Welcome to
StreetDance Australia 's
Dance Survival Guides
  • Finding the Clave

  • Understanding the Music

  • The Clave Rhythm

  • Dancing with the Clave.

  • Emergence of the Dances

  • New York Mambo/Salsa

  • Origins of Salsa...

    Part VI: New York Mambo/Salsa
    by Paul Clifford

    In Part V we examined how the Cuban based dances developed. Epecially since the 1940s. Internationally, dancers have adhered to the Cuban "diamond" pattern of dancing instead of the American box patterns. Also, unlike America where Mambo/Salsa are taught as ballroom dances. International they are not! Consequently, there is a difference between the way the dances are performed in America and Internationally. However, a new style is gradually gaining popularity in America, Europe and Asia. Loosely it is referred to as New York Mambo/Salsa. Even in New York there are style differences between dance teachers. Most notably between American ballroom teachers and exponents such of divergent styles such as Angel Rodrigeuz, Eddie Torres, Jimmy Antopn and Nelson Flores.



    The above notation for New York Salsa/Mambo is based on Stephen Shaw's description of the basic steps as provided at his website. Stephen mentions that although many New York dancers simply start with the basic movements (the ones I have notated) there is a technically proper way to start. The man starts by stepping forward on count 6, on the next beat he rocks back onto his right foot and pauses, then on the first count of the next measure he starts the basic step pattern...

    The man takes a small step back with his left foot, then takes a larger step back with his right foot and changes direction. He then steps in place with his left foot and pauses. In the next bar he steps forward right, forward left, steps in place with his right foot and pauses. The lady mirrors the man's moves. This sequence is then repeated in the following measures. The clave action takes place in the 2 and 3 counts and is expressed through a change of direction, with upper body movement.

    It has been suggested that these dance patterns are more reminiscent of the evolution of New York Hustle than the evolution of the Rumba (clave) based dances. Examining the notations for the other dances (provided in Part V - Emergence of the Clave based dances) and comparing them with the notation of NY Salsa/Mambo and considering Stephan Shaw describes it as a slot dance, this could be true!

    Mike Bello in his article "Mambo: Cuba Created It, New York Perfected It!" suggests a special evolution of Mambo in New York, with the style migrating from the hips to the shoulders and back again. He goes on to say that the Hustle arrived in NY about 1972 and " interestingly, a great many dancers were either dancing Mambo, the Hustle or both. What transpired then was an intermingling of the styles."

    James Religa in his notes on NY Hustle says that the Hustle originally was a type of West Coast Swing but has greatly evolved since its origins in the 1970s. He also says that until about 1982 the dance had a rock-step in it but that was changed to a forward together. [NY Hustle’s evolution possibly accounts for the three step pattern that NY Mabonics now use!]

    I noted earlier in this article that the Rumba (clave) based dances were developed by dancers who took the familiar "Son" as a basis and modified the steps to fit the new sounds.

    In New York it seems that history has repeated itself, with the dancers taking the Mambo, merging it with the Hustle and creating a new dance style that keeps to the clave rhythm. Well! That is why Mambo and Salsa are called street dances. They are not meant to be stagnant. The dancers are meant to take the familiar, modify it and make the dance and with it the music, something to which everyone can relate!



    In correspondence with Marla Friedler (SalsaWeb) she explained to me that in the Eddie Torres method the pause on 4 and small step on 1, is actually a single continuous step. In her article on "How to dance New York Style Mambo", she describes it as "Holding the 4 and 8 counts instead of the 1 and 5, which makes for a really interesting style, because although you don't step on the 4 and 8, you are not really holding in place on the counts you don't step on...this is because on the 4 and 8 you are in motion moving your foot all the way from the front to the back or the back to the front, getting ready to step on 1 or 5." What Marla is actually saying is you start to step on count 4 and complete it on count 1. Except for the fact that the step is forward or back instead of side, Eddie Torres' stepping pattern is a minor variation on the stepping patterns for a Rumba.

