Mambo

Mambo, a Latin dance, originated in Cuba and forms a partnership with the music of the same name. Mambo music influenced numerous American Jazz musicians because of the cross pollination that Italian American gangsters provided through their ownership of multiple clubs in Cuba and across the U.S..

The dominant version today, originated in New York City in the 1970’s. The new dance features a breaking step on two, which led to its alias, “breaking on 2”. Another difference was that the Mambo known as breaking on 2 was created by Puerto Rican immigrants, notably Eddie Torres, in the 1970’s. Cuba’s isolation from the rest of the world preserved the original Mambo there, but also limited its spread to the rest of the world.