Rehearsal, Couple Mambo #5

May 2011
Choreography by Chris Hamm. Sue and Chris in the studio preparing for a Cinco de Mayo gig at South Puget Sound Community College.

Mambo #5 was written by Perez Prado, a Cuban living in Mexico in the 50's. This choreography was influenced by Guys and Dolls - the Havana scene with Marlon Brando - and obviously a little bit of Michael Jackson thrown in the mix.

There was a comment a while back, asking why we were dancing Salsa to a Mambo tune... the reason is simple - we are artists. But, for more explanation... my experience in Cuba taught me the epitome of creativity. Because their basic resources are very scarce, I found the people to be very creative in their approach to the arts, by using what is available and mixing it with honoring the past yet looking to the future. The results were extreme quality in many different art forms, from pottery and paintings to music and dance.

Thus, in this choreography, my limiting scarcity was finding a salsa song around 2 minutes long with fun horn punches, repeating verses and shouts - something very Cuban. I wanted to honor the roots of Salsa, which is Mambo, as well as put in a little of the modern MJ spice.

In the past few years using this routine, it has proven to be a fun way to teach the basic salsa steps, because once the students have a choreography matching the music, often they become very excited about their progress.

Category:

Education

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• chris
• hamm
• salsa
• in
• olympia