What's the difference in the dance steps between mambo and salsa?

Question

Is the music for each different, how so? Are there extra/more steps in mambo basic?

Answer 1

Just a little difference. Mambo is supposed to start on a '2' count, so it's wait, 2,3,4,wait,2,3,4. Salsa can be danced either starting on the 1 beat or the 2 beat. Mambo uses a side step in the basic pattern, where in salsa you just close the feet together. Mambo can use a lot of floor space, but salsa is often kept more close. An underarm turn in salsa is done from a forward step, in mambo it's a diagonal step-using more floor space. Mambo is an African dance and the posture can be very loose in the legs and the body can sink low down into it. Salsa, a Latino dance, is loose in some ways, but the posture is sometimes more up and the footwork closer for quicker, snappier turns. If you know mambo or salsa, you can adapt what you know to the other style pretty easily.

Answer 2

If you put everyone's answer together, you'll get close to your answer.

On2 means that you are breaking (stepping forward or back depending on if you are the lead or follower) on the 2nd beat of the song and doing this is most often called dancing 'mambo'.

On1 means that you are breaking on the 1st beat of the song and this is most often called 'salsa'.

Check out this link for more specifics.
http://jedi.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/dancing/salsa/articles/johnny_on1on2.html

However, mambo and salsa have the same structure. Mambo is, as mentioned, most often attributed to Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri and has more of a Latin Jazz feel to it. However, you can dance on1 or on2 to it. Salsa is made up of La Clave and there are many who feel that dancing on2 is closer to dancing to the roots of the music than when you are dancing on1.

Most of the world dances on1. Someone gave an example of Yanek - the greatest Cuban dancer of Casino-styled Salsa. Yanek dances on1 but Cuban style is not the same as other styles. In Casino, the man and woman dance as if each other is looking in a mirror so when the woman steps back, the man steps back, and then they step forward at the same time as well. This is definitely NOT dancing 'mambo'.

Within salsa and mambo music, there are different types - You can go here to read more about them.
http://www.justsalsa.com/salsa/music/son/

Answer 3

Mambo Dance Steps

Answer 4

Gregory S's description of salsa (as opposed to mambo) is almost a textbook description of mambo as taught in American-style ballroom, so I suspect his ballroom background is largely International style.
Heck if I can give you a real difference! I tend to think Tito Puente (who should have known something about the subject) was right: salsa is something you eat, and the dance is an amalgam of loosely structured Latin dance largely based on mambo. It is true that mambo is normally danced on 2, with the clave, and the salsa style that's crept east from the left coast is usually danced on one, but I don't see that as a real difference.Others claim a side-to-side "feel" with salsa compared to a forward-and-back feel to mambo, but again, this seems more stylistic than substantive.

Answer 5

Learn Salsa Quickly From Home!

Answer 6

In the social dancing scene, mambo music tends to have a "harder" sound to it, oftentimes coming out of the 70s and 80s, before the music changed that people were buying and what the record labels sold. Stuff like Tito Puente, Ray Baretto, the Fania All-stars, etc. "Salsa" music is the typical music you'd lump both salsa and mambo into...most of the contemporary artists (Marc Anthony, India, Tito Nieves, etc).

In terms of the steps for what people refer to (again, in the social dancing world, not ballroom, or even in Cuba/PR) as mambo (aka: "salsa on2") or salsa (aka: "salsa on1"), there are no more or less steps in either. In both, your feet step on the same beat in the music for both, however it is the placement of your feet that differs on those beats. If you're a lead, your left foot steps in place on beat "1", right foot steps back on "2", left foot back in original place on "3" right foot back to original spot (next to left foot) on "5", left foot forward on "6" right foot in place on "7". Beats four and eight are resting beats...if that makes any sense. for "salsa" the left foot steps forward on 1, right in place on 2, left foot back to original spot on 3, right foot back on 5, left in place on 6, right back to original spot on 7, beats 4 & 8 are resting beats again...

some people prefer to dance one style to certain kinds of songs. I prefer to dance mambo to music that has a clearer percussion in it, & salsa to the salsa romantica songs. some people dance all mambo or all salsa, irregardless of the song style, depending on what their local dance scene tends to dance/teach.

traditional mambo (not ballroom) is very different from what the social dancing scene in the US refers to as mambo. there's a guy named Yanek out of Cuba you can look up online to watch videos of him teaching more traditional mambo.
hope this helps :D

Answer 7

I've never heard of the salsa dance. Are you thinking of a samba? Salsa, by the way, is excellent when garnished liberally with jalapeno, tomato, onions, and cilantro.

Answer 8

the left step, turn, dip.