mambo
Lively Latin dance
Mambo is a Cuban dance and musical style characterized by syncopated rhythms and dramatic movements.
The dance emerged in Havana in the 1940s and became a ballroom sensation internationally.
As a verb, to mambo is to perform this dance: We mamboed until the band packed up.
The music features brass, percussion, and call-and-response vocals.
Venue for formal dances
- salsaSpicy tomato condiment
- rumbaAfro-Cuban partner dance
- merengueLatin partnered dance
- bachataDominican romantic music genre
swing · jive · foxtrot · tango · bolero · samba · quickstep · partner
Latin music's rhythmic spine
- syncopationStressed unexpected beats
- percussionSound through impact
- congaCuban hand drum
- timbalesShallow single-headed drum pair
bongos · brass · big band · horn section · jazz · improvisation · Dizzy Gillespie · Latin jazz
Cuba's largest city
- CubaCaribbean island country
- Afro-CubanBlending African and Cuban
- Tito PuenteLatin jazz percussionist icon
- Celia CruzLegendary Cuban salsa vocalist
Evoking recent past
- classicOf lasting excellence
- midcenturyAround the 1950s
- nostalgiaLonging for the past
- 1950sDecade after WWII
golden age · bygone · timeless · postwar · supper club
ballroom
Venue for formal dances
bachata · swing · jive · foxtrot · tango · bolero · samba · quickstep · partner · spin
clave
Latin music's rhythmic spine
- syncopationStressed unexpected beats
- percussionSound through impact
- congaCuban hand drum
timbales · bongos · brass · big band · horn section · jazz · improvisation · Dizzy Gillespie · Latin jazz · bebop
Havana
Cuba's largest city
- CubaCaribbean island country
- Afro-CubanBlending African and Cuban
- Tito PuenteLatin jazz percussionist icon
Celia Cruz · Palladium · timba · descarga
retro
Evoking recent past
- classicOf lasting excellence
- midcenturyAround the 1950s
- nostalgiaLonging for the past
1950s · golden age · bygone · timeless · postwar · supper club
vitality
Capacity for spirited existence
- exuberanceLively, unrestrained enthusiasm
- zestKeen enjoyment or peel
- vigorActive physical strength
liveliness · dynamism · verve · pizzazz · brio · oomph · fire · heat · intensity · sparkle
Vodou
Haitian spirit-centered religion
ceremony · ritual · invocation · possession · trance · sacred · ancestor · offering
- dancesballet, waltz, tango, salsa, hula
- dance movespirouette, shimmy, waltz, tango, cha-cha
- Afro-Latin musicsalsa, cumbia, reggae, merengue, bachata
- Latin American Musictango, samba, bossa nova, cumbia, bolero
- Afro-CubanAfro-Cuban, Yoruba, Santeria, orishas, rumba
- Afro-Cuban Musicrumba, clave, conga, bongos, claves
mamboslow waltz
Unhurried triple-time ballroom dance
waltz · slow dance · minuet · foxtrot · adagio
- horizontal mamboSlang for sex