Puerto Rico Research Paper

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Pages: 2

Puerto Rico was first enhabited by the Taino Indians, they called many islands in the Caribbean their home. The Indians thrived on the islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, which is now current day Dominican Rupublic and Haiti. But in 1493 that is when everything changed. The island was Colonized and enslaved by Spanish settlers, by 1508, and Ponce De Leon was named the first governor of Puerto Rico. But this is only part of how Puerto Ricio came to be what it is today. Dance and music have always been traditional cultural expressions of Puerto Rico's ethnic heritage. On the island there are many different styles of dance including salsa, merengue, danza, plena, bomba, and cha-cha. Most of the dance's in Puerto Rico is made to dance to specific music, and usually the dance and the music share the same name. The music of Puerto Rico is very unique because, it has cultural influences. There are many famous people that we know today, who come from Puerto Rico. …show more content…
It also has a side to side movement, and the turns are very important in the dance. The very popular merengue in Puerto Rico has two variations. One of which is a basic two-step, but with a contrary twist of the hip to the right, and the two partners get in a position similar to the waltz. The second variation is called the Figure Merengue or Merengue de Figura, and the performing couple makes individual turns without letting go of each other's hands. Dancing the cha-cha consists of three quick steps called the triple step or cha-cha-cha, followed by two slower steps on the one beat and two beat. These are the dances of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican music is very diverse because of it's cultural influences. The known musical sources in Puerto Rican music is Spain and West African. Puerto Rican music culture today is made up of a wide variety of genres, ranging from essentially indigenous genres like bomba to recent hybrids like