What is kizomba? Kizomba styles, directions and description. Common mistakes in kizomba dance Kizomba dance style

A wonderful kizombero duo performs a choreographed kizomba routine.

Master class on application in kizomba

DJ Versus gives a master class on using other dance styles in kizomba. It turns out that in social dances, plasticity and movements, say, hip-hop, are only beneficial.

Italian chizombero Versus

Italian kizombero Versus shows how to dance sensual kizomba, masterfully controlling the girl’s body.

Romantic kizomba number

A romantic kizomba number that conceals a whole relationship story. In the video are Andrey Zhulid and Rita Ravado.

Kizomba with medley

Kizomba with a medley of famous tracks performed by Felicien and Isabella.

In this dance, numbers are not rehearsed in advance.

Only kizomba combines ostentatious simplicity and amazing sensations within a couple. Few people know that in this dance they do not rehearse the numbers in advance, but invent them on the fly, showing the girl their sense of music. Kizomba in Stockholm at night.

Sara Lopez dances with different partners

A kizomba number in which Sarah Lopez dances with different partners, and they, in turn, try to surprise her with their improvisation. There are also some incidents.

French style kizomba

The French style of kizomba, which is also called urban-kizz, is the embodiment of how different kizomba can be in its various forms. Unlike the sensational style, there is such a clear beat and accents that the body itself moves to them. The dance is performed by Albir and Sara.

Angolan social dance kizomba

Angolan social dance kizomba, which is simply created in order to express your feelings for a girl without leaving the dance floor. In this video, Albir and Sarah show how skillfully you can play music.

In kizomba, dancers do not rehearse the dance.

In kizomba, dancers do not rehearse the dance, but create it on the fly, translating the music into movement. The video shows Enah and Carolina in sensual kizomba.

Kizomba(Port. kizomba) is a sensual African dance, characterized by close (closed) interaction and smooth, plastic, viscous movement. It first appeared in Luanda (the capital of Angola) in the 80s of the 20th century.

The name Kizomba itself comes from the word “kizambada”, which originally meant “party, get-together” in the Angolan dialect of Quimbundu.
The choice of word is not surprising - just remember the popularity of Zouk, which also means "party" in Antillean Creoles.

Basic steps

Compared to ballroom and many social dances, Kizomba does not have “basic steps” that are repeated throughout the dance. On the contrary, here the priority is the process of moving into music (musicality), and there can be as many steps as there are words in your vocabulary.

Even using only four or five movements, you can successfully dance kizomba, because the main skill lies in the subtlety and quality of communication (interaction) between partners.

“If everyone is comfortable in a couple, if it is done with music, I am happy, you will see a smile on my face, because they feel the music, they follow it. This is what makes the dance exciting, not the movements themselves.”

Close contact

Despite the fact that kizomba is an intimate, contact dance, it depends only on the dancers themselves how romantic or perhaps sexual the dance will be.

And, as in any other social dance, politeness and mutual respect are the unspoken rules of behavior between dancers.

Urban Kizomba

It is also called French style, modern, Urban Kiz, etc.

This new style originated primarily in France and soon became extremely popular all over the world thanks to an incredible number of videos on YouTube.

Urban Keys is characterized by a more linear movement, frequent syncopation, pauses and dancing in an upright position. And, of course, completely different music.
First of all, this is electronic music, including ghetto zouk, dubstep, pop remixes, and house music.

Among traditional kizomba dancers, many did not recognize the emerging direction, believing that urban dancers do not know how to dance to real kizomba music. And they opposed the division of one dance into “traditional kizomba” and “urban kizomba”, demanding that there be only the dance “Kizomba” and “everything else”.

As a result, a division of these two dances into Kizomba proper and a separate direction, Urban Kiz, was formed.

Kizomba as a musical genre

Kizomba music originates from the traditional semba of Angola (semba is a dance that originated in Luanda back in the 1940s) and draws inspiration from various African musical forms and the famous Caribbean dance zouk.

The long Angolan civil war, which lasted in one form or another from 1975 to 2002, destroyed Angola's recording industry and forced artists to seek work and recording opportunities abroad.

Gradually spreading through Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and other Portuguese-speaking countries, kizomba music was received with interest by dancers and musicians of various nationalities and constantly evolved.

Now the center of popularity and development of kizomba is Western Europe (gradually spreading further and further around the world), and in its homeland, Luanda, it is losing heavily to Semba.

Appearance controversy

Many consider the 1984 Cassava concert in Luanda to be the turning point for the birth of kizomba, but Eduardo Paim (a key figure in kizomba) disagrees.

In discussions at the White House Kizomba Summit in 2016, he said that "Zuk from the Antilles" had already been performed in Angola several years before this concert and that "any analysis of kizomba as a genre must begin in 1979."

