The Cha Cha, also known as the cha cha cha, is a Cuban dance discovered by some dancers from England and America and brought back to their respective countries in the 1950's. The dance studios and dance instructorrs then modified the dance to fit contemporary music. It is similar to the mambo but uses a triple rhythm splitting the fourth beat in response to the music. There are at least three styles of cha cha that remain today, International style, American style and the Cowboy Cha Cha.
Cha cha is danced to many different types of music but the traditional cha cha was danced to Cuban music, Latin pop and Latin rock. Since its origin the cha cha evolved and is currently danced to many forms of music like American pop, rock, soul and even some Country Western songs. The cha cha uses a triple step with a breaking action following every triple sometimes called a rock step. The International cha cha is more staccato and uses larger more dramtic movement that are designed for competition dancing. The American style of cha cha is usually softer, more rhythmical and can be done in smaller spaces like nightclubs, Salsa clubs, cruise ship lounges, wedding recetions and smaller dance studios. There is also a Cowboy Cha Cha that is a choreographed routine for couples on a dance floor that repeats several times during the song.
At the Pattie Wells' Dancetime Center, we specialize in the American cha cha for social, performance or competition dancing. Our Latin dance department is staffed by an impressive number of dance champions and highly qualified dance instructors including Pattie Wells, MaryBeth Hughes, Stephanie Swain, Jose Bello, Dan Gibbons, David Nguyen and Brandon Detty. We use cutting edge teaching techniques developed at the Dancetime Center which incorporates an innovative system using concepts rather than rote memorization of patterns in a three part program of group dance classes, individual lessons and practice parties. This has proven successful for thousands of Southern California cha cha and Latin dance students. Our method has the goal of taking the dancing to the next level from newcomer to accomplished dancer in the shortest period of time possible by focusing on technique, movements, core strength and other essential dance fundamentals.
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