Professional Limbo Dancing Kit Steelasophical Steel BAnd Steelband 4r

The History

The Limbo (Lim-Bow) is a unique Afro-Caribbean dance, one thats a hot favourite at Caribbean and Tropical themed parties.

Also known as “Under de Stick Dance” this has become a most popular form of audience participation at Tropical party events the world over. The limbos dates back to the mid to late 1800s in Trinidad. It achieved mainstream popularity during the 1950s

It has its origins from the islands of Trinidad & Tobago, where British and American forces took the form back to their home countries as a party dance piece.

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How to Limbo Dance

Limbo Dance. 

How to Limbo Dance

– Just How Do You Limbo Dance? –

Limbo is a movement

That is traditionally done at funerals or wakes and derives from the African legba or legua dance. If the Limboist makes it under the bar (usually a bar of fire) with ease, it means that the spirit has transitioned to the other side with ease.

Today limbo refers to a dancer moving to a very up beat rhythm and dances under a horizontal bar or held by two people or (as we like to supported on stands. The dancer negotiates under the bar without touching or knocking it off the stand. If the dancer is successful, they must repeat this again and again with the bar being lowered another notch each time.

Each dancer does this until there is only one left standing who has not touched the bar, fallen down, laid on the floor or used his/her hands to keep balance. On-lookers as well as other dancers would clap, cheer, egg on and sing while the dancer tries to go under the bar

Limbo-Dance

How To Limbo Dance – Tips and Advice

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Traditionally, the limbo dance began at the lowest possible bar height and the bar was gradually raised, signifying an emergence from death into life. In its adaptation to the world of entertainment, troupes began reversing the traditional order. Julia Edwards added a number of features that are now considered standard, such as human ‘bars’ formed by the limbs of other dancers and the use of fire in the performance of limbo. Limbo dancers generally move and respond to a number of specific Afro-Caribbean drum patterns. As Limbo gained popularity as a tourist activity and a form of entertainment, pop music began using Caribbean rhythms to respond to the emerging craze in the United States. One major example is the song “Limbo Rock” (recorded by Chubby Checker), which became a number 2 charted hit on the Billboard Top 100, from which emerged the popular quote/chant that is associated with limbo which Checker also helped to popularize: “How low can you go?” Limbo was brought into the mainstream by Trinidadian Calypsonian Brigo (Samuel Abrahams) with his popular Soca song “Limbo Break”.

Limbo is unofficially considered the national dance of Trinidad and Tobago, which refers to itself as the land of limbo, steelpan (steel drums), and calypso. After a preparatory dance, the dancer prepares and addresses the bar, lowering and leaning back their body while balancing on feet akimbo with knees extended backwards. The dancer is declared “out” and loses the contest if any part of the body touches the stick or pole that they are passing beneath, or if the hands touch the floor. When several dancers compete, they go under the stick in single-file; the stick is gradually lowered until only one dancer, who has not touched either the pole or the floor, remains.

As Limbo spread out of Trinidad and Tobago to the wider world and the big screen, in several other Caribbean islands, such as Barbados and Jamaica, limbo became a major part of the tourism package. Indeed, in Jamaica, the trendy limbo music of the 1950s was often based on a clave rhythm. It is also widely heard in Jamaican mento recorded in the 1950s, in songs such as “Limbo” by Lord Tickler and Calypsonians or “Limbo” by Denzil Laing & the Wrigglers, as well as many other songs not directly related to the limbo dance theme. Limbo is still practiced and presented by numerous dance troupes in the context of the Prime Minister’s Best Village Competition and during the Carnival season in Trinidad and Tobago.

In touristic presentations, professional limbo dancers often invite spectators to participate after their presentation. The massive popularity of limbo emerges directly from this audience participation. In recent years, limbo dancing has been conducted as a social “icebreaker” game for tourists at Caribbean and other tropical resorts. The winning dancer often receives a prize.

Limbo-Dance

How To Limbo Dance – Tips and Advice

Steelasophical Steel Band

Click here to Buy your Limbo Dance Kit

Limbo is a movement that is traditionally done at funerals or wakes and derives from the African legba or legua dance. If the Limboist makes it under the bar (usually a bar of fire) with ease, it means that the spirit has transitioned to the other side with ease.

Today limbo refers to a dancer moving to a very up beat rhythm and dances under a horizontal bar or held by two people or (as we like to supported on stands. The dancer negotiates under the bar without touching or knocking it off the stand. If the dancer is successful, they must repeat this again and again with the bar being lowered another notch each time.

Each dancer does this until there is only one left standing who has not touched the bar, fallen down, laid on the floor or used his/her hands to keep balance. On-lookers as well as other dancers would clap, cheer, egg on and sing while the dancer tries to go under the bar

The limbo dates back to the mid to late 1800s in Trinidad, it achieved mainstream popularity during the 1950s. An alternative explanation of the name is suggested; that the version of the limbo performed in nineteenth century Trinidad was meant to symbolize slaves entering the galleys of a slave ship, or a spirit crossing over into the afterworld, or “limbo”, but no literary reference is known to substantiate this postulated linkage.

