A note on regional differences. You'll find that many Latin Americans have fierce ideas that only their own country dances "authentic" Salsa. Why regional differences? Simple: in the 1950s, new music traveled much faster than new dance steps. As the original Mambo music spread through Latin America in the 1950s, people quickly adapted local dances to fit it. For example, in Colombia, the sidewards steps of one form of Cumbia became the basis for Colombian-style Mambo/Salsa, and many Colombians still dance a Cumbia-like Salsa. The most interesting story involves the island of Curacao (a colonial possession of Holland), where a local dance called Tumba was adapted to the new Mambo music. Tumba is danced with a "break forward on the right foot" action -- the opposite of Mambo/Salsa dancing everywhere else. And because of the migration of people back and forth from Curacao to Holland, Salsa in Holland is usually danced on the "wrong" foot! (The Salsa teachers in Curacao have recently started teaching conventional Salsa footwork. Let's see how long it takes Holland to catch up.)
The cross-border migration of influences continues, now in reverse. Over time, dancers in the main Salsa centers of New York and Miami have cheerfully incorporated every idea they see that helps them look good, including moves from almost every regional variation. The cross-pollination also operates beyond Latin dance borders, of course: Salsa, recall, came about from an infusion of Disco (Hustle) into Mambo in the 1970s. More recently, Salsa dancers have swiped moves from the revival form of Swing dance called Lindy Hop, and West Coast Swing dancers have returned the favor by swiping their fanciest spins and wraps directly from high-end Salsa.
MAMBO STYLE
| Originally, Mambo was danced like this:
That business of doing a Rock-Step* on "2 - 3" and a Slow Step on "4 - 1" (that is, stepping on "4" and pausing during the next "1") is the hallmark of Mambo timing. Here, the footwork is directly matched with the clave ["KLAH-vay"] beat that underlies all of the major Latin dances that have their roots in Cuban music -- Rumba, Mambo, Cha-Cha, Salsa. Notice that during the first 4 beats, the footsteps of the Rock-Step exactly match the clave beat. During the second 4 beats, the footsteps of the Rock-Step fall neatly in between the clave beats. In both cases, the dancing is very much in tune with the clave. The clave was originally 2 wooden pegs -- now, any instrument might do -- that were struck together on the following beats: 2, 3, 5, 6-1/2, 8. (You'll notice that for clarity, we are now counting the music in 8's.) That is, during the first four beats you'll hear two pulses, on "2" and "3". Then you'll hear three pulses evenly spread across the next four beats: on "5", then halfway through beat "6", and then on "8". It sounds a bit like 2 claps, followed after a brief pause by 3 slightly slower claps. Occasionally the music has the combination reversed -- first 3, then 2 -- but the principle remains the same, and, at least in theory, the Man will start his Forward Rock-Step during the part that has the 2 pulses. In practice, it is usually almost impossible to hear the clave beat in the music until you are very, very experienced in listening to Latin music. The complex overlayment of rhythm patterns usually masks it -- especially in contemporary Salsa. It is easier for most people to hear the "1" beat of a phrase and then count from there. Alternatively, you can ignore the counts completely . . . and match your feet to nearby good dancers. This pattern is not danced by very many Salsa dancers any more. It is still danced by older-generation authentic Mambo dancers. It is also danced by most Cha-Cha dancers. And the British have preserved this pattern in their very strange and very British (but pretty) versions of Rumba, Cha-Cha and Mambo, which the British have incorporated into what they humbly call their International Style of ballroom dancing. There are also still some Cubans and children of Cuban emigrants (in the Miami area) who dance Salsa with this Mambo timing -- however, many of them adjust the steps by evening them out, yielding 3 steps almost evenly spread across 4 beats of music. You'll notice that in the chart we've marked a pause during the "1" and "5" beats. Do people really pause? Well, it depends on what you mean by "pause." It's not a complete dead-stop, like being flash-frozen. In actuality, you are still in motion a bit as you get ready for the next Rock-Step. Many dancers will add little foot flicks or taps during this beat, purely for fun. This is also the time when almost all leads begin for whatever is coming next. But relative to all that's happening on the other beats, it feels rather pause-ish. In Cha-Cha, of course, you are finishing up the end of the cha-cha-cha, rather than pausing. * You have probably noticed in your dancing that the term "Rock-Step" is a bit of a misnomer. In fact, you step on the first beat of it, and then rock back onto the other foot without changing its location, on the second beat of it. It might be more accurate to say "Step-Rock." But the universal practice is to call it a Rock-Step. BREAK ON 1 STYLE Almost all Salsa dancers today dance simplified versions of Mambo timing, of which "Break on 1" style is the most common. This style moves the Rock-Step to "1 - 2" and the Slow step to "3 - 4" -- which most people find much easier to hear in the music. Thus:
