PARTNER DANCE DESCRIPTIONS
Bachata
Bachata is a genre of Latin American music that originated in the Dominican Republic in the first half of the 20th century with primarily African rhythms and also remnants of Indigenous and European musical elements, representative of the cultural diversity of the Dominican Republic population.
The earliest bachata originated in the countryside of the Dominican Republic in the first half of the 20th century. As recently as the 1980s, bachata was considered too vulgar, crude and musically rustic to be broadcast on television or radio in the Dominican Republic.
In the 1990s, however, bachata's instrumentation changed from nylon string Spanish guitar and maracas of Traditional Bachata to the electric steel string and guira of Modern Bachata. Bachata further transformed in the 21st century with the creation of Urban Bachata styles by bands such as Monchy y Alexandra and Aventura. These new modern styles of bachata became an international phenomenon, and today bachata is one of the most popular styles of Latin music.