Black slaves came to the Caribbean, namely Cuba, in the 1500s. The Africans brought their culture, including song and dance. Essentially a folk dance, the Rumba was a very fast, sexy and bombastic dance. Instruments that played this native dance included the drum and maracas.
In Cuba, the Rumba developed into three forms. The Yambu, Guaguanaco and Columbia. The Yambu is slower and the male entices but excludes the rumba hip thrusts. The Guaguanaco is faster and has a famous move, the Vacunao, where the female slaps away her skirt the handkerchief advances of the male. The Columbia is much more creative and complex where male prowess is featured.
As the Rumba gained in popularity in Cuba, the different social and economic classes modified the dance to their liking. The "Son" and "Danzon" were slower versions of the Rumba and were adopted by the wealthier class of Cubans. Doing away with the African "native" sensuality of the dance, the Rumba became a tame and more acceptable dance to mainstream Cuba and eventually America.
Famed band leader and composer Xavier Cugat brought his brand of "Rumba America" to Hollywood at his Coconut Grove club of the '20s and '30s. This slow big band style of Rumba made it into Hollywood films as well.
Whether in a ballroom class in middle America or an Afro-Cuban dance troupe in New York, the Rumba has thrived into a sensual dance. The two schools of rumba, slow and deliberate or fast and sexual, both convey an Afro-Cuban and now Latino Alma (soul) that is performed now across the globe. The Rumba has even been featured on the highly successful dance TV show, "Dancing with the Stars."