In different sources you can find different information regarding the appearance of this sensual dance. The version that seems more reliable is that the real homeland of kizomba is Angola, but there are options that this happened in Cape Verde and distant Sao Tome. To be specific, it is often said that this dance originated in Africa. The history of kizomba dance is directly related to musical groups, to whose hits they danced passionate movements, for example, Johnny Ramos, Suzanna Lubrano, Kassav'.

Until the 90s, when the dance came to Europe, it changed and transformed, so it “mixed” many movements from different styles. Initially, kizomba dance existed only at parties of migrants and students from African countries. Over time it became more widespread, conquering England first. In 2009, the first kizomba championship was held in Warsaw.

Description of the dance

Kizomba(Port. kizomba) is a modern urban popular couples dance, as well as a musical genre. This dance originated as a mixture of the traditional Angolan semba and the Caribbean zouk. Due to the similarity of the rhythm, the musical style of kizomba is sometimes confused with zouk. Kizomba is a sensual, romantic, rather erotic dance.

The word "kizomba" in the Kimbundu language, where "kizomba" comes from "kuzomba", is masculine and translates as "to follow slowly". In modern Portuguese, the concept of “kizomba” is assigned a feminine gender and the following meanings: African rhythm of Angolan origin; a dance performed to such a rhythm; in Angola it means “batuke” and “holiday”, “entertainment”.

Very often, kizomba is mistakenly confused with zouk dance, since their rhythms are slightly similar. The dance was born in the early 80s in Luanda (Angola) and very quickly became popular in Portuguese-speaking countries (Brazil, Mozambique, Cape Verde and in Portugal itself). Today in these countries it is very difficult to draw a clear line between zouk and kizomba music; all these styles are combined into one - kizombas. But initially, zouk songs were performed in French, and kizombas in Portuguese. The main distinguishing feature of these styles is the heavy and clear beats in kizomba!

A characteristic feature of classical kizomba is a slow, “pulling”, straight beat, which in modern music is formed by electronic instruments. The musical time signature of kizomba is 4/4. As a rule, in kizmob every four measures (16 beats) a new musical theme begins.

The main and most difficult task for dancers is “leading and following.” For those who dance salsa, when learning kizomba, the leading may seem unusual at first because here it comes from the chest and differs from the usual leading in other social dances. Kizomba is danced only in pairs. Therefore, the necessary skills are a sense of rhythm and interaction in pairs.

What is the difference between kizomba and bachata?

Many people confuse these two styles, so it is important to understand the main differences between these directions:

1. Bachata uses different connections and transitions that are not found in kizomba.
2. When describing the difference between bachata and kizomba, it is worth noting that these styles have different music, rhythm and tempo.
3. It has already been said where kizomba originated, but bachata appeared in the Dominican Republic and first spread throughout Latin America.

Kizomba technique

The dancers move smoothly and slowly, on soft legs with a slight bounce for each step, but without “jumping” with their heads. During the dance, the partners are very close to each other, the partner’s hand clasps the entire back of the partner, and the partner’s left hand lies on the partner’s back or neck. During steps, partners can make wave-like movements with their body.

One of the most remarkable features of Kizomba is the absence of complex high-speed dance figures - it is a calm and smooth dance.
Supports in social Kizomba are not an end in themselves; they are very minimalistic. But a lot of attention is paid to the plasticity of the partner’s body - playing music through the rotation of the hips, waves of the body.

Modern kizomba, the one that we now see in discos, is in many ways a dance, very similar in the principles of leading and following to the Argentine tango, but with a simpler rhythm and rules of dancing, more “killer”, with more outward sexuality. It’s as if the inner prim passion of tango was combined with the untethered sexuality of reggaeton and the result was divided into two. The result is a perfectly balanced, sexy, but at the same time remaining within the bounds of decency dance, captivating with its music.

Since the dance is sensual and emotional, all dancers are drawn to a comparison with bachata. Do not do this! Kizomba, like bachata, is danced very close, but if in bachata we are used to touching the hips, here, first of all, the contact occurs with the chest and often kizomba is danced literally cheek to cheek.

Kizomba, despite its rich past, is a fairly young dance, and it is still growing, developing, and in the process of becoming.

Currently, there are several main styles of kizomba:

• Traditional(traditional kizomba) - the Angolan version of kizomba, danced mainly in Angola and Portugal, characterized by smoother movements and a circular direction of movement in the dance.
• UrbanKiz(urban kizomba) - a modernized version of kizomba, actively developing in France, characterized by smaller, “subtle” movements, often sudden, acceleration and linear movement.

