"ARTHUR MURRAY STEPS IN THE RUMBA & MAMBO " 1940s DANCE INSTRUCTIONAL FILM LATIN DANCING 50934

[@kennethjohnson9370]

When I was growing up on the sixties my parents use to dance to this music in our dining room I would watch the dance

[@kittymervine6115]

it's so lovely, but also I was "Wait I'm watching a lot of butt!"

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

Ok.. a butt video.. kinda odd, but, hey.. that's the '40s for ya...

[@waldoenriquemariscalpelaez3381]

More clear evidence that "American Exeptionalism" -- went EVERYWHERE including in having the nerve to dictate how Cuban music was to be danced. They "invented the "Rhumba" (with an H") for all the American vacationeers who went to the island, who could not and were not allowed to dance REAL Rumba (the one without the H). In fact, the real Rumba was not for the ruling white elites either- It was in survival mode, protected by an oppressed afro-cuban population.. That (white) "Rhumba"in fact was a "lite" version of Son-Montuno, or Son. In the 1930's the Danzon and El Son, were the most popular dances and music and one had to know how to dance "en Clave". Both generes empowered one another. El Danzon gave birth to el Danzonete and thanks to rearrangements in el Son, by Arsenio Rodriguez, musicians in the band of Arcano Y sus Maravillas, including Israel Lopez, and Perez Prado, pushed the danzon into the new Danzon, the Descarga, and the Mambo. The Danzon-Mambo, was closer to el Son in late 1939. But In the early 40's, Julio Cueva, Arturo Nunez, Perez Prado and Bebo Baldez among others experimented in the jazzy boogy style to the guaracha, or the Guaracha-Mambo. In the mid-40's, in Cuba, Mambo was for a jazzy audience. It blossomed in Mexico with the help of the cuban jazz musicians who lived there, and the movies produced. Once it became popular, NO ONE, wanted to dance the mambo in a "ballroom" style holding hands. That was OUT. People danced to the rhythm, to the drums, LIKE DANCING REAL RUMBA and almost acrobatically.

[@gordonayres2609]

I think there is an inverted snobbery of the intellectual of modern times who looks back through the telescope of contemporary thought often , and has no understanding of the wide sweep of life in the 1920s ,30s and 40s when the ballrooms were the democracy of the everyday person. Many a Latin and even black person would dance a romantic fox-trot and even dance a rumba that was not yet of the jazzed style that arrived after the period you describe , but it still has a great deal of beauty in it. After a time , especially the bebop era , most people who were serious listeners never danced. That has become the fate of the jazz scene . The ballroom dance scene today is a farce of flashy disco ,which would well do with some of the restraint shown in these dance shorts After all it is only meant to be an instruction guide . When seen in action on a dancefloor in a club with a band like Tito Puente on the turn table and the floor busy , or even some early Cugat , it resonates with style and ambiance and people, admire it. I've seen people in Spain,France dance to it in all sorts of vintage scenes dance to it with great style .I can dance the old Latin Ballroom techniques myself and I suppose defend it in a way. There is no point in setting out niche designations of what is real or not real. Rather discuss the social history of it ,which you do quite well in fact.