengue the Dance

The Merengue is an extremely accessible dance, mainly because the level of coordination between legs and arms is less crucial to beginners dancers than, for example in Salsa. People can, with little or no instruction, meringue straight away. Ladies in particular can learn to dance it very quickly, as long as they receive a good lead.

In many places, instructors tend to teach off meringue into salsa by introducing the armwork in the merengue and fitting the footwork later in salsa. This is a little unfair to merengue, since learning dancer tend to perceive the merengue as a poor person’s salsa, instead of being a rich dance form in its own right.

The basic merengue is danced as a walk, a step being taken with each leg in alternation on every beat. The amount of hip action varies according to personal preference. It is considered an asymmetrical dance because, in the basic walk, the same leg is used at the beginning of each new bar of music.

Dancing merengue to time is easy because the beats are usually obvious, but the timing aspect of merengue is kept simple for a reason. It’s because merengue is more than just about stepping on the beats. It’s aboput dancer expressing themselves to music, and the merengue’s flexibility is supposed to encourage just that. What happens between the beats of the music is just as important.

The real trick is dancing in a manner that reflects the rhythm structure, the music pulses and the way the melody weaves through it. Merengue is an energetic, contagious, fun, sexy and an elegant form of dance.