Back to Top of the Page S amba Samba is a Latin dance with origins in Brazil. In Brazil, there are many different types of Samba, including more elegant Salon dancing, and the wild, uninhibited popular dancing associated with Carnival. Carmen Miranda is generally credited with bringing Brazilian rhythms to the United States and Europe, and since then the Samba has undergone a metamorphosis, as the steps became stylized and standardized. Samba has very distinctive and varied rhythms occurring simultaneously within every song, which helps to build richness in the music and excitement in the listening. Single step, double step and triple step versions make Swing a dance easily adaptable to a variety of tempos of music, from moderately slow to very fast.
Swing music is generally up-tempo and bouncy.
The Savoy style of swing is a very fast, jumpy, casual-looking style of dancing, associated with the great dancers of Harlem in the '40s. The Lindy style is a smoother-looking dance. West Coast Swing has certain similarities to Swing, but also has some distinct differences. They have also developed a competitive acrobatic style of Rock'n'Roll which combines gymnastics with dancing. Well, that was the Hustle, but just like a lot of other things have changed in the last 20 years, the Hustle has changed a lot, too.