![]() For the next 25 years, Carmen taught dance classes and performed regularly with her Grupo Macondo, sharing the dances of Afro-Indo-Ibero America. We are so pleased to welcome Carmen Reina-Nelson to the Lyons Library on April 7th at 7:00pm! Whether you register for the dance series or not, please join us to learn about the spiritual and historic roots of popular Latin American and Caribbean dances.Ĭarmen Reina-Nelson, a native of Guatemala, introduced Boulder to the popular dances and culture of Latin America in 1991. You must register for each event separately We know how busy springtime can become and thi s allows for greater flexibility and participation. While we encourage you to sign-up for the entire series, you must register for each separately. For the 4th week, we will celebrate with a grand fiesta, complete with a live Latin band, the Colorado Mambo Orchestra! Local Boulder musicians Leo Munoz-Corona and Kyle Perez will play percussion during the dance classes which maximizes the dancer’s connection to the music, while supporting our local artists. The classes will focus on learning popular Latin dances, including the Salsa and the Cha-Cha, hailing from Cuba, and the Bachata, which originated in the Dominican Republic. A deeper vision of this program is to celebrate diversity within our community, create opportunities for Latin Music to be enjoyed, for Spanish to be spoken, and for residents to learn how to dance to syncopated rhythms.ĭance instructor, Elisa Garcia, will instruct in both Spanish and English, encouraging participants to learn and speak Spanish. Come dance together, make new friends, and learn something new. The building was then sold, reopened as a supper club called The Cloister, and eventually demolished.At first glance, the vision of Baile Latino to Connect Cultures is to create an opportunity to enjoy an evening out in Lyons. The Mocambo remained in business for one final year, before closing its doors on June 30, 1958. According to a commentary track on the DVD with this cartoon, the animators managed to get into the kitchen and drew the kitchen exactly as they saw it, complete with dripping grease on the refrigerator and vegetables lying around the ground.Įarly in 1957, club operator and co-owner Charlie Morrison died at his Beverly Hills, California, home. ![]() The Mocambo was also parodied mercilessly in the 1947 Bugs Bunny cartoon, " Slick Hare". Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were frequent guests at the Mocambo and were close friends of Charlie Morrison. The club's main stage was replicated on the TV series I Love Lucy as the "Tropicana" Club. African-American singers Herb Jeffries, Eartha Kitt, and Joyce Bryant all played the Mocambo in 1953, according to stories published at the time in Jet magazine.Īmong the many celebrities who frequented the Mocambo were Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Yma Sumac, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Bob Hope, James Cagney, Sophia Loren, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, Grace Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Howard Hughes, Kay Francis, Marlene Dietrich, Theda Bara, Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Jayne Mansfield, John Wayne, Ben Blue, Ann Sothern, and Louis B. It has been widely reported that Fitzgerald was the first Black performer to play the Mocambo, following Monroe's intervention, but this is not true. The incident was turned into a play by Bonnie Greer in 2005. The booking was instrumental in Fitzgerald's career. On March 15, 1955, Ella Fitzgerald opened at the Mocambo, after Marilyn Monroe lobbied the owner for the booking. ![]() In 1943, when Frank Sinatra became a solo act, he made his Los Angeles debut at the Mocambo. On any given night, one might find the room filled with the leading men and women of the motion picture industry. With big band music, the club became one of the most popular dance-till-dawn spots in town. Along the walls were glass cages holding live cockatoos, macaws, seagulls, pigeons, and parrots. The club's Latin American-themed decor was designed by Tony Duquette and cost $100,000 (equivalent to $1,842,308 in 2021). The Mocambo opened on January 3, 1941, and it became an immediate success. It was owned by Charlie Morrison and Felix Young. The Mocambo was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8588 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |