I'll have to disagree on this one.
There is not really any issue of one being easier to learn than the other one, as when you start from scratch, and for a guy, there is already so much to pick up (rhythm, your steps, the moves you have to lead, how to lead them, etc.), though if you push me really hard and I have to suggest one over the other for a beginner, I'll go with Cuban : as your arms are going to be locked to each other 95% of the time, there is much less posturing to worry about at the beginning, and that's a load off.
There are 2 major differences between LA/NY style (mambo) and Cuban style.
1. Mambo is slot dancing : you have a line of dance, along which lead and follow will trade places, and there is usually a lot of spinning and posturing involved, whereas Cuban is more of a revolve around each other kind of dance, with a lot of arm-locks and over-under.
2. The music is different. While you could technically dance either style on either music (and some will do), there are some sub-categories of Salsa on which I for one would never dance Cuban style, and some other on which I would never dance Mambo.
The third difference, which I can not list as a "major" difference, because I will remain politically correct on a general purpose forum, but this is a global debate that fuels salsa forums the world over : the mood in a cuban party and in a mambo party is (very) different.
Mambo dancers are usually viewed as a more pompous crowd, with it's stars, and status delimitation for dancers, as an advanced follow (girl) will seldom condescend to dance with a beginner, and an advanced lead (guy) will gladly invite a beginner if she is pretty, as you need to show off in front of the crowd. They want to look good first, have fun second.
Cuban dancers are usually viewed as a more messy crowd, with arms and legs all over the place, no sense of space between the couples on the dance floor, and no dancing skills. They want to have fun first, and look good, well... further down the line.
Now, I am not saying this holds true of every dancer in each style, and I am not saying that you can't dance both styles, but as for all stereotypes, if they exist, there might be a good reason for it at the root.
What I would suggest is to go to a couple of Mambo parties and a couple of Cuban parties, and see where you feel more comfortable, and go from there.
As for parties and classes, you have been given a couple of websites to check out. Just know that :
1. James and Alex are Mambo dancers, Del Pierro (ritmo de Havana) is a Cuban dancer, Phil Bedford and Rohit are calling themselves "mixed styles".
2. Dubai Salsa is run by James and Alex, and you will mostly find only James and Alex parties there. The only 2 they list that are not theirs are Sevilles (once a month during the summer, 3rd Wednesday if I'm not mistaken, run by Phil initially) and the Trader Vics every evening (which is not worth going to for dancing, as the floor is about 3 square meters between the bar and the band...).
So basically, you can just go to James & Alex website for this, you'll also get their classes timings.
3. Ritmo de Havana is run by Del Pierro, and you will only find his parties and classes there.
4.
www.salsanight.com to have a fairer overview, will give you Phil & Rohit's parties and classes.
As far as I can tell, all of them are good teachers for beginners (though obviously, I have not gone through a full beginner course with all of them), so I guess once again there is no "right or wrong" teacher as a rule (which is a good thing compared with other countries), just see what type of salsa/parties you like, and go with the teacher for this style.
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I just want to add a more general note to all those "looking for a partner to go Salsa with".
We are not talking about ballroom dancing here, where you have your partner and you stick with him/her for the next 15 years. This is social dancing. The whole point of it is to have fun, and dance with many different people.
While I understand that getting there all by your lonesome and start inviting people while you are not confident in your own skill will be overwhelming, and may not be a good experience for you, the best thing to do is join a class. Even by yourself. Everyone will be a beginner there, there will be girls alone, guys alone, and you will meet and learn to dance with different people. Aside from the fact that this is the best and fastest way to learn social dancing (changing partners) it will also allow you to then know that when you get to the party, you have several partners available to dance with, and there is no issue of skills with them as you are all beginners.
Lita, who should stop ranting about dancing and start doing it again...