    Eddie the "salsafreak" in a recent article on the step patterns notes that "in the clubs in New York, rarely did we observe this way of breaking on two. Instead most were dancing the (regular) two. The way Eddie Torres teaches is the way they danced during the Mambo craze of the 50s and 60s. We believe Eddie is helping to bring this way of breaking on two back in vogue." To find out how people danced in the 50s, have a read of Arthur Greenburg's History of Rumba, Mambo & Cha Cha.

    I believe much of the mystery and debate in the USA about the dance patterns and when to "break", is the creation of the people who write about Mambo/Salsa. If writers related their experience in terms of musical patterns and used less ambiguous terminology, the average person might relate to the dances more readily. With this aim, I suggest the following rules for all future discussion: A "pause" should mean do nothing! Not "step dragging the foot over two beats". The ambiguous, "in place step" used by a lot of USA writers, should be changed to articulate the foot motion that occurs - "rock back/side/foward changing weight onto the other foot" or "tap/kick without changing weight onto the foot, ready to step forward/side/back on the next step". The term "step" should only be used where the foot moves and a change of weight occurs at the end of a specified beat interval - it would be helpful if writers specified on what beat the step began and the duration (in half beats) that the step is completed with the change of weight. If you have further suggestions please email StreetDance.


    Name: Stephen Shaw
    EMail:salsa@mindspring.com
    Link: www.SalsaNewYork.com

    Comments

    It's interesting that you bring up hustle and west coast swing and their incorporation into our New York style of mambo. I've heard the same, especially as they relate to our "slot dancing style", our "rubber band" way of swapping places back and forth with our partners.

    Of the major influences here, Eddie Torres has the least of those influences. He is the more "pure" NY Puerto Rican, with his dance evolution coming out of the Palladium, Corso, Side Street, and other classic NY latin clubs of years ago, where Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez and Machito were dominant.

    However, two other prominant younger instructors here, do directly incorporate those other dances into what they teach their students. Nelson Flores loves hustle, has studied with Maria Torres (different from Eddie's wife) of HustleUSA fame, and gives us hustle moves in his classes. Jimmy Anton incorporates west coast swing turn patterns into what he teaches in his mambo classes.

    Without question, of course, Eddie Torres is considered to be THE major, mainstream, New York salsa/mambo representative for decades: his teaching is the standard, his best dancers are awesome, his performance groups are supreme. I'm sure you're familiar with his excellent training videos; if not, they will give you the complete picture of what we do and how we learn in just a few hours of watching them. The audio tape about the timing is excellent too. They're at www.salsafreak.com/ee/ [Quick Link!].

    I am convinced that if a highly motivated student were to spend several months to a year religiously studying, drilling and practicing everything on these tapes over and over again with a partner or several other couples, including going out to clubs and dancing exclusively with this timing and method, they could actually become a "somewhat intermediate level" NY mambo dancer without ever coming to New York, especially if they were to carefully study and imitate Eddie's own dancing with Duplessey which appears at the beginning.



    This might be the final installment to this article. I hope you found it enjoyable and worth the read. If you agree, disagree or want to add something to anything you have read - then Email me and I will publish your comments in a new section "Living Life - Readers' Dancing with the Clave" (coming soon!).



    Reference Sites:
    Eddie (the salsafreak), Breaking the "Breaking" Mystery of Salsa Timing
    Stephen Shaw, Definition of Dancing New York Salsa Breaking on 2
    Mike Bello, Mambo: Cuba Created It, New York Perfected It!
    Marla Friedler, How to dance New York Style Mambo
    James Religa, New York Hustle
    Various, Rec.arts.dance

    A Musicians view of the Clave:
    Chris Washburne, clave: The African Roots of Salsa
    Chuck Silverman, Afro-Caribbean Applications
    The DrumClub.com, Understanding the clave
    Chris Smith, Detailed stuff on clave
    David Penalosa, Writing out clave






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    This page was last updated November 2000
    copyright Paul F Clifford (2000)