Well Paul is wrong-- mambo did not gain popularity until 1950-- reason ? -- the Arthur Murray t.v. show . I worked , and managed for several who were part of the process.

Again-- you need to read the TRUE versions, from the people who were responsible for the introduction and growth. One is still living in Miami as of today-- Cuban Pete .

The palladium in NY , the venue for all of the local latinos was a showcase for the dance.It did not reach the general populace until the middle/late fifties ( I know, I was there-- was Paul- I think not ).
My evidence is empirical. I danced among and was " educated " by some of the " legends " , in the business .

Its the same old story-- a title behind your name, and everyone thinks that they have the answers to everything !. Have worked alongside , and with world class Prof. who do not have a clue about the music, other than beats and bars .

There has been an ongoing discussion on another major " site " about the origins, background, music etc. and its effect on performance . The " camp" is somewhat divided . --No surprise !

You only have to look at what Pierre did to Latin !!
In reality-- mambo was borne out of Danzon and Bolero construction.
The change came about when the 2/4 timing changed to 4/4--- even then-- that was not the authentic rhythm--

" Son " is,---- which is in 4/6 time --and, it is also a dance , which I will be introducing here, in about a month .

I might not be making myself clear here. If it wasn't for the International Style of Latin Dancing would they be dancing a Rumba or a Samba or a Cha in. I will give you a statistic from Dancesportinfo Net. 74,023 couples from 79 countries 115,244 individual dancers.I doubt it very much. Also the music played in a competition or in a studio has got to be first class. I could go to a studio and be happy just sitting and listening to the music if it is good. And to get back to the original discussion. Most of the Argentine Tango traditional music would not be my sit down and listen to choice. I say again. The steps are fantastic. The music at the presnt time is lousy. Being that we dance the same dance all through the evening there needs to be a greater variaty of tempos played, which means there needs to be a distinct beat and not something that has beats all over the place. Personaly I am for the tempo and style Robert Duvall danced in his film.

I am in perfect agreement with that.

The music, to my mind , has to inspire . With it being a very subjective medium, the choices should always be varied .

I Dj for my salsa and B/Room socials . I program all music before hand, write down each # played, and with few exceptions ,do not repeat on next session.

I worked in a studio many, many yrs ago, that had the lesson music on tape. It would play for the length of the lesson- the next hr. would be a repeat performance !. There was supposed to be a change of tape, but quite often did not change .

The Practicas in the last city in which I lived in the states, had a good variety of Tango, mainly classical, with Milonga , and waltz mixed in .