La Chunga

That's one dance I have no recollection of ever having heard of previously. Prado was popular back in 61 but even so, no one can make a dance popular unless the dancers themselves go for it.

I suspect this was a big flop.

Edit: I also suspect that most popular dances are created by dancers not musicians. The timing on the above isn't great either - immediately after the revolution when the Cuban music scene was in freefall and the NY scene was reinventing itself. Maybe Prado was desperate for ideas.
 
Last edited:
It would be interesting to know who was the driving force behind it. My guess was kind of the other way around, Arthur Murray wanting to get in on the latin dance hype and approaching a (still) big name
 
It would be interesting to know who was the driving force behind it. My guess was kind of the other way around, Arthur Murray wanting to get in on the latin dance hype and approaching a (still) big name
AM had a lot of success with mambo in the 50s I believe, but I think it was old hat by 61, so he would have been very keen to boost his student numbers back to 50s levels. Didn't happen though.

In fact AM went on to have some lawsuits in the 60s that I imagine hurt his business, although he survived and even employed Terence for many decades.
 
Back
Top