This book explores the history of Latin America popular dance before the twentieth century. Chasteen focuses on Havana, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro, where dances featuring "transgressive close embrace" (forerunners of today's salsa, tango, and samba) emerged by 1900. Then, digging deeper in time, Chasteen uncovers the historical experiences that molded Latin American popular dance, including carnival celebrations, the social lives of slaves, European fashions, and, oddly enough, religious processions. The relationship between Latin American dance and nationalism, it turns out, is very deep indeed. -- Page [4] of cover.