It comes from a Cuban dance. It gained popularity in Spain through the theatre and variety shows, from where flamenco performers extracted it, giving it a festive character, somewhere between a tango and a bulería. When it is performed by flamenco artistes in its dance form, it exhibits a clear dominance of gypsy features (life force, passion, violent movements) over Andalusian ones (punteado (a kind of percussion using the feet), harmonious movements, gracefulness), and it contains a number of desplantes (series of hard stepping movements that end, or climax, a series of steps, or section, of a dance) and convulsive movements involving torsions. The traditional flamenco rumba has continued to be the domain of the bailaora (female flamenco dancer), who usually dances alone. The meter is in four beats:

1 2 3 4/ 1 2 3 4/ 1 2 3 4

It is a traditional folk cante that has been aflamencado (lit. flamencoised; that is, experienced changes as a result of the influence of flamenco), and belongs to the category of the cantes de ida y vuelta, like the guajira, colombiana, milonga and vidalita, music forms that proceed from Latin America and have been incorporated into flamenco. Flamenco experts consider it a minor, or chico genre. In pre-1935 discography, the only available recordings of this style are the work of La Niña de los Peines, Bernardo el de los Lobitos and Manuel Vallejo, although other performers of the rumba from that time, such as José Ortega, Diego Antúnez and Pepe de la Matrona, also deserve a mention. In the fifties, Catalan gypsies were responsible for making this cante fashionable; “El Pescaílla” and Peret were among its most significant performers. Madrid also has its own school, the one headed by Caño Roto; Manzanita is the most well-known rumbero from the Spanish capital. The coplas (poetic compositions, in verse, used as lyrics) usually comprise four seven-syllable, or sometimes eight-syllable, verses.