Cumbia is a very popular, fun, upbeat, quick paced Latin dance style with music genre having the same name. The Cumbia dance originated in the Central American state of Columbia around the time Columbia became a Spanish colony. Today, Cumbia is popular in all of the Central American states and beyond, from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south. It is quickly becoming very popular in North America as an alternative to Salsa.The basic step often seen in the Cumbia dance is the basic back break step. Cumbia is characterized by a wind-up motion and is often danced in a circular pattern. The Cumbia dance steps follow the rhythm of the beats which is written in 4/4 time and is counted 1234, 5678. The tempo of the music for this dance can be fast. The Cumbia dance incorporates side-to-side steps, fun and exciting single and double spins for the man and lady and very flashy steps for the man. Again, you can see a demonstration of the Cumbia dance in the Cumbia video on this page.