Before I started to understand Rumba, I had known this black and white film which starred by George Raft and Carole Lombard. I first read about it from one of Goodman's writing, from which I knew the dance Rumba hit the crowd about the same time of the debutante.
It is hard to find such an old film out today, even I went to a rental and was willing to pay for it I couldn’t find it, so I only had some video clips of several classic scenes on the Internet (and I had it together with Bolero). To be honest, I should not be the person to judge if it is a good one; I can only comment it from the viewpoint of ‘an average 21st amateur ballroom dancer’.
Rumba (1935)
Rumba (1935)
The dance, rumba, is faint. Please forgive me if it is offensive. I liked the music (I’m yours for tonight & The magic of You are great!!) but I don't get the charm of it. First I don't like this Cuban dancer. Second I don't like the footwork as there is nothing like our standardized footwork. Okay this is not championship no one cares about that and in fact their costume didn't allow people to examine the feet.
Well, my understanding about Rumba says there is some distance between the couple. The lead resembles a cock in courting but never hits one- Raft seems to put his nose on her skin. They were dancing too close most of the time that limited their use of feet. Though I think the girl is lovely her dancing style was... urgh... She was using too much of the shoulders. And the facial expression... what did that mean? Didn't know what to do as she was indulging too much in her lover's arm? No footwork could be okay since no one could clearly see the feet, but the shoulders were definitely unpleasant. The sexiness of a dance doesn't come from showing off the shoulders; the beauty of a dance comes from the proper use of the whole body.
Ar. She reminded me of another actress in another film. Vanessa William in Dance With Me also had the same poor expression that made the final Rumba very very very ungrateful. And Rumba is my favourite :(
P.S. I'm Yours for Tonight, word & music by Ralph Rainger, Spanish lyric by Francois B DeValdes, is nice.