Yesterday was the first ever Mambalsa Development workshop. I held it at bar Salsa and many of the regular i2i course gang came along including Robert and Nina, both long standing salsaseros, Lee Knights who was there as a journalist writing an article on Mambalsa for the Dancing Times (Dance Today), and Fliss who was photographing and supporting me having spent most of the year recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
The night before we had been at Sarah's birthday party in Highbury. Being a creative she asked everyone to do a turn so Grace and I Mambalsa'ed them. We asked a young man for a track from his phone, he chose Kiss by Prince and everyone got up and grooved away to a Mambalsa line up. It was Fun and Funky and well received. TO demonstrate the footwork I grabbed a pair of shoes from a lady and used them like gloves!
All in all a massive boost for the next day's workshop.
My workshop report
Pros:
It was buzzy and fun, partly due to the previous night's success and making the concept into a reality.
It was doable, and yes there was a little doubt in my mind that we would all revert to two left feet and the frustration would inhibit any progress.
We danced a lot. Forget the waffle it was track track track.
What a range of music. see list below.
Cons:
Less people than hoped for. That's down to me, got to be brave and shout about it!
Re pace of w/s -We got very tired so the Mambalsa-rueda was a bit beyond our energy levels.
Not every track worked well but all were workable.(notable the ska track)
I didn't use the other teachers to present things. Grace , Lee, Robert and Nina have all taught.
A change of face/voice in the w/s would have been refreshing and make it come from the group rather than just me. (note to self)
What was surprising:
Before the course I feared that Mambalsa would force itself onto the music in the way that a 'one size fits all' garment often doesn't suit any size or anyone. I was completely wrongabout this. It became an ongoing conversation about the music and why it meant something to the person who brought it.
Devika, an intelligent petite Asian young lady brought two tracks kpop (Korean pop) and heavy heavy rock. When the Rock came on paused the track and said to the group, 'lets take a moment to re-access our image of Devika' everyone laughed but we had gained a massive insight into part of her that hadn't surfaced to us before.
Lee M. and I were chatting at lunch and he said that he had never though he would be partner dancing to the house track he'd brought.
I had never heard of most of the artists suggested and it felt liberating to connect Mambalsa to so many genres.
At one point in the day we did a combo to a tango track and then the same combo to a country track. It felt completely different. Amazingly so, which means the dance molds itself to the music, complimenting it. Mambalsa has become about the music, our music, which is perfect for a world where we have more access to music than ever before.
On the course we danced to:
Blues
BoleroDisco
Kpop
Rock
Soul
House
Jazz
Country
Ska
Latin Pop
Tango
and more....
The next workshop has to be busier, but I now have a better idea what works and at what pace.
