UKSALSA CHAT | SUZYQ CHAT 

Subject: What is on2
From: Dave G
Date: 22nd Jun 2005, 2:21 pm

 BEGIN QUOTE 
the confusion is simply its name, it shouldn't have Salsa in it as its not really Salsa is it? its Mambo .... I am not criticising the dance and not comparing which is better, each to there own is what I say, but what I disagree with is calling it something its not, I mean its like calling Merengue, Dominican Republic Style Salsa.

My guess from changing its name from simply Mambo to New York Salsa is for marketing reasons, isn't everything? as Salsa is/was the fastest growing partner dance in the world, Mambo simply jumped on the bandwagon by calling it New York Salsa, and so the confusion started, this is what I believe and Eddie Torres I suppose is the culprit.

 END QUOTE 

You've got things the wrong way round here. New York is where Salsa is from and all these other things which call themselves Salsa are the ones jumping on the bandwagon.

You are, of course, totally correct that the name was changed from Mambo to Salsa for marketing reasons, but that was 30 years ago and that's when the term Salsa was invented. Since that time when New York invented Salsa, it is the other forms of dance which have appropriated the name (like Son and Cumbia). If any form should have the word Salsa in its name, then it is the New York form and not the other forms!

 BEGIN QUOTE 
I was at a salsa club last night and was speaking with a beginner who asked me what he had just been taught as he has been doing New York Salsa for 3 months and basically struggled with the basic steps, which goes to show how confusing this is for the new members of the Salsa Scene. So stop calling it New York Salsa, On2 Salsa, Eddie Torres Salsa or any other stupid names you can up with and simply call it what it is...... Mambo ......
 END QUOTE 

Except it's not Mambo - it's Salsa. The other forms should start using their proper names instead.

 BEGIN QUOTE 
Maybe I'm wrong but an opinion is like an ass hole, everyone has one.
 END QUOTE 

But it's not opinion that you've got wrong here, it's facts.

dG