What makes this dance recognizable? What is typical, distinctive or characteristic?

The base contains two slow steps followed by three lateral Quicks: this is a Chasse: side- close -side.

Examples

Fuoco nel fuoco - Eros Ramazotti
Sway - Pussycat Dolls, Michael Buble, Dean Martin, Pablo Beltran Ruiz ao
Oh Carolina - Shaggy

BPM: 30

Chacha is a African boy name that means 'strong'.

Chachacha was named after the sound that slippers make at the side locking side steps (chasse) in the base move on the floor (sound imitation or onomatopoeia). It is also the Spanish word for girl. Chachar means coca chewing, and char stands for tea. That all may be, like the Guaracha -one former dance- associated with the naming. But we choose the onomatopoeia.

Video: as it may look ...
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In the fifties, several Cuban composers began to play Danzón with a slightly altered rhythm. Enrique Jorrín was a composer, violinist and director of the Cuban dance band 'America ' from Havana. He created a simple to dance version by linking slightly separate the melody sung of the played music. He made the fourth beat a syncopated beat, which sounded like a slow- mambo. But the sung melody does not. The first part of his 'La engañadora' from 1951 is generally regarded as the ancestor of the cha cha cha. (The second part is mambo). The chachacha was first called neodanzón and triple mambo. Later, the performance was slightly modified to create the current dance.

Early 50s this Latin American dance dived in the American dance halls. The chacha (cha) thus has roots in other Latin American dances such as the Mambo. That is, inter alia, known from the movie "Dirty Dancing". It was found generally that the mambo had a too complicated rhythm. The chachacha has a much easier rhythm and the music is somewhat slower than that of the mambo. Many disco music lends itself well to a cha cha cha.

 The music which on is danced the cha cha cha, has a rate that is standard 30 to 34 beats per minute. Many modern pop and disco music from the seventies and eighties is also suitable for dancing Chachacha. This certainly contributes to the popularity of this dance. However, the best chachacha music origins of Latin American.

The dance was introduced in European competition circuit in 1953 by the famous French dancer Pierre Jean Phillip Zurcher Margolie ("Monsieur Pierre") who had a dance school in London.

Like most Latin music is chachacha based on percussion instruments like bongos, timbales, congas and cowbells. The basic rhythm is accompanied by a self- accompaniment rhythm. Conducted by ratchet instruments such as maracas, guiro and kabassa.
The chachacha has a strong, compelling and very recognizable rhythm that one can easily count as "one, two, cha cha cha."

It is a spicy, flirty and sassy “cat-and - mouse game" between husband and wife.
The cha cha cha is a position dance. So there is little distance traveled on the dance floor. It consists of a dozen basic moves and countless variations.

The dance is based on a chasse movement (three consecutive lateral passes), which always coincides with the accents in the music.
The chachacha has a quadruple measure but with a syncopated rhythm: the fourth beat is split into two parts. These two together constitute only a quarter size. These are the first two of the cha cha cha. This is counted as '4 'and' (or cha - cha).

Important in this dance is stretching the legs after the side close side. The stretching pose is fixed on the last step sideways. The knee is not really stretched on, but between the beats. At the forward and backward step, it is important that the weight is moved from one foot to the other foot. When forward and backward is moved the foot turns slightly outwards so that the hip is also rotated to the outside. This creates the hip action that is very characteristic of the dance. The forward and backward steps must be "ball - flat" danced: we first put the front part of the foot down, and then the heel. In chachacha the dancer remains with the feet as much as possible in contact with the floor.

There are many possible variations and styles. The most common style is the casual style which is not danced in dance posture.

Some recurring variations: hand to hand, new yorker, Alamana, rope spin, hip twist, outside step, Turkish towel.