There's a bunch of progress to report on the Mambalsa front so here goes:
Edinburgh: The show is approved, and the copy is in the big fat Fringe brochure.
I've titled the show 'Mambalsa- One Man's Quest to Create a New Partner Dance.'
The venue's good and the shows about half written which is only a couple of weeks behind schedule.
I've started performing chunks of it in open mic comedy nights to bring the performance up to scratch.
Accommodation is proving tricky but its not to late to fix.
The silent disco headphones have arrived and I took them out for the first time last Tuesday.
In the middle of my salsa club (Salsa Camden) I danced Mambalsa with various partners to completely different music than was playing in the club. It was good to see the curiosity it provoked and encouraging how ready most were to try it. One lady didn't and I think she didn't know me so there will be more resistance with the general public as the Salsa Camden know me and are already dancers. I need to find the best way of dealing with the 'no thanks'.
What struck me was that there's a simple way to simplify the learning process of Mambalsa.
Call it level one Partner work (working title) - Mirrored FWS with very few moves. i.e. the minimum needed to dance Mambalsa on the floor.
By empowering the dancers to participate on the floor without any expectation of moves they consolidate FWS and enjoy the dance. Moves come later.
I've just had the idea for the title 'Mambalsa Pow!' Pow as in empowered.
By using Mambalsa Pow as a snowball exercise ie teach one then get them to show others while you teach the next etc. It becomes social, and proves they understand FWS and Mirroring.
The Dancing in the street idea for the Edinburgh Fringe is to promote the dance and the show in the Royal Mile by approaching the public and teaching them Mambalsa. The goal is to turn a small group of public into a roving demo team who dance and dish out flyers. Think Harri Krishna with headphones. I'm thinking a lot of branding and sunshine will help this.
