To come back! How to dance the cueca, step by step

Guitars, accordion, tambourine and piano are some of the instruments usually present in the energetic and joyful melodies of cuecas, whose motifs almost always speak of sorrows and life stories. Generally, its lyrical structure is composed of three stanzas and a punchline, with rhyme in even verses. They often include metaphors, a back story, or puns. Its duration is approximately one minute and twenty seconds and it is common to dance three cueca feet in a row.

“Cueca and folklore are a lifestyle,” say Camila Loza and Cristián Flores, founders and teachers of the Cuecas CyC Academy. “Falling in love with this dance is very simple: once you start, you can’t stop,” they say. Camila has been dancing since the age of 13 and for about four years she has devoted herself exclusively to cueca. Cristián always loved it, but it wasn’t until he teamed up with Camila that he was able to fully immerse himself in this genre.

This is how they founded their academy in Maipú (Av. San Ramón #101), “where students of all ages and levels can learn or improve,” they say.

For Sebastián Campusano, cueca is also a very important part of his life. So much so that when he was a child, he danced it alone at home. It is not for nothing that he was regional champion and national vice-champion, and after more than twenty years of practice, he also created his own academy, which bears his name.

“These dates fill me with pride, especially when I see children enjoying them,” Campusano says. “It is very important to save and teach our dance across Chile, because it not only helps us represent ourselves as Chileans, but also as therapy to move forward.”

“Our cueca is unique! There is no dance that looks like him, no clothes that look like him,” says the couple Loza and Flores. “I hope that this will not be lost over time, so that every Chilean feels proud and prepared for the moment when they are asked to dance a pie de cueca.”

Something that happens and will happen often during national holidays, especially after a few earthquakes or pisco sours, when the timid become brave and the heavier become heavier, increasing the volume of the “Guatón Loyola” and passing a handkerchief to the one who don’t suspect anything, move on.

Refusing is almost impossible, especially if the palms of family and friends begin to set the tone in six-eighths. If you don’t want to look like the idiot in the hostel, or make a fool of yourself by waving your handkerchief like you’re surrendering after a war, then keep reading this article.

Max Sade, teacher and cueca dancer, says that there are “some people with more abilities and others with less abilities, but everyone can learn.” ” Of course ! » say CyC teachers. In their academy, they welcome students aged five all the way up to older adults. “From our experience, with three or four lessons you can already know the basics, such as structure, sliding, brushing and perhaps a tapping that surprises everyone in the Eighteen”, they comment .

To learn, Campusano believes, you just need to be courageous. “I have students who go out to dance something from the first class, and with three or four classes, they would be able to dance it anywhere,” he analyzes.

Unlike other dances, cueca has a very defined structure, with essential phases. “They are all very important and characteristic,” explains Camila Loza.

There are eight basic steps, not very complicated but irreplaceable and correlative, since only once one is completed does the other follow.

This is the initial phase, which begins at the same time as the music and lasts until the singing begins. “We must remember that the cueca is a dance of conquest, that is why, in this first part, the man must approach the woman and invite her to walk, offering her his right arm”, say Loza and Flores. Here, the two dancers can exchange words, in addition to agreeing to perform the initial turn they prefer. “The walk is when they get to know each other, it’s like when they’re DJing,” adds Sade.

“After the march comes the applause, while waiting for the chants to begin,” Campusano explains. Once the words have begun, comes the first round, which is complete: that is to say, the dancers return to their initial position.

This can be of different shapes: round (forming a circle), double S, four corners, corralera or back to back, among the most recognized. “This is the only part of the cueca that can be modified within the dance,” say CyC teachers, because “after this return, the structure is maintained.”

“In this part of the cueca, the couple must imagine that they are each dancing in a semi-circle, in which the woman decides which end to go to (right, left) and the man can follow her or not, joining on the sides.”, explain Loza and Flores. These are the famous croissants, which can be decorated with different resources, “but without ever maintaining physical contact”.

As the term says, this is a change of sides, an incomplete turn where each dancer must put themselves in the place of their partner by drawing an “S” on the ground with their step. This movement is marked at the end of the second verse, where the singers usually shout “Veeeeelta!”

After changing sides, the croissants start again but with another step: brushing. “The cueca is a dance of the earth, so all its movements must be marked or directed towards the ground,” explain Loza and Flores. “Brushing should always be done at ground level, with your knees semi-flexed, passing one foot over the other,” they explain. It lasts only one stanza, the third, “so you have to do it with elegance and crossed steps,” adds Campusano.

At the end of the third stanza, another change of sides takes place – almost always marked by another cry of “back!” by the singers—, always in the shape of an S, resuming the position which was at the beginning. “You should know that the scarf is a weapon of seduction, particularly for women, while for men, it is a sign of competence,” explains Sade.

“Here, the man and woman must adopt an upright posture and use the heel and sole of the foot at ground level, raising the knees and striking the ground,” explain the CyC teachers. “This is the moment to show, in eight steps, the skill and strength of zapateo,” Campusano says. The idea is that the man’s tapping should be strong but not exaggerated, while the woman’s should have more delicate touches.

When the zapateo ends, it is the beginning of the end of the cueca. “You have to change sides with the couple, but this time drawing an “S” smaller and more closed than those inside, to then meet again and offer your arm to the lady, which coincides with the end of the song” , underlines Loza. .and flowers.

“The cueca has a structure, but everyone is free to dance it however they want,” Campusano explains. Nowadays, the rise of the “romantic” cueca has allowed the cueca to position itself among the youngest.

The Sebastián Campusano academy operates all year round and offers courses in two locations in Santiago: La Florida (Saturdays) and Santiago Centro (Wednesdays). For more information, consult your Instagram account .

“In our academy, they are taught in four different groups,” explain professors Loza and Flores. “We try to research different methodologies to be able to reach all ages and all people, avoiding them feeling frustrated by not taking a step. They give classes in three different locations, in Pudahuel and Maipú, which can be viewed in their Instagram account .