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In the world of Latin dance,
specifically the world-wild Salsa, how you hit
the beat is often influenced by the one you
start with, as agreed by the panel of dancers/instructors interviewed in this article.
Salsa On 2 (also known as Mambo) is a style
of Salsa that has maintained a dedicated
following since its heyday back in the 50’s &
60's.
Despite the strength of Los Angeles (On 1) and Cumbia
styles that dominate most international Salsa
outposts, there are few Salsa communities that
do not cultivate some budding love for Salsa On
2, like yin into yang.
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Cumbia Style Salsa
The Cumbia style of salsa. Another style
of salsa is the cumbia style, popular in
South America. In the cumbia style, the
full basic has two back breaks rather
than a forward break step and a backward
break step. The cumbia basic has a side
to side feel rather than a forward and
back feel. The music for the cumbia
style is also distinctive in character.
[definition c/o
the Dance Store Online]
Cumbia Trivia
Cumbia is originally a
Colombian folk dance and dance music and
is Colombia's representative national
dance and music along with vallenato.
Cumbia is very popular, widely known in
the Latin music mainstream, as well as
Central America and Mexico, with lots of
regional variations and tendencies. The
traditional instruments of cumbia were
mainly percussion; different types of
drums, claves and a güiro, and
woodwinds; flutes. Cumbia is the
net intersection of two cultures that
settled in the region of what is now
northern Colombia at different times;
the Amerindians and African slaves.
Cumbia began as a courtship dance
practiced among the slave population
that was later mixed with the European
instruments and influence. Cumbia
is believed to be a variant of the
African Guinean cumbe music. Cumbia
started in the northern region of
Colombia, mainly in or around Cartagena
during the period of Spanish
colonization. Spain used its ports to
import African slaves, who tried to
preserve their musical traditions and
also turned the drums and dances into a
courtship ritual. Cumbia was mainly
interpreted with just drums and claves.
[history c/o
wikipedia.org]
The New York and L.A. styles
The New York and L.A. styles are very
closely linked. Both styles use the
mambo step as a basic and are very
slotted/linear in execution. New York
has earned a reputation for dancing on
"2". The Los Angeles style uses the
contemporary mambo basic as well but
typically executes this step by breaking
forward on count "1". The L.A. and New
York styles consist of the same core
components that make up their incredibly
diverse repertoire of moves. The main
difference is their approach to styling,
the ebb and flow of movement. [Info c/o
Nicole Da Silva, Soles Dance Studio]
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Norberto
'Betto'
Herrera
of
Mambo Dinamico
(North Carolina, USA) explains,
"It (On 2) keeps the roots of the dance since it
matches very well with the percussion (clave and
tumbao) and also has room for improvisation."
Natalie Reis
of
AusLatin Productions
(Sydney, Australia) agrees, "I’ve found to my
great joy that its connection to Cuban rumba is
close and tangible. Not just the basic 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 but
the parts of the music; the brass, the vocals,
the ebb and flow of each bar of music. I never
even thought about those things before – dancing
Salsa On 2 has literally opened the world of
Salsa music and dance."
Caryl
Cuizon
of
iFreeStyle.ca
(Toronto, Canada) explains, "When
you dance On 2 you can elongate the pauses.
This might help explain why people feel like
they’re dancing inside or within the music.
It’s not a break right on the first beat of the
measure, which is what happens when you’re
dancing On 1 (LA style Salsa). It can feel more
subtle because you’re not hitting the downbeat
on your first step."
Her company partner
Angus Dirnbeck
adds, "Salsa is a music that inspires people to
move their bodies and I really appreciate the
many ways that different people interpret the
music. I’ve even seen some plain off-beat
dancers that are entertaining and inspiring
nonetheless! Having said that, the style that
feels most comfortable to me is when I am
dancing On 2. Metaphorically, I think dancing
styles can be likened to fashion. When I go out
shopping for clothes, I don’t try to figure
out/debate which designer 'got it right.'
Instead, I look around at what is available and
I try some stuff on. Ultimately, I come to
prefer the outfits that suit me best."
Edie, The Salsa FREAK
(USA, Europe), notes that On 2 dancing is also
determined by the music available. "I like
dancing On 2 to On 2 music like many Tito Puente
and Celia Cruz songs. It is difficult to dance
On 2 to most types of Cuban and Colombian Salsa
music, for example."
Alexandra Sell
of
Mambo Productions (Calgary, Canada) adds, "I
always enjoyed listening to the more classic
musical styles of Salsa. It was a natural progression to
start looking for the 2/3 beats in the music. Salsa On 2 is very fluid, leaves more time for
partnering and, for the ladies, allocates
more time for styling."