The advantages to this style are (a) it preserves the authentic
dynamic dance structure of Mambo, and (b) it makes it much easier
for most people to find the starting beat in the music. The
disadvantage is that the relationship to the clave beat is heavily
diminished. Switching the Rock-Step to the "1" beat reduces the
complex interlocking relationship between the dance and the music. BREAK ON 2 STYLE Also known as "New York" style, or "dancing on the clave" or "dancing with the clave" The large New York Puerto Rican community of Salsa dancers -- along with the substantial Cuban contingent there -- eventually adopted a different simplification, called "Break on 2" style, or "dancing on (or with) the clave." From what we've heard so far, this style was evolved by Eddie Torres, a self-taught and terrific dancer in New York, who did more to keep Salsa alive than anyone else after the initial late-70s/early-80s fad passed; virtually all Break on 2 dancers and teachers in New York are current or former Eddie Torres students. Within New York City, this style is usually referred to as dancing "on 2" (without the word "break"). Outside of New York, it is often called "New York" style. Thus:
Break on 2 style preserves Mambo's dancing of the Rock-Step on "2 - 3" -- which maintains the close relationship to the clave beat. It changes the Mambo timing, however, by giving the dancers something definite to do with their feet on the "1" beat. And it changes the Mambo dance structure by grouping the steps together at each end of the structural pattern, instead of spreading them dynamically across it. At first glance this seems not very different from the Mambo style. And at second glance it even overlaps with Break on 1 style, in that the same feet are hitting the floor on the same beats (although in a completely different pattern). But in practice, it is tremendously difficult to get your body to accept the change from either Mambo timing or Break on 1 timing to this Break on 2 style -- your feet will constantly want to jump back to the pattern you are used to. You'll notice this especially whenever you come out of a turn. Note another important difference in Break on 2 style: the man characteristically starts forward during the second half of the musical cycle, that is, during the "5, 6, 7." In all other styles, the man starts forward during the "1, 2, 3, 4" phase of the 8-beat musical cycle. (On the dance floor, the really expert gents will start forward on the "6, 7." In the classroom, however, the men will usually be asked to start the easiest way possible: they'll start on "1" with the backward half of their Basic.)Break on 2 Salsa has a different feel to it from Break on 1, mainly because all three foot-falls are bunched together at one end (before the "pause"). This eliminates much of the dynamic and percussive shifting of your balance point that gives Mambo (and its Break on 1 Salsa descendant) its rich and characteristic flavor. There is less of a "structured" feel to Break on 2 style, which has both advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage (beside the loss of the authentic dynamic structure itself) is that the men, and sometimes the women, tend to lose track of the footwork, since there is much less structural guidance. This is especially true at the Beginner and Intermediate levels. Another disadvantage is that many standard Salsa/Mambo moves are harder to do with the "on 2" footwork. The main advantage is that on-the-spot maneuvers are much easier, now that the footsteps are grouped at each end, and whole categories of on-the-spot turns, spins, wraps, etc. become easily reachable from within the Break on 2 context. Which leads to another disadvantage (or advantage, depending on how narcissistic you are feeling) -- Break on 2 dancers tend to be more "solo" oriented than Break on 1 dancers. The partnering aspects can fall away almost to nothing, unless the two dancers maintain a strong psychological connection to each other. Final note: there are actually several different styles calling themselves "Break on 2" style. The main other one that we have seen is identical to the original Mambo style except that the man starts forward during the second half of the musical cycle, that is, during the "6, 7, 8" instead of during the "2, 3, 4." A third flavor makes one tiny adjustment to the New York Break on 2 style charted above: it requires that the man start forward whenever the clave is in its '2 pulses' phase -- which is sometimes on the "1" beat; sometimes on the "5" beat, depending on what the musicians are up to in that particular song. | |||
