Except from Dance Teacher Magazine, originally published in the February 2000 Issue of Dance Teacher Magazine ("class action" section, pages 74 & 75)

Dance Teacher Magazine
February 2000 Issue

Sizzling 
HOT mambo
by Karen White

The timing is perfect for New York 
Mambo instructor Addie Diaz

Mambo is hot. Long the favorite of ballroom dance audiences for its high energy and infectious rhythms, mambo has recently experienced a boost in popularity from influence of singers such as heartthrob Ricky Martin and his top 40-brand of Latin "get up and dance" songs.

At the top of the mambo craze is Addie Diaz, a professional dancer who is also one of the few female mambo instructors in Manhattan. Along with Martin, she points to Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and Lou "Mambo Number Five" Bega as performers who may not play traditional mambo music, but who are making the mambo beat a sizzling craze.

"I don’t really know why its so hot," says Diaz. I just love being Latin. What’s taken everybody so long to find out about mambo?"

Diaz herself found dance late in life. Several years ago, while pursuing a career in the corporate world, she accompanied some friends to a mambo club in the Bronx. Diaz was captivated by the sight of the dancers, the rhythms and the festive mood. Without any formal training, she began performing in amateur dance contest and was spotted by Latina performer and instructor Evelyn Leon, who wanted to replace a female dancer on her competition dance team. Leon asked Diaz to sign on. "I started out being trained to be a professional," Diaz says. "It was an incredible offer. I didn’t know it was going to change my life."

After dancing with Leon’s team, Diaz caught the attention of the Ralph Mercado Management group, who hired her for the "Combinacion Perfecta" tours in 1994 and 1995, a concert of the hottest names in Latin Music that played stadiums and arenas from Columbia to New York City. Diaz has danced with some of the biggest acts in Latin music, including Marc Anthony, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Jerry Rivera, Tony Vega and Alberto el Canario.

"I started teaching because I found I enjoyed it," explains Diaz. "I would teach steps to my friends and family and I used to assist Evelyn with classes. One year later, I decided to open my own class because I got such enjoyment from teaching." Currently Diaz teaches at the 8^th Avenue Studios in New York City and also operates as a private instructor.

Diaz teaches the Cuban style of mambo. Technically tricky, it involves breaking a four-beat measure into eight dancing beats. The team breaks on the count of two and follows the music. Counting the beat is vital to dancing mambo correctly, says Diaz. She specializes in teaching mambo with a feminine touch called "ladies styling," showing female students how to personalize the standard ballroom steps and combinations. Focusing attention on styling, such as a snaking of the wrists or whip of the hair, can help a dancer individualize traditional mambo.

Diaz tells women to use their free arm to accentuate the steps, work their shoulders into the rhythm and move their hips to add attitude and finesse; concentrating on their individual style will allow them to contrast nicely with men when partner dancing or shine when on the floor alone.

"Arm movements, even your hands and your face, give the steps a different style," she says. "As I’ve worked with different dance companies, I’ve developed my own style. Whenever I’m asked to participate in a convention, it’s for ladies styling. That’s what I’m known for."

Mambo students tend to be older than students of other forms of dance, typically ranging in age from their 20's to 40's. Some learn to dance in order to look good at family functions; others, generally teenagers, are aiming for professional careers. Not all of Diaz’s students are couples. "Its funny, but I mostly get people who have recently broken up with their spouses and they want to learn to social dance," she says.

Like Ricky Martin, Diaz is of Puerto Rican heritage. Yet her classes attract dancers of all nationalities, from Dutch natives to Japanese tourists, and she’s taught mambo dancing in countries such as Switzerland and Italy. According to Diaz, the secret is to feel the Latin rhythm in the soul. "I find that a lot of people who are not Latino have to work harder," she says. "Sometimes they are struggling, then one day they wake up and hear it. You have to develop an ear for the music in order to dance it properly."

Mambo dancing is occasionally confused with salsa. While mambo follows hundreds of set step- and-turn combinations, salsa is looser and freer. Rather than waiting for two, salsa dancers can jump in anytime they want. "Salsa is more like a feeling," explains Diaz. "Whenever you throw yourself you land right."

She is also planning a series of instructional videos, appropriately named the "Addie-tude" series, which will demonstrate her particular brand of ladies styling. And as long as the Latin Dance craze continues, Diaz’s phone will continue to ring with eager students wanting to "Dance like Ricky Martin."

"I hope the popularity of Latin dancers continue," she says. "It sells itself once given the opportunity. People hear it and they like the beat. It just moves you. Hopefully mambo is here forever." DT

Karen White is a former newspaper reporter and editor who has taught dance for more than ten years.

For more information, please visit Diaz’s website: www.addie-tude.com