The origin of the merengue is widely argued about. One of the stories is the slaves would watch the “masters” dance in the ballroom. They would watch and then try to copy them amongst themselves. However, dances were not very exciting during this time. So, it is said the slaves began adding drums and instruments to make it more exciting. Merengue has existed since the early years of the Dominican Republic (in Haiti, a similar dance is called the Meringue or Mereng). It is possible the dance took its name from the confection made of sugar and egg whites because of the light and frothy character of the dance or because of its short, precise rhythms.
