Almasabrosa organises Mambo - New York style courses in Firenze.
The term Mambo referred in Cuba to a new and not fully defined dance, rich in ideas taken from son and danzón, mixed over frenetic rhythms and then enriched with African elements and motifs belonging to jazz culture. Mambo was born from the desire of the slaves to “let loose” in the truest sense of the word: once free of their chains, they invented the most frenetic of dances.
On the choreographic level, the break from son took place in the fundamental figure, which can be considered the basic one. Son had a slower rhythm than mambo: it was danced with horizontal movements (to the right and to the left). With the acceleration of the rhythm that marked the evolution towards mambo, it was no longer possible to maintain the horizontal direction of the figure without losing harmony and balance. For this reason the dancers invented the vertical step for mambo (forward and back).
Mambo is Cuban because it was conceived in Cuba, and because Perez Prado is Cuban, but it is also American because it became great in the USA. The Palladium Ballroom, the largest dance hall in the world at the time, made Perez Prado’s mambo the most beautiful and beloved dance of all time.
Today, what many identify as New York style salsa is called Mambo by those directly involved, and it is danced on the musical 2 but with a base different from that of son.
In the Almasabrosa Puerto Rican salsa course, the breaking on 2 technique typical of New York mambo, and also used by many Puerto Rican artists, is taught at the advanced levels.