The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company

Welcome back! On Monday we started learning cha cha, and we'll continue this through the end of next week. Cha cha (sometimes called "cha" or "cha cha cha") originates in Cuba, and has been evolving as a ballroom dance since at least the 1950s. The first video here is a demonstration by Slavik and Karina, ranked as the #2 professional latin couple in the world until they split last year (you might know Karina from her work on Dancing with the Stars). Slavik and Karina have a very understated and confident style that I love, and Karina especially is a supremely strong and elegant dancer.

The next video is of a competition final from 2005. This is much more similar to how you'd experience a ballroom competition, except normally many more couples would be on the floor (as the announcer mentions, these are the top ranked amateur dancers in the world by invite only). Eugene and Maria, couple #1, are from the United States, and performed at the UCSD competition last year. A final usually involves six couples, and they dance all 5 dances at this level (the video here cuts out the rest).