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Johnny Ventura’s Patacon Pisao

Johnny Ventura, born as Juan de Dios, is a preeminent Dominican singer and band leader who Dominicans know for bringing American R&B and rock to merengue.

His greatest hit, which you’ll absolutely enjoy in this video, is an ode to the patacón, a flattened, fried green plaintain you’ll find in many Caribbean nations’ cuisine. Johnny Ventura is a popular musician to be sure, but he didn’t stop making friends with his tunes. From 1998 to 2002 Ventura was mayor of Santo Domingo, the DR’s capital and the largest city in the Caribbean.

We march our way to Merengue

In our online classes we introduce our students to simple merengue dancing. We may not be able to dance as fluidly as one might in the Dominican Republic, but we have to start somewhere. We start by simple marching — stepping with the left foot, then step with the right. Step on each count. The most important thing though, is that we slightly bend the knee on each step. This leads us to shift our weight from side to side, which will make our hips move. WE KEEP MARCHING. WE KEEP HIPS MOVING. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

The Dominican Republic loves Merengue

Merengue music evolved from Dominican folk music to become an infectious, mambo-inspired genre, inextricably bound to the merengue dance.

While the basic rhythm– 1-2, 1-2 — inspires the dancer to march, the real magic of merengue comes in the ways dancer keep constantly moving their hips. The Dominican Republic’s “Generalissimo” Rafael Trujillo, an avid merengue dancer who, once of humble origins, had been barred from elite dance clubs, declared merengue music as the music of the people and forcefully required urban dance bands to include it in their shows. Watch this video and dance along.