It came to my attention recently that some interesting academic research has been done on Salsa dancing. I have listed below linnks to a few articles that readers may want to look over.

1. A research study was done in Jamaica that showed there is a correlation between dance ability (skill), people having a high degree of body symmetry, and overall attractiveness.

2. The link below brings up a fascinating article written by Joanna Bosse, a Bowdoin music professor. (Bowdoin is a small liberal arts college located in Maine.)

She reports on cultural/ethnic differences in how dancers think about Latin dancing, learn to dance, and see the role of dance in their lives.

For example, Bosse says: "Latin American culture is one place that many non-Latinos turn to connect to themselves physically. There's something about it, a liberation they don't feel they can have in their everyday existence."
Bosse found that many Americans who learn Salsa focus on the hips and sensuality. However, members of other ethnic groups are more likely to focus on other aspects of the dance. For example, they may be more prone emphasizing the value of dancing to stay physically fit. It's a very interesting article. The link is below if you want to read it.
http://www.bowdoin.edu/news/archives/music/000224.shtml

3. A medical doctor named Rita Hargrave who is associated with the University of California at Davis' Department of Psychiatry, has spoken at a medical meeting about the mental health value of dancing Salsa. She gave a talk titled: "Mambo Madness: Salsa Dancing as an Intervention for Depression."

Here is the exact summary (verbatim) from the conference schedule of what her talk was to be about: "Social dancing has been associated with a decreased incidence of dementia and significant reduction in depression. Salsa, the most popular form of social dancing, holds a special spiritual/cultural importance for many African American, Afro-Caribean, and Hispanic elders. In this talk, the history of Salsa, the cultural appeal of Salsa, and Salsa dancing as an intervention to reduce depression will be discussed."

She is clearly a serious dancer with a tremendous store of knowledge on Salsa history, the music, the musicians, etc. I am in the process of attempting to get the text of her talk about how Salsa dancing reduces depression. If I obtain it, I will put it on this site as well!

4. The link below has an interesting article by Stanford instructor Richard Powers on the health benefits of dance. He summarizes the findings in an article from The New England Journal of Medicine on the effects of recreational activities on mental acuity in aging. It's very interesting and easy to read. Try both of these links; I believe they both get you there. socialdance.stanford.edu/syllabi/smarter.htm or dance.stanford.edu/syllabi/smarter.htm

5. Some good texts on Latin and Cuban music, as well as the brain's chemistry while listening to music are listed below.

Tango: the Art History of Love by Robert Farris Thompson. (Pantheon).
Professor Thompson is Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art at Yale University.

Atlas de los Instrumentos Folkl?rico-Popular de Cuba (Atlas of the Folkloric-Popular Instruments of Cuba)
Note: the link below gets you to info on the author, Olava Rodriguez, who is also director of the Center for the Study and Development of Cuban Music
http://afrocubaweb.com/cidmuc.htm

Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, by Ned Sublette
Sublette, who lives in NYC, is one of the foremost authorities on the history of Cuban music. He's quite a good speaker, too; I heard him lecture in the D.C. area and it was really fascinating. This book is a fabulous, thorough reference on the subject of the development of Cuban music. It's a "must read."

This Is Your Brain on Music and The World In Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature, both by Daniel Levitin The books are fabulous, and have a vast reach in terms of scope. The first addresses how music affects the brain's chemistry. The second discusses, among other things, the thesis that music made civilization as we know it possible, by enabling people to work together cooperatively in large groupings, and more! He points out that the most primitive languages don't distinguish between the concepts of music and dance; that initially the words for these concepts were one and the same. And in studies on the brain, if someone is lying down listening to music, it is the motor cortex (which controls movement) that is activated. These are fabulous books.

6. Here is a side of Salsa that certainly isn't one that leaps to my mind----the economic impact of the dance. There was a nice article in The Economist in May, 2008 about the effects of Salsa on the economy that made some interesting points, and certainly had an eye-catching title!!

Just seeing Salsa referred to as an "export" was a bit startling, but it made perfect sense. Here is the article below. Note that I added the bold in the first paragraph.

