Between Mambo and salsa...

First, lets clarify what musicians say.. ALL salsa is mambo.. but.. not ALL Mambo is Salsa .

its much to do with music construction ( and in many cases, time lines )

The physical side of dance is where the paradigm shift took place back in the late 70s, but mainly in NYC. The rest of the "world " did not start to change their approach until the mid 80s.

The reason for the "change " was primarily the Music.

The genre began to branch out into separate styles, and the main contenders.. LA, NY. Cuban ( not as the cubans dance it ) Rueda and what is now called C.Body.are the most Popular. There are countries who dance a very specific style like " Cali " in Colombia .

Mambo is still taught and danced by many of the " chain " schools, and is normally danced breaking on "2 ", whereas Salsa uses 1.2. and 3 .

It is the most musically complex of all the dances taught,mainly due to its poly rhythmical structure.

Incidentally, apart from Rueda and Cali, there are 5/6 foundational variations, that are commonly identical and are danced in the above mentioned styles. The technical and execution differences, are mainly brought about by changes in style .

If you are interested in learning more about the genre, go to my website at..

cubansalsadorset.co.uk/