| THE LAST MAMBO (41 min) US |
San Francisco Bay Area salsa and Latin jazz performers and audiences struggle to maintain culture, creativity and community in the face of powerful socioeconomic and demographic changes. This fascinating history of the Bay Area Latin music scene explores the post WWII growth of California’s multi-ethnic music community, the 1950’s Mambo craze, the 70’s heyday of Salsa and subsequent expansions of the art form. In today’s fast-changing environment, despite decreasing audiences and venues, Bay Area performers are transforming the future of the Afro-Latin music and dance through education and outreach.
Biography:
Rita Hargrave is a dancer, dance teacher,dance historian and geriatric psychiatrist. She is the founder of www.salsaroots.com, a San Francisco Bay Area based website devoted to the Afro-Cuban, Afro-Puerto Rican and African American roots of salsa dancing. Rita co-produced with Wayne Wallace, founder of Patois Records, of the CD sets Salsa De La Bahia Volume I and Volume II. This is her first feature film.
Reginald D. Brown is a freelance writer/producer/director and a member of the Directors Guild of America, Inc and Writers Guild of America, west. His extensive career in film and television production includes documentaries such as Witness to a Dream and Profile in Courage, Linda L. Smith, both of which chronicle the rise of two African American educators and their academic learning centers for underserved minorities. His PBS documentary I Remember Beale Street explored the downward spiral of what had once been a historic Memphis neighborhood and legendary birthplace of the “Blues.” He is an instructor in television, video and digital media at University of California, Los Angles.
Contact
information:
w: https://www.thelastmambo.com/
e: rita@thelastmambo.com, Sheryl220@msn.com