Selling rhythm to the world

Mar 27th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Cashing in on a global dance craze

ASKED to mention exports to Europe or the United States from Latin America and the Caribbean, many people might mention coffee, bananas or, less happily, cocaine. Now add to that list a hugely successful cultural export: salsa has become the biggest international dance craze since the advent of rock'n'roll in the 1950s, and dwarfs even the popularity of tango during the 1920s. It has spawned a new niche for the tourist industry, as stiff-hipped northerners fly south to learn to loosen up.

Salsa has also helped to fuel a revival of interest in tango. But whilst tango, with its slow, strenuous movements and melancholy music, remains a minority interest, salsa's worldwide appeal shows no sign of weakening. Almost every city in Europe now has a cluster of clubs offering classes at all levels, with Britain, Germany and Scandinavia especially well-served. Salsa is also a passion in Japan, and is taking hold in India and China.

Salsa's history is much disputed. As the name implies, it is a "sauce" of several ingredients: Cuban son and mambo figure, but so do moves inherited from American jitterbug and jive. A style broadly identifiable as salsa (though the name came later) evolved among Puerto Rican and Cuban exiles in the United States in the late 1960s, and then moved back to Latin America.

Its appeal spread outside the region in the 1990s, for reasons that are not hard to divine. A fast, intimate couple dance, it allows much contact between partners, generating sexual frisson. Salsa music is intricately textured, offering rich melodies and virtuoso musicianship at a time when its main European consumers, the over-30s, see mainstream pop music as bland.

Cuba, with its hunger for tourist dollars, has been quick to see salsa's earning potential. "Lady Salsa", a musical featuring spectacular dance routines dramatising a government-sanctioned potted history of Cuba, has toured the world since 2000. British, European and Japanese tour operators now offer salsa holidays in Havana, including two hours of dance tuition daily with professional dancers and nightly visits to clubs. It is also easy to arrange private lessons in a cramped apartment; though technically illegal, these will earn the instructor a month's white-collar salary in two or three hours.

Cuban salsa is vigorous and athletic, with much clockwise circling, its African roots clearly evident. Puerto Ricans prefer the "New York style" developed in the 1980s. This involves straighter movements, the dancers moving to and fro as if on tracks. Many Americans go to Puerto Rico for salsa lessons; a few European operators now market it too.

Colombia and Venezuela share an elegantly restrained style, with much back-stepping, smaller hand-movements and little use of the elaborate, arm-tangling moves beloved of Cuban dancers. Despite a profusion of world-class bands and venues, neither country has yet attracted many salsa tourists. Cali, Colombia's third city, boasts perhaps the densest concentration of dance clubs in Latin America. Residents of Juanchito, a Cali suburb, are said to learn salsa as soon as they can walk. At weekends the clubs hold contests where dancers as young as six don glittering tuxedos, or high heels and lipgloss, to compete in frenetic dance routines.

The Dominican Republic is an anomaly. It has produced several top bands but salsa is barely danced except by tourists. The locals prefer merengue, at carwashes equipped with bars. At weekends the forecourt is filled with tables and a live band. Salsa may come, but for now if you want to spend Saturday night at the carwash you'll need to dance merengue.

7. A lot of research has been done on the health benefits of dancing. Below is some general information on that subject plus a bibliography of books and articles.

Listening to music that one likes assists people in feeling better and getting endorphins flowing. So does physical exercise. So does socializing--being with friends. Dance blends the benefits of socializing, listening to music, and the exercise of moving to music---all wrapped up in one activity. It is hard to imagine any activity with greater healing powers. Below is some research with web links that provides more detail on the biochemical mechanism for this, as well as anecdotal examples.

And of course Cuban Salsa is even a better tool for increasing well-being than ordinary partnership dancing because of how social it is with the continuous partner exchanges!
Don't miss out….join a dance class to take advantage of this fabulous tool for well being.

Click here for Bibliography.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH ON SALSA DANCING

Selling rhythm to the world

Cashing in on a global dance craze