Maykel Fonts
Maykel Fonts is one of Cuba's most prominent timba"> timba dancers and vocalists — a performer who embodies the fusion of singer and dancer that is central to the timba"> timba performance tradition, where the frontman moves as much as he sings.
The Singer-Dancer Tradition
In timba"> timba, the vocalist is never static. The frontman dances throughout the performance, directing the audience, calling the dancers on the floor, and embodying the music's energy. This is not incidental — it is structural. The singer's movement is part of the communication between band and dancers that makes timba"> timba what it is.
Maykel Fonts represents this tradition at a high level: his stage presence combines vocal performance with dance that draws on casino, timba"> timba social dance, and Afro-Cuban movement vocabulary.
Teaching
Fonts has taught Cuban popular dance internationally alongside performing, becoming one of the figures through whom the connection between timba"> timba music and timba"> timba movement has been transmitted to international audiences.
His teaching emphasises what makes Cuban popular dance different from its international derivatives: the specificity of the musical response — the way the body answers particular rhythmic calls, gear changes, and vocal improvisation in real time.
Connection to This Site
Fonts appears in the contratiempo examples section of the timba"> Timba pages — recordings that demonstrate the rhythmic complexity at the heart of timba"> timba music. Watching him dance to those recordings shows the physical correlate of what the musical analysis describes.
Timba is the music this site is dedicated to exploring. It emerged as a distinct genre in the late 1980s and crystallized in the early 1990s — born in a moment of social crisis, built on the full accumulated history of Cuban music, and still evolving today.
Lees meer >Casino is the Cuban partner dance born in the social clubs (casinos deportivos) of Havana in the 1950s. It is what Cubans call their own social dance — distinct from, and older than, what the rest of the world calls "salsa."
Lees meer >Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and the birthplace of some of the world's most influential music and dance traditions. African, Spanish, and French cultural streams collided here over centuries of colonial history, producing an extraordinary creative culture that exported itself across the globe.
Lees meer >A Cuban popular dance music genre that emerged in the 1980s–90s
- emerged in the 1980s–90s
- influenced by songo, rumba, funk, blues, jazz, pop, rock and Afro-Cuban rhythms.
- Known for complex rhythm shifts, aggressive bass lines, and high energy that push dancers to improvise.
Lees meer >Versnellingsveranderingen, of "cambios de marcha," in timba"> Timba zijn bijzonder opwindende elementen die bijdragen aan de dynamiek en energie van het genre. Deze veranderingen zijn in wezen verschuivingen in ritme, tempo, of zelfs in de textuur van de muziek die opwinding injecteren en vaak reacties op de dansvloer aanmoedigen. Ze worden strategisch gebruikt gedurende een lied om spanning en ontspanning te creëren, het publiek betrokken te houden, en de veelzijdigheid en creativiteit van de muzikanten te benadrukken.
Lees meer >