 Abbey Plotkin
Abbey Plotkin is the director and founder of the Mambo Mamas. She started tap dancing at the age of three and continued for ten years performing in an annual recital. As the disco era blossomed, Plotkin became a "disco diva" eventually joining a "pop-lock & wave"(a style of break dancing) dance group while living in Atlanta, Ga. during her college years. The group, The Cracker Jack Dancers performed for funk legend George Clinton and even opened a show for one of the original rap groups Run DMC. In 1986, Plotkin moved to NYC. She was becoming increasingly frustrated with American music which had mutated from funk to house music. Desperate to find another outlet for her absolute need to dance, she was filled with sheer joy when she heard sensuous Latin rhythms from every corner of the metropolis which she now called home. She knew with no uncertainty that she MUST learn the dance that accompanied this beautiful music. After a few years of venturing to the Latin clubs and through sheer luck of meeting some of the great Mambo dancers on the scene, Plotkin had the privilege of meeting the great guru of Latin dance, Eddie Torres. She enrolled in his classes and from 1990 to 1993 went religiously to, at least, 3 classes a week. Eventually she had the opportunity to perform with Eddie's student company. 
In the meantime, an idea had been formulating in the back of Plotkin's mind for a long time: big, sexy women who could dance. Performing had always been a passion for the plus-sized dancer but she knew that she would never be asked to join anyone else's dance group because she didn't "fit" the norm of a professional dancer. This posed no problem for Plotkin, however. With the encouragement of great friends and dancers alike, she decided to start her OWN dance company with nothing but big women. Thus, in 1993, The Mambo Mamas were born. Here are other member bio's. |