Mambalsa is a fun, new partner dance that looks like a traditional smooth and stylish Latin partner dance with a little extra funk and groove where required! It also works in lines (grids) circles (ruedas) and even solo.

What makes Mambalsa different from the dances of previous centuries is that it works to almost any music at any speed, from a slow sensual Cuban bolero to rave anthem.
From the smartphone in our pocket we have almost instant access to every genre of music from anywhere in the world and Mambalsa allows us dance to it, exploring the connection between rhythm, movement and culture.

At its heart, Mambalsa has an ethos of fun, confidence, respect and well-being.
We dance to feel good and have fun. Expressing our inner confidence through empathy generates a playful creative culture of friendship and positivity.

Mambalsa is an easy dance to learn, the rules that define the dance are easy and clear. Typically you’ll be up and dancing Mambalsa within two minutes, just right for a society that expects things to work straight out of the box.


What are its Origins?
In 2014 My wife felicity was playing violin at a bolero concert and I realised that for all my salsa skills I couldn’t dance to a bolero. It just didn’t seem to fit. At the same time I was talking to some old school friends about reforming our band which brought to mind all those fabulous eighties songs and again I realized I couldn’t dance to it (beyond dad’s disco).
If only there was a dance that I could dance slow and sensually to and then bop to pop. Even the modern jives couldn't cope with slower songs, so I set about creating one.

The default global dance, a simple two step often called ‘Dad’s Disco’ or as I like to call it ‘The English Two Step’, seems to express anxiety. If someone stands in the cold for long enough they will inevitably start to shuffle this to keep warm. In both cases the body withdraws blood from extremities for self preservation. For anyone who is nervous at a beginners class this offers a completely congruent and natural movement.
A confident version of this is Mambo Cuban (tap step tap step)
Many Latin dances have three steps over four beats [:step step step pause:] e.g. salsa, son, bachata etc. At the moment of the pause, they seemed to offer a moment of extrovert expression, a ‘Ta Da’.
I combined them both to form Mambalsa [:tap step tap step tap step step step:]
What I hadn’t realised was how the combination of Mambo Cubano’s anxious congruence combine with salsa’s expressive triple step would speed the learning process. People learn it so quickly! Of course mastery takes a little longer :-)