MamboArts.Com

Exploring The Many Facets of Mambo Magic

Welcome to Herb April's MamboArts.Com Webpage-

 

 

MAMBO ARTS HOMEPAGE

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-Drumming, Martial Arts, Dance Arts, Sports Performance Enhancement, Personal Evolution, Physical Culture, & Much, Much More!-

MAMBO, MAMBO

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H. APRIL 02/10/09 VERSION

 

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The Ultimate "Magic" Word!-

"If there is such a thing as a magic word, the best example I can think of is Mambo."

-Ned Sublette

Author of:

"Cuba and It's Music-From the First Drums to The Mambo"


The HeartBeats of Mambo Arts Today

The twin heartbeats of what I call Mambo arts Today are Salsa Social Dancing and Latin Percussion studies. Yes, hot dancing and playing hand drums (or other african or latin percussion instruments) are the heart and soul of Mambo Arts Today as an Evolutionary art form and field of study. I realize that many of you readers are only interested in certain aspects of what is offered in the Mambo Arts today Curriculum, such as only martial arts, or only drumming, or only the love of cats, but believe me when I say that if you make the effort to study and absorb the entire spectrum of knowledge that Mambo Arts today has to offer, you will find yourself growing, changing, and evloving as a total human being in ways that are quite possibly beyond your current stage of comprehension.

Mambo dance and Mambo percussion study can lead you to insights in other aspects of Mambo Arts Today study and research that will seldom be attained by those who only want to pick individual aspects to learn. It is not unlike someone who joins a boxing gym and decides to do nothing but skip rope for the duration of each workout. The choice is yours of course, but believe me when I say that if you reach middle age in this society you will really reap the benefits of having learned the entire spectrum of Mambo Arts Today study. In fact, one can look at Mambo Arts Today as personal "Fountain of Youth" research and study.

Mambo and Salsa dance give one an infinite crucible of physical self-expression, just as drumming / percussion study does the same.  It is all about rhythm, movement, and self-expression in settings that "open the mind" to possibilities through joy and heightened awareness through the connection with one's partner Yeah, you have to have a partner. Your partner will go hand in hand with you wherever your inspiration leads during each dance. Your partner will give you the stable base from which you can improvise in balanced relationship with that base. Without a partner, there is no Mambo (this is true even if you are dancing "alone" with the "spirits-metaphysically speaking).

Drumming and percussion study are the same as dance-you can go places within a group of likeminded players that you can't access alone. This is especially true in the study of "poly-rhythmic" percussion studies. Listening to good latin, afro-cuban, or african purcussive interplay between experienced and skillful practitioners can affect one's mind and body in many unusual and Evolutionary ways. I really don't know how to express the "effects" of percussion "play/" It helps to think of drumming as "dancing with your hands."

I see the study of Mambo, Cha-Cha-Cha, and "Salsa" dance as a direct adjunct to hand drumming study, just as I see martial arts footwork, muscle control, and distancing to be a direct adjumct to latin dance footwork. There is also a "hand sensitivity" aspect of  hand drmming that flows directly into either danc or martial arts skill. The interconnections and "threads" are all there for the taking by the perceptive Mambo Arts Today student. The Evolutionary potentials are limitless and fascinating beyond belief.

*It is amazing how a little research will reveal that many of the top boxers, grapplers, and martial artists around the world have also been either proficient dancers or decent hand drummers. Check out the video link below to see a bit of fanciful footwork by legendary boxer "Sugar" Ray Robinson on the Ed Sullivan Show back in 1951. Ray even "moonwalked" off the stage!!!

SOFA Entertainment - 17 sec - Dec 13, 2005 -   (5 ratings)
Performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on September 23, 1951. Available on "The Very Best of The Ed Sullivan Show Volume 2" DVD at www.SOFAentertainment. ...
 
 
Although there are currently no clips of the legendary Bruce Lee displaying his Cha-Cha-Cha skills competitively, he was a championship caliber ballroom dancer ( cha cha cha was his specialty) in Hong Kong as a teen. There are clips from a Hong Kong movie that Bruce appeared in as a teen, and a home movie made at a party he attended in Hong Kong that will give you a tiny bit of insight into his dance floor skills. Click on the links below to view just a small taste of how much Bruce Lee enjoyed displaying his "Mambo Arts" dancing skills in the late 1950's when he was a teenager:


 
 
 
 

WHAT BRUCE "REALLY" WANTED TO DO ON THE DANCE FLOOR!

 

A SUPERB BOOK AND A REMARKABLE DVD THAT WE RECOMMEND:

"THE CONGA DRUMMER"S GUIDEBOOK"

by

MIKE SPIRO

SHER MUSIC-PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA
-Email: Sher Music
-

 

*Please note that Mr. Spiro has also created a fantastic "Introduction to The Conga Drum DVD!

"Introduction to The Conga Drum" DVD by Michael Spiro
Available NOW from SHER MUSIC

I ALSO HAVE A "DANCE DIVA HOMAGE" WEBSITE LOCATED AT:

LOOKATTHOSELEGS.COM 

IF YOU WANT TO DEVELOP A DANCER'S LEGS AND BODY THAT MATCHES OR EXCEEDS THE BEAUTY OF YOUR MAMBO ARTS MARTIAL ARTS, DRUMMING, AND DANCE FLOOR SKILLS, VISIT THE ABOVE SITE!

-INTELLIGENT PHYSICAL ENHANCEMENT CONCEPTS-

-H.April -

02/10/09

OUR EMAIL ADDRESS

send your emails to: 

herb.april@gmail.com

or

mamboarts@gmail.com

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