Dr Alan Rice elaborates on the supposed link the dance has with the slave trade: “Africans were forced to dance on deck for exercise. Many took advantage of this to bond and communicate with their shipmates by dancing steps remembered from their past in Africa; this was to continue in the Americas in dances, religious ceremonies and other musical forms that used cultural traditions from Africa. One such dance was the limbo in the Caribbean; the limbo spoke directly of the limited space in the slaving ships and the African ability to escape it.”

Limbo-Dance

How To Limbo Dance – Tips and Advice

Steelasophical Steel Band

Click here to Buy your Limbo Dance Kit

How to Limbo Dance
How Limbo Dancer| Steelasophical Steel Band Steelpan Steeldrums 00
How Limbo Dancer| Steelasophical Steel Band Steelpan Steeldrums 001

Limbo dancing is relatively simple, and involves a dancer attempting to bend low enough to stay below a bar held by two people or supported on two poles. The technique for a successful limbo dance is easy, but requires practice and concentration throughout the duration of the dance.

  1. Begin the limbo with your feet spread and lined up with your shoulders. During the limbo dance, you need to have a strong base in your lower body so that your upper body can bend properly.
  2. Keep your arms spread out from your body as you begin your approach to the limbo stick. This technique allows you to maintain balance as your back bends, and helps you avoid instinctively grabbing the stick if you feel off balance.
  3. Approach the stick slowly with deliberate, exaggerated steps. A common mistake for limbo dancers is to bend backwards too quickly and throw themselves off balance. Focus on each step, bending your legs and your back gradually as you see the stick ahead of you.
  4. Flatten your stomach as much as possible when your legs begin to cross under the limbo stick. Your abdominal area may become the biggest obstacle to a successful limbo dance because your bent back accentuates your stomach as you complete the dance.
  5. Maintain limbo posture until your head has passed completely under the stick. As soon as you see the limbo stick pass your eyes, count to three and begin to gradually lift your body to an upright position.
  1. Wear comfortable clothing when you know you will performing a limbo dance. You need to focus on proper limbo technique, rather than your discomfort from clothes that are constricting. Look for shirts, trousers and other clothing items that are loose enough for you to dance, but maintain the festive nature of the limbo.
  2. Find traditional limbo music when performing the limbo dance. The limbo’s origins in Latin America mean that music with a strong beat and a good use of percussion instruments will get your party started.
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Misconceptions

Contrary to popular belief, the limbo did not originate in Hawaii.

  • Popularity in Music
    • In the 1950s, Jamaicans helped to popularise the limbo. Songs such as “Limbo” by Lord Tickler and the Calypsonians, and “Limbo” by Denzil Laing and the Wrigglers were ready-made for limbo dancing. In 1962, Chubby Checker released the song “Limbo Rock.”
  • The Limbo Today
    • Today the limbo remains a popular dance, particularly at Caribbean resorts and hotels, as well as on cruise ships, where a prize is commonly awarded to the last dancer to successfully cross under the stick.
  • Fun Fact
    • According to the Universal Record Database, Sabrina Ansari set the world record for limbo dancing when she limbo-ed under a 34-inch pole in 2005.
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Customising

The tube colour can be customised by any competent DIY’er to give a different appearance. Our prototype bar was coated in a luminous yellow film so the bar glowed in U.V. (Black) light.

Features

  • 7 Heights (1.3m to 460mm)
  • Bar 1.6m (5ft 3″) Wide
  • Assembled in < 60 Seconds
  • Solid Construction
  • Customisable
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BUFFALO, NY, USA — Shemika Charles, the 18-year-old Trinidadian national living in Buffalo, New York, danced under a bar 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) from the ground on the set of American morning show Live! with Regis and Kelly – setting the new world record for the Lowest Limbo by a woman.

Charles set the record after performing the limbo under a stick placed only 8.5 inches from the ground.

Shemika said it took a lot of training to get to this point. She practiced four times a day during the summer.

“It’s very different and people are more willing to accept something they haven’t seen before. I would like to limbo as long as I can but you can only limbo for so long. I can’t limbo when I’m 50 or 60 but I’d like to limbo for as long as I can,” Charles said.

She also limbo dances around Western New York with her family’s band called Caribbean Extravaganza. Charles accomplished the feat to steelpan music performed by her mother Sherry Charles.

Her trainer Bob Diaz said it is quite an honor to be on their show and considered for the Guinness World Record.

According to international reports, Charles, after accomplishing the feat, said she had been waiting for the opportunity to have her name written in the Guinness Book of World Records for the lowest limbo for quite some time. She said the waiting period had been tough but since establishing the record it was all worth it.