"I
love the music that the On 2 dancers like to
groove to,"
Ashley 'Angel'
McKenna of
Cosalda Dance Company
(New York, USA) agrees. "Great jazzy
instrumentals, medium tempo music that you can
play with, and you don’t feel like you've run a
4 minute race."
Many LA or Cumbia style Salsa communities are often resistant
to engage Salsa On 2. This resistance has
been thoroughly debated over the Internet,
however, most importantly and obviously,
according to
Arthur Ga
of
Salsa Picante Dance Company (Toronto,
Canada), this is resistance to change.
"As a Salsa teacher, I have to fight hard to introduce dancing
On 2 to my classes and the same goes for Cuban
style Salsa,"
Arthur Ga
explains. "When you visit other dance
communities or regions, try dancing their way
and find the beauty in what they see. The style you
choose is your personal preference but trying
each style might add to that personal
preference."
Variety in Salsa styles is not only influenced by the music
available but the variety of Salsa partners.
Learning and truly experiencing On 2 dancing is
difficult when everybody else is dancing On 1.
"Whatever your preference, you must connect with
your immediate partner,"
Arthur Ga
says. "However, this connection does not have
to be limited as long as you are inviting to new
partners and styles. On the social floor,
dancers should be versatile as well as flexible,
physically and mentally. People tend to dance
with people that they know and avoid others that
do not dance their way. People get tunnel
vision when one can only dance one way. I say
try dancing with at least one stranger on the
dance floor."
Despite our natural resistance to change, over the past few
years Salsa On 2 is slowly spreading in our
international salsa communities.
"When I started dancing in North Carolina there wasn’t any
Salsa On 2 scene,"
Betto describes. “When my partner (Joy Manning) and I started
teaching Salsa On 2, lots of people didn’t
believe that it would catch people’s attention.
Now everyone teaches and learns Salsa On 2."
Natalie Reis
recalls similar resistance to Salsa On 2 with
her dance community in Sydney, Australia. "I was frustrated
with what I perceived as a constant changing
tide of styles. It was becoming impossible to
keep my teaching syllabus up to date without
frustrating my students and dancing in my
community became a bit of a war zone of styles."
"There are now a significant number of Salsa On 2 dancers at a
fairly advanced level in my community," she
continues. "There is however a shortage of new
students learning Salsa On 2 from the start.
Most are still taught On 1 / LA style or Cuban
style, and later make the choice to learn On 2,
as if it is something that only advanced dancers
can handle."
Natalie Reis
does not believe Salsa On 2 is more difficult
than On 1. "What IS difficult is un-learning
and re-learning all while in plain view of one’s
students, colleagues and competitors! Now, I
teach this style exclusively to beginners and
they have no more or less trouble than any other
beginner students of any other style. In fact,
for some unknown reason, they tend to be able to
transpose to On 1 with limited fuss, whereas the
reverse is not common in On 1 students."
Edie, The Salsa FREAK
has, by far, the best initiation story from
Salsa On 1 to Salsa On 2:
"I was dancing with Tito Puente in Los Angeles one time. I
had only been dancing about six months. I had
just won a competition, and felt kind of cocky.
He placed me into an On 2 lead, and the entire
song, I kept thinking he was off-time. I
thought to myself, how can this guy possibly
play the drums, if he can’t even keep time while
dancing? Boy, was I naïve! About two years
later, I learned there was such a thing as On 2
dancing after visiting New York with the Salsa
Brava Dance Company. I realized what an idiot I
was to have second thoughts about Tito Puente’s
TIMING. I was actually trying to back-lead him
on the 1, trying to help HIM out. Oh brother.
How embarassing! Come to think of it, he was
probably wondering how on earth I won that
competition dancing On 1! We all live and
learn, I guess!"
"Back in 1998, it was the first time any New Yorker had ever
seen a performance danced On 1. The performance
was done by The Salsa Brava Dance Company. They
(the New York Descarga Latina Dance Company)
also performed for us at the Sportsman’s Lodge
in Los Angeles that same year. It was the first
time anyone from Los Angeles had seen On 2
dancing. It was truly
history-in-the-making. The New Yorkers flew to
LA to do a show for us, and we flew to New York
to do a show for them. Johnny Vazquez, Ramon
Morales, Luis and Francisco Vazquez, Joby
Martinez, Janette Valenzuela, Nelson Flores,
Addie Diaz, Stacey Diaz … everyone on the
Descarga Latina Dance Company of New York were
there … It was fabulous. This was before there
was such a thing as a 'Salsa Congress'."
