There are a few brief clips of dancing in the Palladium, and no dancing clips whatsoever of the mambo era dancers who were interviewed.
I think maybe he just focused on what he knew the audience he was targeting (Congreso/Social crowd) was going to recognize or be familiar with. He zeroed in on Cuban Pete and Barbara Craddock which is who the majority over there recognize. Andy Jerrick was also interviewed and he was, in fact, shown dancing in the 'Mambo Madness' clips. (To clarify, that black and white film footage of mambo dancing he included is not at the Palladium Ballroom. It is footage from a club called the Palm Gardens.) Another dancer who appears in the 'Mambo Madness' film and who he probably should have sought out was Carmen Cruz, who is alive and kicking. (And maybe she was as I still haven't seen the entire film). Just to present how you explained it. Examples of them dancing in the past and they talking about it in the present...
What a wasted opportunity - particularly considering some on the film are now no longer with us.
Just so you know, everyone who appears in 'La Epoca' have been interviewed via audio or film by more than a number of people over the years. So those folks who have passed on have expounded and given insight on a lot of things that weren't touched upon or expressed in the film. The difference is that 'La Epoca' film had its own platform and audience to share the footage with. The rest are private collectors, many of whom are leery of sharing their materials for any sort of commercial purpose or widespread exposure. Because of their mindset of being collectors.
Also, when engaging in projects like this, you HAVE to have thick skin. Because everyone will come out of the woodwork and express how and what should be included, etc. I think the film producer of 'La Epoca' may have gone through this and just decided he was going to do it how he saw fit.
Realistically, to get what you and I and others think would be a righteous presentation, it takes $$$. The fact is that while footage of dancers from before and after the Palladium era is rare, they do, in fact, exist. A lot of it. But sometimes its not even money. I have an interview that was recorded in the 80s by someone else with an overweight and balding gentleman who appears dancing in 'Mambo Madness.' As well as one with Anibal "Andy" Vazquez (Mambo Aces) who gives a really interesting response about what artists, songs or version of songs he, as a dancer, prefers to dance to. And why. It's a really interesting 'take' from a real dancer's perspective. Somebody wanted these for a project and offered some money. I refused. And ONLY because the individual was not well versed in what the real history was. They were going to use it in an inappropriate manner. They just wanted 'something' to show that was linked to that era. Not actually dive into the topic and use the information or materials to present a really accurate picture. It's possible that 'La Epoca' film suffered from this type of non-compliance from people that he may have approached. Then again, its up to the producer to do their homework and pursue the people and the content that will present a righeous study of the subject matter one is conveying...
Sounds good, but to really document a dance form requires film of dancers demonstrating its characterisitics, flavours and intricacies. Anyone who wants to know what dancing is like on the congress scene today can look at literally 1000s of short films online (not that I'd recommend it, personally). Footage of old school mambo or salsa dancing is very rare, and La Epoca totally failed to remedy this. I can't imagine part 2 is any better in this regard (or any other regard, for that matter).
The thought process of that entire scene (the on1/on2 congreso/social crowd) is a mirror image of what 'La Epoca' focused on. They know the Palladium existed and have these romanticized images and notions of it as being the 'elegant era' of Mambo dancing. And from there, histroy fast forwards 2 and a half decades and begins with Eddie Torres. Which is where nearly every dancer in the USA can trace their 'lineage' to. They either learned from directly or indirectly from a student of ET's who started their own thing. That's probably why the film probably, in a way, makes sense to them. Some of the important stuff being discussed (such as what Alfonso 'El Panameno' was conveying) wound up getting 'lost' in between all the inconsequential stuff being mentioned. To us, it's an incoherent mish mosh of opinions focusing on irrelevant banter and emphasizing certain realities while ignoring others. For example, the whole putdown of 'Salsa'. I appreciate that 'La Epoca' was attempting to demonstrate all of the various rhythms that are used to express 'Salsa' music. But it totally ignores the social context in which 'Salsa' exists. Yesterday and today. It's a term that exists regardless if a much older generation of musicians, dancers and aficionados reject it. That generation also rejects the way people dance now, yet 'La Epoca' still manages to include such footage of contemporary 'Salsa' dancing.
Bottom line there has yet to be a really serious effort of presenting a study as it pertains to our brand of dancing. A lot of it has to do with lack of financial support, a lack of education on the subject and a lack of an overall plan/guideline and bringing it to the screen. Also such a study can't concern itself with being 'entertaining' or 'commercial' to draw in an audience. Anyone doing this has to resign themselves that they're not going to make any money doing this. This has to be approached the same way a company who produces text books on U.S. History approaches it. Unfortunately, U.S. American History is valued moreso and deemed more viable than the history of afro-cuban style dancing in the USA. Unless all those private collectors donate their materials and a
professional film producer, editor, along with a writer with knowledge on the subject, engages in such a project just to bring it to fruition and put the $$$ concerns to the side, there's never going to be a serious documentary or film revolving around this topic. It's not a topic that is widely researched and its also a topic that has a lot of 'holes' as far as certain individuals and styles being 'lost' to history because it wasn't being documented properly. 50 YEARS from now if anyone wanted to do a documentary about the Mambo dance scene from 1998 to 2013, they could probably pull it off due to the fact that there is more of an urgency, or rather an easier capability, to document today than there was 50 years ago...
Both Eddie and Frankie occasionally teach pachanga steps as part of their shines classes.
