LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Merengue
built 170 days ago
The Merengue is the national dance of the Dominican Republic, and ... to some extent, of Haiti, the neighbour sharing the island. There are two popular versions of the of the origin of the Dominican national dance, the Merengue. One story alleges the dance originated with slaves who were chained together and, of necessity, were forced to drag one leg as they cut sugar to the beat of drums. The second story alleges that a great hero was wounded in the leg during one of the many revolutions in the Dominican Republic. A party of villagers welcomed him home with a victory celebration and, out of sympathy, everyone dancing felt obliged to limp and drag one foot. Merengue has existed since the early years of the Dominican Republic (in Haiti, a similar dance is called the Meringue).
Source:
The original Merengue was not danced by individual couples, but was a circle dance, each man and woman faced each other and holding hands - at arm's length. They did not hold each other closely and the original movements of this dance were only the shaking of the shoulders and swift movement of the feet. There was no blatant movement of the hips like there is today, as native African dances do not move the hips. In fact, African dances, as well as other Indigenous dances throughout the world, consist of complicated steps and arm movements. Tribal dancing does not have "primitive" sexual shaking of the hips, this is only done in Hollywood movies.
Source:
Merengue has its origins on the island of Santo Domingo. Both Haiti and the Dominican Republic claim to have invented it. Haiti claims that a great, war hero returned from battle with the neighboring islands. Unfortunately he had severely injured one of his legs in battle. At the victory feast and dance, everyone danced by dragging one leg so as not to embarrass or insult their hero. The Dominican Republic has a similar story. They claim that a prince was born with a lame leg and that his servants, so as not to insult him, would always dance by dragging one leg.
Source:
Salsa and Merengue are the latin dances of the moment, and the moves danced to the hit song Macarena have made it the first Latin line dance to sweep the country. All three are fun and easy to learn with Cal Pozo, America's best selling dance instructor.
Source:
Merengue developed its form from the square dance, which was the most influential element in most of the binary dances of the Caribbean and Latin America. The "habanera cubana" dance, the Puerto Rican dance and the Dominican square dance or "tumba" are all descended from the French square dance. Like all popular music and dance, the square dance was modified and took on peculiarities from each place. Moreau de Saint Mery observed black people in Port-au-Prince dancing square dances in imitation of the white people. For Carpentier in Santo Domingo, the black musicians gave the original form a much livelier feel. In fact, it was the French immigrants, accompanied by their black slaves and freemen, who disseminated the square dance in Cuba after 1791.
Source:
Merengue remained out of favor with lower class society during the early 1900's because of its nature. Artists including Juan Espínola, Julio Alberto Hernandez and Juan F. García were unsuccessful in their attempts to make merengue mainstream with the lyrics as they were. Following a reduction in tempo from its original form (to accommodate American soldiers who were in the country between 1916 and 1924 and couldn't keep up with the fast-pace of the dance), the merengue began to take-off. Major mainstream acceptance started with the rise of former President Rafeal Trujillo in 1930 thanks to his perpetual promotion of the merengue to his followers. Born into a relatively poor family, Trujillo identified with those who were ... kept from attending upper-class clubs and events and thus made the music the social status symbol of his fellow citizens. In fact, several merengue songs written during his presidency used his dictatorship as a topic.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Merengue