Latin dances such as Mambo and Salsa were
made by people who loved variety and weren’t
afraid to experiment with style. These
dances also
have long histories that don’t want to be
forgotten when new styles come in. In fact, the
history of Salsa On 2 / Mambo is as twisting and
turning as the dance itself. Traditional Mambo
is a fusion of European ballroom and Afro-Cuban
tradition. New York and Puerto Rico are considered the
major safe havens for Salsa On 2 / Mambo
enthusiasts. In New York, Mambo
legends such as Eddie Torres cultivated this
living art form, so much so that he had a style
named after him.
In
SalsaCrazy.com’s interview
with Eddie Torres, he described the evolution of
traditional Mambo as a melting pot of styles
such as flamenco, jazz, swing, tango and
hustle. Today, there appear to be even more
variation of this variation of Salsa, floating
under names like Power2, Puerto Rican style,
Cuban Son style, etc.
Natalie Reis
believes there are actually only 2, possibly 3
main variations of Salsa On 2. She names
Classic Mambo, NY/Eddie Torres Style and
possibly Puerto Rican Style Salsa. "There are
as many opinions as there are dancers, I
suppose. I consider New York and Puerto Rican
style to be one and the same, given that the
connection between the two places is so strong."
"There
was a gentleman that calculated
24 different ways of
dancing Mambo On 2,"
Edie, The Salsa FREAK
reports. "It’s pretty
fascinating what you can do with the 2. Keeps
people constantly trying new things. Prevents
boredom, I guess!"
Music in Cuba: Diversification and
Popularization
1920s and '30s
Son music
came to Havana in 1920 due to the
efforts of legendary groups like Trío
Matamoros. Son was urbanized, with
trumpets and other new instruments,
leading to its tremendous influence on
most later forms of Cuban music. In
Havana, influences such as American
popular music and jazz via the radio
were adopted.
The son trios gave way to the septets,
including guitar or tres, marímbulas or
double bass, bongos, claves and maracas.
The trumpet was introduced in 1926. Lead
singers improvised lyrics and
embellished melody lines while the
claves laid down the basic son clave
beat.
As time passed, musicians began
"whitening up" son for the growing
tourist traffic in the Havana nightclubs
who did not understand the complex
African rhythms.
Cuban music enters the United
States
In the
1930s, the Lecuona Cuban Boys and Desi
Arnaz popularized the conga in the US
and Don Aspiazu did the same with son
montuno, while Arsenio Rodriguez
developed the conjunto band and rumba's
popularity grew. Conjunto son, mambo,
chachachá, rumba and conga became the
most important influences on the
invention of salsa. [info c/o
http://en.wikipedia.org/]
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Arthur Ga
speculates, "the
Cubans did this On 2 thing first and was kept
alive by
the
Puerto Ricans. After the revolution, Salsa in
Cuba became more street style, as it is now.
But who knows who can verify this opinion, maybe
other Cubans and Puerto Ricans of that era."
In the tradition of Tito Puente,
Betto
stops to reminds us, "First of all I disagree
with the use of the term 'Salsa' for the dance.
Salsa is a marketing term used by Fania Records
to promote traditional Cuban and Puerto Rican
rhythms. Salsa is not a dance. A lot of people
relate salsa to dancing On 1 when it's guaracha
that used to be breaking on the 1 & 5.
Each rhythm has a particular way that can be
danced to."
"I
prefer the Eddie Torres Style," he continued.
"It has adapted from its
original form to the music that is played today
and it has elements from all the traditional
rhythms/dances like pachanga, son, Cuban rumba,
Afro-Cuban, traditional Mambo, cha-cha-cha,
guajira, etc. It also has some new elements and
influences like jazz, hip hop, flamenco, tap,
etc. Its elasticity is what makes it so
interesting."
According to
Edie, The Salsa FREAK,
the way you dance Salsa On 2 depends on the
instructor or dancer you take to the most. "For
example, the typical tilting of the head by the
guy while looking into the girl’s eyes is a
typical NY signature created by a
famous instructors over there. The flicking of
the fingers to get the girl’s attention is also
from New York. I was told that this tilting of
the head is a “softer approach” to leading.
Personally, I like a tad more masculine type of
lead. The last thing I want is for my leader to
give me any trace of female essence. I want a
REAL MAN behind my On 2 lead. I hate it when
the guys tilt their head. I just can’t stand
it. Don’t ask me why, it just bugs me. Sorry.
Bugs a lot of other women as well."
"In terms of adding other urban and North American dance
elements such as Hip hop and breakdancing,"
Natalie Reis
says, "If you’re going to do Hip Hop, please do
great Hip Hop. Also, within choreography, try
to weave the other style into your theme and cut
the music seamlessly. Don’t just cut the music,
stick in a sound effect of a screeching car and
jump into something else. To me that is just
artistic brutality!"
