New York Latin Culture Magazine™

World-class Indigenous, European, African, Asian & Oceanian Culture since 2012

You are here: Home / Culture / Latin Dance NYC

Latin Dance NYC

Latin dance in New York City is ballet, flamenco, tango and folkloric on stage, with reggaeton, salsa/bachata and tango social dancing in dance studios, nightclubs, restaurants and bars.

Latin Dance News

Coming Soon

  • NY City Ballet 2021-22 Season Tickets on sale now. Single tickets on sale August 1 at nycballet.com
  • NY City Ballet’s Fall 2021 Season at the David H Koch Theater in Lincoln Center is Tuesday-Sunday, September 21 – October 17, 2021. Season tickets on sale now. Single tickets on sale August 1 at nycballet.com
  • Arturo Ortiz & 7 Con Calle play salsa for dancing at Gonzalez y Gonzalez in Greenwich Village on Fri, August 6 at 11:3opm & 1:30am. $20 🇵🇷
  • Willy Torres plays salsa for dancing at Gonzalez y Gonzalez in Greenwich Village on Thu, Aug 12 at 9:30pm & 11:30pm. $10 🇵🇷
  • The Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular is at Radio City Music Hall in Midtown, Manhattan almost daily from Friday, November 5, 2021 through Sunday, January 2, 2022.
  • NY City Ballet performs George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the David H Koch Theater in Lincoln Center from Friday, November 26 through Sunday, January 2, 2022.
  • NY City Ballet’s Winter 2022 Season at the David H Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, is Tuesday-Sunday, January 18 to February 27, 2022. Season tickets on sale now. Single tickets on sale August 1 at nycballet.com
  • NY City Ballet’s Spring 2022 Season at the David H Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, is Tuesday-Sunday, April 19 to May 29, 2022. Season tickets on sale now. Single tickets on sale August 1 at nycballet.com
Latin Dance Archive

NYC Dance Festivals

The YAGP Youth America Grand Prix talent audition is one of NYC’s biggest dance festivals. New York City Center hosts Fall for Dance and the Flamenco Festival. The Joyce Theater hosts a summer Ballet Festival and winter Cuban festivals. The 92nd Street Y hosts the Harkness Dance Festival.

Battery Dance hosts the Battery Dance Festival in summer with New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.

In summer, dance festivals spread out upstate at Jacob’s Pillow, Saratoga and others. Kaatsbaan was a hot item in 2020.

More Dance Festivals

NYC Dance Theaters

David H. Koch Theater, Metropolitan Opera House, New York City Center, Joyce

NYC Dance Companies

New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater are New York City’s leading dance companies.

OCA Dance “Pal’Monte”

Tuesday, February 11, 2020
DIXON PLACE
Lower East Side, NYC
On the theme of “The Inner Strength”, Kennyth Montes de Oca and the fine OCA Dance dancers invoke the West African mother goddess of the sea, Yemayá, on their way to that special place in the mountains of the human soul. “Olo ho Yemayá, Olo ho Yemayá, O… ..”

Continue Reading OCA Dance “Pal’Monte”

NYC Ballet

FALL September-October
WINTER January-March
SPRING April-May
DAVID H. KOCH THEATER
Lincoln Center, NYC
–
George Balanchine (Ballets Russes) and Jerome Robbins (Broadway) built one of the world’s great ballet companies.

Continue Reading NYC Ballet

NYC Dance Stores

NYC Dancers

Ballet, Country Dance, Contredanse, Contradanza, Danzón, Habanera, Tango, Swing, Salsa, Bachata, Reggaeton?

Latin dance, both ballet and social dances, derives from a blend of English country dance and Italian court dance in the court of French King Louie XIV. This is not an academic summary, but is our best understanding of the origins of our dance traditions for the moment.

We tend not to think of ballet, the science of dance, as a Latin dance, but it is. Ballet began as an Italian court dance brought to France by Catherine de’ Medici (1519-1589), when she was queen consort and then Queen mother of France (1547-1589).

Italian Marie Antoinette Association dancing at Villa Sorra in Castelfranco Emilia, Italy (Zanico/Dreamstime)
Italian Marie Antoinette Association dancing at Villa Sorra in Castelfranco Emilia, Italy (Zanico/Dreamstime)

French King Louis XIV (1643-1715), the “Sun King” loved to party. Ballet developed in his court, but in a way, so did the social dances of the Americas.

English country dancing began influencing dancing in the court (1558-1603) of Queen Elizabeth 1 of England. It was later introduced to the court of Louis XIV where it became the French contredanse.

The Spanish brought “contradanza,” flamenco and Africans to the Americas. The French brought contredanse and the English brought country dance.

Africa has diverse song and dance traditions. African dances can be spiritual, healing or purely social for fun. Like many social dances, African dance is both an expression of belonging to a group and of one’s own individuality within that group. That probably became even more important during the time of human enslavement because family separation was a standard slaver’s tactic. Separated from family, we create our own families and that is still true in New York City today.

In Cuba Spanish contradanza and flamenco began mixing with West African movement into the “habanera,” the way they dance in Havana. Nobody claims Indigenous origins in the dances, but the music has some, so the dances must too. Colonizers didn’t control everything. If you got free, you fled to the mountains where free Africans and remaining Indigenous mixed together. Anyway, from all this we get danzón, the national dance of Cuba.

French Saint-Domingue was the richest Caribbean sugar colony so it influenced the entire region including Puerto Rico and Trinidad. The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) caused a French and African (Creole) diaspora which influenced the habanera and even New Orleans.

Out of the Caribbean we get cumbia, merengue, salsa, bachata and reggaeton. The habanera is the root of tango, the national dance of Argentina with origins in Uruguay. Cuban flamenco traditions even made the round trip back to Spain (flamenco ida y vuelta) and influenced flamenco there. Dictator Trujillo (ruled 1930-1961) liked his island’s country dance, merengue, and made it the national dance of the Dominican Republic. Swing was created by African-Americans in Harlem.

Ballet almost died when the French Revolution (1789-1799) ended the French court. It survived in the courts of Russia and Denmark and was reintroduced to the world by Ballets Russes of Paris on tours of the Americas (1909-1929).

Choreographer George Balanchine started his rise at Ballets Russes and in New York founded New York City Ballet. His first prima ballerina and the first New York City ballet star was Native American dancer Maria Tallchief. As the Sugarplum Fairy she helped make “The Nutcracker” the iconic ballet.

In New York Broadway dancing mixed together African-American, Jewish and other theater traditions. Modern dance pioneers include Alvin Ailey (African-American) and José Limón (Mexican-American). Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater popularized modern dance around the world. Contemporary dance follows.

In dance, as in most other things, to say this is mine and that is yours is usually ignorant and foolish. We are all mixes of each other.

“Just dance.”

World Ballet Day (Konstantin Yuganov/Adobe)
World Ballet Day (Konstantin Yuganov/Adobe)
Culture

Sponsored by NYC's Leading Brands

Leading brands sponsor New York Latin Culture Magazine including: Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, New York City Center and The City's own NYC & Company.

The project is led by travel writer Keith Widyolar, a marketing and communications consultant who builds brands and businesses through public, media and government relations. He was named a “key Hispanic journalist” and “Hispanic market influencer” by NYC & Company, New York City’s official branding and tourism agency.

The New York Stock Exchange had the team ring its closing bell for Hispanic Heritage Month. We can work for you too!

Sponsor