event posterThis very special workshop Sat Dec 12 rewarded 30+ participants with instruction on Mambo Salsa on2 in the beautifully renovated JB’s Lounge within the Red Lion Hotel near Arden Way in Sacramento. Puerto-Rican professional percussionist Luis R Benetti began with annotated 3/2 con clave on paper. He taught us to hear these accents and syncopations with exercises including hand clapping. He demonstrated variations including 2/3 con clave, providing recorded and played-live examples. I found the examples of variations-on-the-fly between 3/2 and 2/3 arrangements, and the resulting shifts required of the dancer’s movements to be particularly fascinating and edifying(!), since I now know more about why certain arrangements cause my body rhythmic confusion, with onset partway through the piece! The workshop progressed to Tumbao concept with similar instructional methods. Dance instructor Oscar Castaneda introduced students to on2 with individual footwork patterns, in Mambo and Cha-Cha styles. Progressing to couples practice, distinctions in lead style were illustrated, and practiced: New York rhythm-based, open lead style using slower tempo classic Salsa music, as distinct from the ballroom-derived, pattern-centric, closed dance position West Coast Style danced to Timba and other up-tempo music. These dance styles and leads are derived from those taught by famed Latin instructor Eddie Torres, whom I have admired for his illuminating commentary during many years of America’s Ballroom Challenge competitions. This workshop was a bargain for hard-to-find instruction; that it was taught by such experienced, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and personable instructors was an unexpected bonus! This workshop used the foundation of all afro-cuban dance: the underlying rhythm(s), instead of the usual pattern-per-lesson formula. It was suggested that dancers wanting to clarify their listening skills for on2 and 3/2 con clave rhythms source music from this Puerto Rican internet radio station: zeta93.fm/ (I am writing this from deep zeta93 clave rapture) These marvelous instructors, event promoters Sacramento Mambo Group meetup.com/sacramentomambo/ and Peter Gunn Casillas of livelatinevents@gmail.com are to be complimented for this event, and encouraged to organize more. Kudos to all who promoted it! Contact information for this event included: (916) 296-2216 devinci88@hotmail.com