According to
Betto,
"Break
Dance and Hip Hop are both dance forms that have
the same roots as Mambo does. If you have a
B-Boy battle in NY and then witness a
Rumba-Columbia Battle in Havana you will notice
the similarities. Two branches on different
sides of a tree still have the same roots."
Alexandra Sell
adds, "It is precisely this fusion which
contributed significantly to the development of
what today’s Salsa and Mambo look like, making
it popular throughout the world. It is also the
influences of modern day music and dance that
add to the development, training and the
advancement of Salsa. I don’t think all On 2
dancers should look alike and it is great to see
a variety of dance backgrounds influencing it."
"I
like entertainment,"
Angel
says. "It may not be my style, but if
that is the way the dancer interprets the music
who am I to tell them they are wrong. It's
dancing!"
Many Salsa aficionados balance the old with the
new. They acknowledge the paradoxical rule that
Latin dance’s most basic tradition is to try new
things. As remote as certain influences may
seem, we see clearly how Latin dance and music
has little exclusion.
"The main thing that, as a dancer and instructor, I try to
keep in mind is that the dance is supposed to be
playful and fun,”
Betto
says,
"It doesn't matter if you dance to socialize as the Europeans did or
dance to worship the Orizas (Lucumi) gods as the
Africans did, you still can have fun with it no
matter which approach you take."
"I used to participate in BMX freestyle (tricks
on a bike) which inspires me to do things in a
creative, entertaining way,”
Angus Dirnbeck
offers, “It also fostered in me an appreciation
of the technique and precision involved in doing
things that just look cool. My experience with
martial arts helped with many things including
balance and control. And so the list goes on.
And perhaps more than most other activities,
dance allows you the freedom to be who you are
or at least who you want to be for the duration
of the song."
Cheerleading is
Caryl
Cuizon
most unusual influence in her dancing. "The
biggest influences in my social dancing have
been Hip Hop and classical music training in
piano. In terms of choreography and
performances, definitely my many years of
cheerleading influence my desire to 'fly' or be
in the air. Cheerleading movements are quite
different from the elegant and fluid movements
of Salsa. I had to unlearn many habits (i.e.
toning down explosive movements. In
choreographies, I still use what I learned in
cheerleading to create formations, transitions,
precision and synchroni-city. We even did a
cheerleading Salsa routine once. When it comes
to upholding traditions I try to stay true to
timing (for technique as well as for
communication with my partner), good basics,
partnering and letting the music move you."
"To
me the music is the tradition,"
Angel
says. "Certain instructors create
signature styles that are copied, and that is a
wonderful thing. It's a great compliment to a
dancer that someone wants to move the way they
do."
Natalie Reis
is a former Flamenco dancer. "I am told that I
often have the flavour through my arm and hand
movements. I don’t do it deliberately. In
addition I was born and bred in the Caribbean
between Trinidad, St Lucia and Barbados, so my
body tends to move that way. I feel music in the
centre of my body and most movements are
generated there."
Betto
offers,
"I was a soccer player so I do a lot of fast footwork. I'm also
fascinated w/ Afro-Cuban dances so I try to use
a lot of body movement as well."
Betto grew up dancing Latin. He was born in Ecuador and was
raised on various Latin American styles from
Cuban, Columbian, Puerto Rican to Dominican. It
wasn’t until 1998, that he saw a couple dancing
On 2 in a New Jersey nightclub. "It was
different than any other style I knew. I love
the chemistry and connection you get with the
music and with your partner, especially with
partner-work since all the leads start and
finish with the musical bar."
"I
am trained as a Ballroom Instructor,"
Angel
says. "Though I started as a
street dancer because I'm trained I use my feet
differently. My leg action is sharp and I play
with the inner tempos of the music. I started
Salsa On 2 about 3 years ago. I love to do new
and different things. I also wanted to
understand the difference between Ballroom Mambo
and N.Y. Club Style Salsa/ Mambo/ Salsa On 2."
Edie, The Salsa FREAK started dancing when she was 30. "I was overweight, asthmatic, and
allergic to EVERYTHING. My husband was cheating
on me, and I was a miserable wreck. It was
either Salsa or suicide."
We picked
Edie, The Salsa FREAK's
reply for our last quote
as it reflects the Salsa spirit nicely on
whichever beat you choose to step to:
"I am a creation of all my instructors. I’ve had over 30 different instructors teach me
a myriad of tricks and tips, and have simply
combined every inch of my being as a compilation
of each one of them. I am so confused right
now; all I can do is LET GO and feel what the
music dictates. It’s quite surprising what
comes out at times."
Copyright lyw Oct 2006
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