Charles left Trinidad at the age of eight for the United States with her family, and had been doing the limbo dance for the past four years. She is a pupil of the Cardina Ohara High School in Buffalo, and is also a singer and dancer in a group called Caribbean Extravaganza.  

Professional Limbo Dancing Kit Steelasophical Steel BAnd Steelband 4
Professional Limbo Dancing Kit Steelasophical Steel BAnd Steelband 4r
Professional Limbo Dancing Kit Steelasophical Steel BAnd Steelband 4r

Limbo-Dance

How To Limbo Dance – Tips and Advice

Steelasophical Steel Band

Click here to Buy your Limbo Dance Kit

Limbo-Dance

How To Limbo Dance – Tips and Advice

Steelasophical Steel Band

Click here to Buy your Limbo Dance Kit

Limbo-Dance

How To Limbo Dance – Tips and Advice

Steelasophical Steel Band

Click here to Buy your Limbo Dance Kit

How to Limbo Dance

Limbo dancing is relatively simple, and involves a dancer attempting to bend low enough to stay below a bar held by two people or supported on two poles. The technique for a successful limbo dance is easy, but requires practice and concentration throughout the duration of the dance.

  1. Begin the limbo with your feet spread and lined up with your shoulders. During the limbo dance, you need to have a strong base in your lower body so that your upper body can bend properly.
  2. Keep your arms spread out from your body as you begin your approach to the limbo stick. This technique allows you to maintain balance as your back bends, and helps you avoid instinctively grabbing the stick if you feel off balance.
  3. Approach the stick slowly with deliberate, exaggerated steps. A common mistake for limbo dancers is to bend backwards too quickly and throw themselves off balance. Focus on each step, bending your legs and your back gradually as you see the stick ahead of you.
  4. Flatten your stomach as much as possible when your legs begin to cross under the limbo stick. Your abdominal area may become the biggest obstacle to a successful limbo dance because your bent back accentuates your stomach as you complete the dance.
  5. Maintain limbo posture until your head has passed completely under the stick. As soon as you see the limbo stick pass your eyes, count to three and begin to gradually lift your body to an upright position.
  1. Wear comfortable clothing when you know you will performing a limbo dance. You need to focus on proper limbo technique, rather than your discomfort from clothes that are constricting. Look for shirts, trousers and other clothing items that are loose enough for you to dance, but maintain the festive nature of the limbo.
  2. Find traditional limbo music when performing the limbo dance. The limbo’s origins in Latin America mean that music with a strong beat and a good use of percussion instruments will get your party started.
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Professional Limbo Dancing Kit Steelasophical Steel BAnd Steelband 4r
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Tips & Warnings

• Consult your family doctor before you perform a limbo dance. Excessive limbo dancing without proper stretching or health precautions can lead to injured back and leg muscles. Ask your doctor what you can do to properly warm up your body to avoid injuries related to limbo dancing.

Steelasophical uses a professional Limbo Set created by  Entertainment by Design

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Styles

Salsa’s roots are based on Afro-Cuban Rumba and Son dancing, and is open to improvisation and thus it is continuously evolving. New modern salsa styles are associated and named to the original geographic areas that developed them. There are often devotees of each of these styles outside of their home territory. Characteristics that may identify a style include: timing, basic steps, foot patterns, body rolls and movements, turns and figures, attitude, dance influences and the way that partners hold each other. The point in a musical bar music where a slightly larger step is taken (the break step) and the direction the step moves can often be used to identify a style.

Incorporating other dance styling techniques into salsa dancing has become very common, for both men and women: shimmies, leg work, arm work, body movement, spins, body isolations, shoulder shimmies, rolls, even hand styling, acrobatics and lifts.

Latin American styles originate from Cuba and surrounding Caribbean islands and then expanding to Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the rest of the Latin states; also heavily influence “Miami” style which is a fusion of Cuban style and North American version. The styles include “Casino”, Miami-Style, Cali-style and Venezuelan Style.

North American styles have different characteristics: Los Angeles style breaks on the first beat “On 1” while New York style breaks on the second beat “On 2”. Both have different origins and evolutionary path, as the New York Salsa is heavily influenced by Jazz instruments in its early growth stage.

Colombian / Cali Style

Cali-Style Salsa, also known as Colombian Salsa, is based on geographical location of the Colombian City of Cali. Cali is also known as the “Capital de la Salsa” (World’s Salsa Capital); due to salsa music being the main genre in parties, nightclubs and festivals in the 21st century.

The elements of Cali-Style Salsa were strongly influenced by dances done to Colombian rhythms such as Cumbia and Boogaloo.

