What do you make of this??

I found this on a website and wonder what you think about it??

The Mambo craze did not last long and today the Mambo is much limited to advanced dancers. Teachers agreed that this is one of the most difficult of dances. One of the greatest contributions of the Mambo is that it led to the development of the Cha-Cha.

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Surely it cant be true if I picked it up with complete ease! I would have to say this is the dance I am best at.


Thoughts people?????

Answer with a question: "what makes mambo different from salsa?"

I'm with you ShyDancer. Mambo is easy - it's so similar to Cha Cha, you can modify most steps to fit.

Mambo has a slightly different rhythum to salsa. I sometimes find it difficult to keep up with fast salsas, but fast mambo, I have no problem at all.

Kitty said:

Answer with a question: "what makes mambo different from salsa?"

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The only difference I can see is that you move on the second beat in mambo--although there are some music pieces that make me think mambo and some that make me think salsa. I think it has something to do with the pattern of syncopation.

Anyway, isn't mambo supposed to be easy in "Dirty Dancing"? I mean, it's just like-ba-bum, ba-bum. :wink:

Genesius

My teacher told me that Mambo is Salsa without the tap......

I dont know about that though! I had so much trouble with the Salsa to begin with.
Mambo is danced as "quick quick slow" on the 2, 3 & 4 and Salsa as "quick quick quick quick" on all 4.


I think maybe because I have such a huge LOVE of Mambo that I pick it up so easily...Ive learnt the full routine in just 3 classes, I just need to see it once or twice and off I go! I love Mambo!

Umm... WHAT???

I've *always* danced my salsa as QQS

This was a question I had a while ago!
There is a post somewhere.......I didnt realise there was more that one type of Salsa.

Ill see if I can find the post..... here is is http://www.dance-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2555

Shydancer, you should be able to tell by what beat you're stepping on. If you stepping on the first beat, On the 1, then it's usually Salsa, LA Style or Cuban (Casino) style. If you're stepping on the second beat, On the 2, then it's Mambo.

Ack! Here we go again... :roll:

While often seperated for ease of reference they're all the same thing!!!

*Typical* nomenclature does, indeed, call on1 "salsa" and on2 "mambo"... but this is nothing more than a convention...

ShyDancer - the mambo and salsa that I learn sounds the same as yours. Mambo starts on 2 and goes "quick quick slow", similar rhythum to rumba. Salsa starts on 1 and goes "quick quick quick quick", with the steps being "step step step tap".

Maybe it's just us Aussies!!

I finally got around to cruising the salsa board, and there's a long discussion of this which is very interesting.

One idea that was advanced there (I've forgotten from whom, sorry I'm not crediting properly) is that ballroom-style mambo and club salsa differ in that the ballroom mambo emphasizes crispness and is almost confrontational, whereas club salsa is fluid and social in nature. Apart from the ballroom idea of mambo moves on 2, whereas salsa steps on 1. Some others mentioned that NY style salsa tends to break on 2 (I hope I'm remembering right), like mambo. I'm oversimplifying and the original posts say it much better.

Anyway, from my own perspective, having learned the basics of salsa in a club and mambo in the ballroom at the same time, in addition to the difference between moving on 2 (in mambo) and 1 (in salsa) as I was taught, I was also taught in mambo a side step on 4 and 8, which I think contributes to the crispness.

For some reason, I hear some songs as mambo and some songs as salsa, and I guess the mambo songs I hear are more heavily syncopated. What I hear as salsa has a more fluid melody line, where each phrase drives to its completion.

I think I hear something of a similar distinction between 30s-era swing and foxtrot. "In the Mood" is a swing, "Fly Me to the Moon" is a foxtrot. "In the Mood" is built on a repeated syncopated phrase, "Fly Me to the Moon" is built on a linear melody that is organized around longer phrases.

Does anyone else hear a difference between a mambo and a salsa? I mean, a tune that suggests one dance over the other, if you can separate them?

dancin_feet said:

ShyDancer - the mambo and salsa that I learn sounds the same as yours. Mambo starts on 2 and goes "quick quick slow", similar rhythum to rumba. Salsa starts on 1 and goes "quick quick quick quick", with the steps being "step step step tap".

Maybe it's just us Aussies!!

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Dancin_Feet, I lived in Sydney for a while and came across the "step step step tap". Based on the knowledge I have (which is still developing/growing), I would say that Columbian style salsa was what was being taught (I also heard rather unkindly that it was a style developed by a certain group of teachers as they didn't know what they were doing but, I choose to think otherwise )

I agree (but it does not make it right :wink: ) that salsa = social mambo (am unfamiliar with ballroom mambo but if it is anything like what Patrick Swayze did in Dirty Dancing, I don't see any difference other than the precision element ).

Genesius Redux mentioned that he hears music differently, ie. some songs sound like "mambo" and others like "salsa". I have started noticing this myself, that my ears are picking up different things in the music and how I then feel/dance to that song differs. This difference that I am feeling, is more subtle to what I feel when it is Spanish Harlem Orchestra vs Victor Manuelle, for example.

From what I could work out in Dirty Dancing, the mambo basic being taught was more of a "pass your feet" progressive type of mambo. While that is one of the figures in our programme, the basic involves a side movement, similar to cha cha, without the cha cha.

To me mambo and salsa are very different. But as you say, it could just be the style of the two dances I am being taught that makes them different to me.

I read an interview with Tito Puente. He was asked what the difference was between Mambo and Salsa.

He said, "Mambo is what I play and Salsa is what I put on my eggs."

Genesius Redux said:

I finally got around to cruising the salsa board, and there's a long discussion of this which is very interesting.

One idea that was advanced there (I've forgotten from whom, sorry I'm not crediting properly) is that ballroom-style mambo and club salsa differ in that the ballroom mambo emphasizes crispness and is almost confrontational, whereas club salsa is fluid and social in nature. Apart from the ballroom idea of mambo moves on 2, whereas salsa steps on 1. Some others mentioned that NY style salsa tends to break on 2 (I hope I'm remembering right), like mambo. I'm oversimplifying and the original posts say it much better.

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This point was one that I made Genesius Redux... and, as that original post hopefully made clear, I was trying to make a distinction between salsa and *ballroom* mambo.

Genesius Redux said:

For some reason, I hear some songs as mambo and some songs as salsa, and I guess the mambo songs I hear are more heavily syncopated. What I hear as salsa has a more fluid melody line, where each phrase drives to its completion.
...
Does anyone else hear a difference between a mambo and a salsa? I mean, a tune that suggests one dance over the other, if you can separate them?

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This is something I very much relate to! Personally I feel that a lot of the shift from "mambo on2" to "salsa on1" was a direct result of a like shift in the music.

I most notice the musical differences during ballroom comps here in the U.S.A. -- when a song that clearly breaks on 1 is sometimes played for a Rhythm Mambo event where the couples are supposed to be breaking on 2. The result is just a mess...