Mambo is a form of salsa dancing, with it’s origins in Cuba. The music came first, with Mambo music being pioneered in the 1930s by a musician named Arsenio Rodriguez and then later popularised by Perez Prado in the 1940s. It’s a mix of son (Cuban) and swing (jazz) music. It was around this time too that a dance form was created to accompany the highly enjoyed music.

In the 1970’s a man named Eddie Torres teamed up with a ballroom mambo instructor, June LaBerta, who encouraged and helped him put his dance steps to counts on the music, and develop a more structured syllabus that could be shared to the public. After this, Eddie became a creator and leader in this style and over time developed a following of mambo lovers.

The primary difference between dancing salsa and mambo, is that in mambo there is a “break” on the second beat of the clave, and basic rock step is executed on the 2nd and the 6th beat of the music, rather than the 1 and the 5. Because of this, it became known as “salsa on 2” or “NYC / Eddie Torres Style” – not to be confused with ballroom mambo which is different.

This dance form is still being taught all around the world in dance congresses, festivals and local classes and is much loved by all those who learn it.

All our dance classes are split into 2 sections, footwork (shines) and partnerwork.
In the footwork section, we work on a series of steps without a partner, where we develop coordination, balance, control, understanding of timing, weight shifting and transfer, body position and posture and deepen our understanding of the foundations before partnering up. If one cannot dance on their own; surely one cannot dance well with a partner.

Shines are also an important part of social dancing that should be developed. In the earlier stages of your dance journey, shines classes will cover syllabus and foundation technique that will help you grow as a dancer; but as the levels advance, we start exploring expression of music and movement, changing rhythms and pace, finding your own flow and fluidity within the steps amongst other things.

For the partnerwork portion of the class, again it’s subjective to the level of class being taken. Earlier classes start with base partnerwork techniques; developing connection, posture, frame and understanding of how to lead/ follow your partner with whom you are dancing. We rotate partners in class so you can come alone and are not required to bring a partner with you. As the levels increase from beg – adv, complexity and difficulty in repertoire is explored and taught along with the relevant techniques.

We have different levels of classes for our “On 2 Class” which you can explore in more detail below, deciding what is best for you.