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	Yes I agree New York City probably was responsible for taking it to a wider audience but you could argue that Miami was also responsible for taking it to a wider audience with Fania Records.
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Huh? What does Miami have to do with it? Fania was a New York record label. Please expand on what you mean here.

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	I think you are referring to dances where i was referring to music and Salsa music is indeed fused with many styles and culture. As far as the dance is concerned i also believe that there is very much fusion between other styles, for example a lot of moves are borrowed (we'll use the word borrowed here i think) from other dance styles so this is very much fusion.
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I was talking about both the music and the dance (they are intertwined). I agree that there is fusion within both Salsa music and dance. What I disagree with is the original view expressed that there is a single style of Salsa which fuses all these influences and is somehow "true" Salsa. This is clearly wrong, because if you play a Salsa track, you can pretty clearly tell whether it's Cuban, Colombian, New York or whatever. Similarly, you can see the difference between people dancing in all those styles.

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	Of course we must move with the times and i really don't want to open a debate about reggaeton, not today anyway .. it was disappointing because i believe this style of music doesn't paint the right picture of Cuba for me,
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Yes, but it's not up to you, is it? It's for the people of Cuba to decide what music they listen to. I started writing a complicated thing about pictures and who was viewing them, but it got too messy, so I've given up. I'll just say that I get really annoyed when people visit Cuba and complain about the Reggaeton, or are disappointed that the streets aren't full of people dancing Salsa everywhere. These are real people trying to get on with very difficult lives and aren't just there for the benefit of the tourists.

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	Firstly I'm not arguing over anything and basically New York Salsa better known as Mambo is simply benefiting from the rise of Salsa.
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You can't say that you're not arguing and then state your argument in the same sentence! I agree that New York Salsa is benefitting from the general popularity of Salsa, but I don't agree that it is better known as Mambo. The New York dancers call it Salsa, the New York musicians call it Salsa, the New York clubs call themselves Salsa clubs, the lessons are advertised as Salsa lessons. And you're also making a distinction which isn't so much there. In New York, people dance on1 and on2 (sometimes at the same club) and they all call it Salsa.

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	If what you say is true why isn't the majority dancing NY Salsa or Mambo or On2 or other name is goes by?
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Well, not everyone can be the best Sorry, but I couldn't resist that.

I honestly don't know why that is, but I think that some of it comes back to this hard distinction you are making between on2 and on1. I think that in the clubs, people were dancing all sorts of different styles (on1, on2, on3, whatever). People were doing their own thing, remembering the way they used to dance "back home" (Cuba, Puerto Rico, wherever) copying other people. Then, when the less able dancers wanted to learn to dance like this, the teachers came up with their own teaching styles. Eddie Torres taught on2 in his way, other teachers taught on1 or different on2 styles. So, I believe that it was when the teachers started trying to structure their teaching that the distinctions started to come in. Once you start getting a syllabus, you need rules about what beat you break on, what you call your moves, etc.

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	........ I don't think History is a minor side issue, without History we wouldn't know who we are ....... Now I think you are confusing yourself a little, just because Salsa was popularised in NY doesn't mean Mambo is Salsa or vice versa, furthermore it was the music that was popularised as Salsa which again has/had a fusion of many styles so i can't think why you would think that Mambo dancing is Salsa dancing or vice versa, Just accept that its Mambo and promote it for what it is.
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History is a whole other can of worms you're opening here. Most people think that history is factual, but actually it is mainly opinion (or, the more cynical would say, propaganda). Sure there, are facts scattered around it (like dates that kings were crowned) but most of it is the opinion of the people who wrote the history.

That's what it's like with Salsa. There are plenty of definite facts (like when the first Cha Cha Cha was published and what it was called) but also loads of opinions.

And (like with history) there are also plenty of commonly held beliefs which are actually wrong. So history is definitely important, but only when you get it right.

The whole Salsa/Mambo thing is an excellent example. Somehow, in popular opinion, the origins of Mambo and Salsa have got contorted. I don't want to get into a whole history lesson here, so I'll just give the highlights.

First off, Mambo originated in Cuba in the 30's. There's some debate about who actually wrote the first Mambo, but everyone agrees that it happened in Cuba. Then it spread out from Cuba, mainly through Perez Prado (who I think ended up being based in Mexico) and through the New York clubs (via the extensive *ahem* "business" links between certain "families" in New York and Havana and the frequent trips between the two cities). After the revolution in Cuba, New York became a home for many of the Mambo musicians from Cuba, where they continued to record their music.

Jumping forward a few years, there's a new generation of Latino-Americans in the US, who have parents born outside the US but who were themselves born in the US. They see Mambo as something their parents are into. Worried about falling revenue, a rebranding exercise happens and "Salsa" is invented to appeal to this new generation. The music is essentially a development of the earlier Cuban Mambo music, but with the addition of other influences like the African American music that was around too.

Now, popular opinion is that Salsa is from Cuba and Mambo is from New York, when the actual facts are the other way round.

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	It's common knowledge that On2, NY dancers and promoters are a little touchy about this topic and can be a little anal and easily wound up, why is that I wonder. Let me just add that i'm not suggesting that you are one of these.
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It's not touchy or anal, just being correct. The truth of the matter is that most New York dancers are far more knowledgeable about the history and roots of Salsa (both music and dance) than non-NY style dancers. When they hear incorrect opinions, they feel obliged to spread their knowledge!

The reality of the situation is that NY Salsa is as much Salsa as any of the other forms trying to call themselves Salsa (in fact, I believe it has more claim to the title than any other form). If you want to go down the road of calling NY Salsa "Mambo" (despite the fact that Mambo is actually from Cuba), then this should be applied across the board and Cuban Salsa should be called "Casino", Colombian Salsa should be called "Cumbia" and so on.

dG