The basic step of Colombian Salsa is the “Atras” or “Diagonal”; breaking backwards diagonally instead of moving forwards and backwards as seen in the New York and L.A. Style. Dancers do not shift their body weight greatly as seen in other styles. Instead, dancers keep their upper body still, poised and relaxed while the feet execute endless intricacies. The dancer breaks mostly On1 (sometimes On3), with short measures of “4” instead of full “8” counts.

A major difference of Cali Style and the other styles is the footwork which has quick rapid steps and skipping motions. They do not execute Cross-body Leads or the “Dile Que No” as seen in LA/New York-style and Cuban-style salsa, respectively. Their footwork is intricate and precise, helping several Colombian Style dancers win major world championships. Cali hosts many annual salsa events such as the World Salsa Cali Festival and Encuentro de Melomanos y Coleccionistas

Cuban “Casino” Style

Cuban-style salsa, also known as Casino, is popular in many places around the world, including in Europe, Latin America, North America, and even in some countries in the Middle East such as Israel. Dancing Casino is an expression of popular social culture; Latin Americans consider casino as part of social and cultural activities centering around their popular music. The origins of the name Casino are derived from the Spanish term for the dance halls where a lot of social Salsa dancing was done in Cuba during the mid-20th century and onward.

Historically, Casino traces its origin as a partner dance from Cuban Son dancing, and its rhythmic body motions from Afro-Cuban Rumba heritage. Son is considered an older version and ancestor to Salsa. Son is danced on delay measure upbeat (contra-tiempo) following the 2-3 clave (Son Clave) whereas Casino is usually danced on the downbeat break of 1 or 3 (a-tiempo). Musically, the beats 1, 3, 5 and 7 are considered downbeats; whereas 2, 4, 6 and 8 are considered upbeats. Casino was popularized in the late 1950s as the Cuban Son received upbeat and quicker arrangements by musicians. Casino has a very independent development, free from external influences such as Puerto Rican and North American dances partly due to the effect of the Cuban Embargo.

Miami-style Casino

Developed by Cuban migrants to Florida and centered around Miami, this form of Cuban Salsa fused with American culture and LA Style. Major differences of Miami-style Casino is that it is exclusive dance to downbeat (On1) and has elements of shines and showstyle added to it following repertoires of North American Styles.

Miami-style has many adherents, particularly Cuban-Americans and other Latinos based in South Florida.

 

Rueda de Casino

In the 1950s Salsa Rueda or more accurately Rueda de Casino was developed in Havana, Cuba. Pairs of dancers form a circle (“Rueda” in Spanish means “Wheel”), with dance moves called out by one person. Many of the moves involve rapidly swapping partners.

“Rueda de Cuba” is original type of Rueda, originating from Cuba. It is not as formal as Rueda de Miami and consists of about 30 calls. It was codified in the 1970s.

“Rueda de Miami” originated in the 1980s from Miami, is a formal style with many rules based on a mix, and is a hybridization of Rueda de Cuba & Los Angeles-style Salsa and dance routines that reflect American culture (e.g. Coca-cola, Dedo, Adios) which is not found in the traditional Cuban-style Rueda.

Los Angeles style

L.A. style is danced on 1, in a slot, with a measure of easiness and adaptability to it. It is strongly influenced by the Mambo, Swing, Argentine Tango and Latin Ballroom dancing styles. L.A. style places strong emphasis on sensuousness, theatricality, aerobics and musicality. The lifts, stunts and aerial works of today’s salsa shows are derived mostly from L.A. Style forms with origins in Latin Ballroom and Ballet lifts.

The two essential elements of this dance are the forward–backward basic as described above and the cross-body lead. In this pattern, the leader steps forward on 1, steps to the right on 2-3 while turning 90 degrees counter-clockwise (facing to the left), leaving the slot open. The follower then steps straight forward on 5-6 and turns on 7-8, while the leader makes another 90 degrees counter-clockwise and slightly forward, coming back into the slot. After these 8 counts, the leader and follower have exchanged their positions.

The L.A. style as it is known today was pioneered by Albert Torres, Laura Canellias and Joe Cassini rightfully deserve much of the credit for the early development and growth of L.A. Style Salsa. Later, such dancers as Alex Da Silva, Edie Lewis, Joby Martinez, Josie Neglia, Liz Rojas, Francisco Vazquez and Janette Valenzuela are often credited with developing the L.A. style of Salsa Dancing as we know it today.

New York style

Like LA-style salsa, New York style is danced in a line. However, unlike LA style, it is danced on the second beat of the music, and the follower steps forward on the first beat, not the leader.

Though he did not create New York style salsa, Eddie Torres is credited with popularizing it, and for having the follower step forward on the first beat.

New York style salsa emphasizes harmony with the percussive instruments in salsa music, such as the congas, timbales, and cowbell, since many or all of those instruments often mark the second beat in the music.

Puerto Rican style

Puerto Rican-style salsa, like New York-style, is also danced on the second beat of the music (“on 2”).