Merengue is a partner dance style that originated in the Dominican Republic. It is set to merengue music, the Dominican Republic’s national anthem. While ballroom merengue dancing is the country’s official dance, there are also club and folk versions of the dance.
In the Dominican Republic, Merengue dancing first gained popularity in the mid-19th century, though it was derided by the upper classes in favor of native dance forms such as the Tumba. Merengue may have gotten its name from a segment of upa, a contemporary Cuban dance.
Merengue was divisive because it was popular among the poor in rural areas, featured African rhythms, and frequently featured racy lyrics. With the help of professional ballroom musicians and innocuous lyrics, merengue became increasingly respectable and accepted by the Dominican Republic’s upper classes during the first few decades of the twentieth century.
Merengue music is closely related to Haiti’s Méringue, which is also known as Meringue. In 1930, dictator Rafael Trujillo declared merengue dancing and music to be the official national forms of the Dominican Republic. Despite the violent anti-Haitian policy he developed later in his reign, he may have been inspired by his partially Haitian background.
Merengue dancing is distinguished by a stylized limping step known as paso de la empalizada, or “pole-fence step,” in its traditional form. According to legend, the style was created to imitate or flatter a limping wounded war hero or government leader. The empalizada makes the dancers’ hips sway, and partners’ hips should ideally move in lockstep throughout the dance. In addition to other ballroom choreography, a couple can do slow turns, dance sideways, circle each other, and turn independently. Merengue dancing is taught as a Latin nightclub dance in dance studios all over the world, though the Dominican Republic’s empalizada is frequently replaced with the more exaggerated Cuban hip motion used in other Latin ballroom styles.
Club merengue is a less formal style of merengue dancing that originated in Latin America’s nightclubs. Despite the fact that it uses many of the same dance moves as ballroom merengue, the tone is usually more eroticized. The basic step can also be more flamboyant than the empalizada or Cuban hip motion, and dancers can perform solo or with partners. Folk or folkloric merengue, a more traditional style of merengue dancing, is still performed in rural areas of the Dominican Republic.