User:Wallaceds28/Sandungueo

Article Draft

Origins

Sandungueo, or perreo is a dance that involves front-to-back pelvic thrusts in swiveling movements of the hips and pelvis, mirroring movements of sexual intercourse, specifically, anal sex or “doggy-style”. The general attitude of the dance is seduction, with most of the dance is made up of the female grinding her backside into the male’s crotch. Alongside the sexual insinuations within the movement, there are several natural improvisations and role reversals.

Drawing on research conducted in Cuba by ethnomusicologist Vincenzo Perna (see his book "Timba, the sound of the Cuban crisis", Ashgate 2005), author Jan Fairley suggested that this style of dance, along with other timba moves such as despelote, tembleque, and subasta de la cintura, in which the woman is both in control and the main focus of the dance, can be traced to the economic status of Cuba in the 1990s and to the choreographic forms of popular music dancing of that period, particularly in relation to Afro-Cuban timba. As the US Dollar (which functioned as a dual currency alongside the Cuban Peso until 2001) became more valuable, women changed their style of dance to be more visually appealing to men; in particular, to yumas ("foreigners"), who had dollars. This tension between use of the female body as both an objectified commodity and an active, self-created persuasive tool is one of the many paradoxes dembow dancing creates in Cuba.

Further, Cubans attribute this women-led style of dancing as originating from the Carribean, where the waistline movements of whining are quite similar to Sandungueo. Sandungueo has both originated from and influenced several other styles of hip-oriented sexual dancing, including American twerking, grinding, and bootydancing. Sandungueo also borrows gestures from other Latin American dance styles such as salsa and merengue.

Movements

Typical gestures of Sandungueo consist of pelvic thrusting, mimicking anal sex, where the female is typically bent over, with her backside swiveling the male’s crotch. These gestures mirror other dance styles such as twerking or grinding, but there are unwritten rules of appearance that make Sandungueo distinct. For example, usually the female’s hips sway more vigorously into the loose male’s, and the female’s knees are flexed downwards and upwards, similar to salsa and merengue.

The sexual dynamic in the movements creates a character for each dancer to fulfill, specifically a role for the designated male, the “penetrator” and the female, the “penetrated”. However, the concept of dominance within traditional social dance, which is typically assigned to male roles, is subjugated in Sandungueo. The female dancer is considered to be in control of the partnered dance, while maintaining the “penetrated” role. Often, the female uses this level of control to lead the male into doing what she likes. Additionally, the female dancer is known to terminate the dance by walking away if she disapproves of the male’s behavior, insinuating that the female’s role of control and dominance is to be respected.