The Wikipedia page I chose for this assignment deals with the paso doble, a form of ballroom dance which symbolizes a bull fight. Although the article did offer some interesting information about the dance, there were certainly aspects that were not well explained. Additionally, certain parts of the article include potentially contradictory information. For example, the first paragraph explains that the paso doble was most likely created for Spain’s infantry, the second paragraph states that it originated in France and was later introduced in Spain and Portugal to add excitement during a bull fight. While it is possible that both are true, the article does not detail why and how this would have happened.

Perhaps an even more serious oversight is that the page includes no description of the dance’s history in Latin America, despite the fact that it lists the names of numerous Mexican paso dobles. The article also mentions a number of countries in which the paso doble is popular. However, it does not mention anything about the cultural significance of the dance in any locations outside of the Iberian Peninsula.

It is also worth mentioning that this article has multiple errors in grammar and punctuation. Most notably, the article refers to the dance it describes as “pasodoble” although the main ballroom dance page lists it as “paso doble.” While I am not completely certain, I did a few internet searches without finding any instances of the name of the dance written as one word. However, the talk page of the Wikipedia article reveals that the author originally used two words but changed this due to the suggestion of another user.

There is only one other suggestion on the talk page for the article. This one explains that the information on the Spanish Wikipedia article is more precise. Additionally, the English article is a part of WikiProject Spain, WikiProject Dance, and WikiProject France but was rated as “start class, low importance” by all three.

Although this article does raise some interesting topics, it is far from being complete or well-written. Furthermore, the focus is rather Eurocentric. If we were to discuss the “paso doble” in class, we would most likely touch upon the European origins of this dance but consider it more from a Latin American perspective.