• Tarraxinha(tarrashinya, or tarrasha) is a part of kizomba, which includes the art of dancing to music practically without moving around the site, characterized by active movements of the hips and waves, and there is very close contact between the dancers. Can be used as an independent dance, or as a decoration for kizomba.

How to learn to dance kizomba?

It’s not easy for beginners to loosen up and immediately grasp the movements of a new, revealing dance, but experienced dancers and teachers reveal several secrets.

Use these tips for Kizomba beginners:

Cultural influence

The influence of Angolan kizomba is felt not only in most Portuguese-speaking African countries, but also in Portugal itself (especially in Lisbon and suburbs such as Amadora or Almade). Currently, kizomba is also quite popular among white people; it is danced in specialized discos. Since 2005–2010, kizomba has been gaining popularity at salsa festivals and becoming one of the dances studied at them. Currently (2014), the main centers of distribution of kizomba dance are France and Portugal.

Renting a hall for dancing Kizomba, a popular modern dance danced in pairs by a man and a woman, will quickly find its dancers, and even fans. After all, this sensual, gentle, bewitching dance is very simple to perform and accessible to anyone, even the most untrained dancer.

History of origin

The word kizomba, translated, means “slow following”, and so is the dance - slow, romantic, it is a series of partners following and leading each other. In kizombo you must completely relax; complete freedom of expression is possible here. Turn off your brain, trust your partner and improvise. It is not for nothing that this dance quickly gained enormous popularity and a lot of fans around the world.

Kizomba came to us, making its way from Angola, where it originated as a musical direction and dance, based on African rhythms and romantic melodies. The birth of kizombo happened by chance at mass street celebrations, so it incorporated African dance and musical traditions. Further, moving through Portugal, where it gained fame as the most popular dance in clubs, then with salsa dancers and other Latin American dances, it spread throughout the world, becoming fashionable and widespread.

In Angola, Kizomba flourished in the 80s of the twentieth century. Angola was an early colony of Portugal, so the national language there turned out to be Portuguese, so a lot of kizomba music was in Portuguese. This linguistic factor played a role, thanks to which kizombo became so widespread in Portugal.

Today, dance schools specializing in kizomba are actively functioning; several styles of this dance have been identified. There are discos and theme parties where people only perform kizomba. Kizomba is gaining its position thanks largely to the ease of its assimilation by people who are not choreographically savvy, and the tenacity of pleasant melodies.

Musical features

Kizomba songs are performed in Portuguese, but after the genre conquered European audiences, they were also sung in English and French. Kizomba is similar to zouk music, and some people mistakenly believe that kizomba is necessarily in Portuguese, and what is in French is zouk, but this is not so, the differences here are musical.

Kizombo music is four quarter time meter. The same as tango, and there is a lot in common between them, although kizomba is more democratic, sensual, and relaxed. Slow, with a viscous electronic beat, changeable, each musical sentence (16 bits) introduces a new musical theme, but calmly and smoothly.

Dance rules

It is clear that you need to practice in prepared conditions, so renting a hall for kizomba dancing will help you organize classes and relax, enjoy mentally, at the same time, any dance allows you to keep your figure in the desired shape. Learning this dance is very simple, because you just need to have a sense of rhythm and trust your partner.

A simple dance does not have many supports; here they are extremely minimalist. The movements are slow and smooth, a little bounce in each step, no jumping head, the distance between partners is extremely small. The man holds his partner under his back, the woman's left arm hugs her partner's neck. Both of them make wave-like movements with their bodies, directed either towards or in the opposite direction from each other. Particular attention is paid to the body of the partner, who plays with the music with exciting wave-like movements of the hips and back.

Those who want to learn

Learning to dance kizomba is much easier than learning to dance tango, and even more so salsa. There are no complex fast dance postulates here. According to its principles of partner interaction, kizomba is very similar to Argentine tango. It is similar, but has a simpler rhythm and rules, with more pronounced frankness, but following all the limits of decency.

And renting a hall for kizomba dances quickly finds fans among people of all ages. The simplicity and ease of execution, the lightness of the dance figures, the mesmerizing music and the attractiveness of the movements do not allow such dance halls to be empty.

Do you want to dance, but don't know which dance to choose? Perhaps kizomba will be the ideal option! We tell you what the essence of dance is, where it originated and where you can learn it.

Kizomba is a sensual slow dance during which the partners are very close to each other, almost touching their chests. Kizomba dance is somewhat similar to bachata, but it does not have such complex ligaments and many turns, so it will be a little easier to master. Kizomba will be especially easy to dance for those who are already familiar with rhythmic dances.

In the Kimbundu language, kizomba is translated as “follow slowly,” as the dance is performed slowly and very smoothly. Kizomba dance originated in Angola (a former Portuguese colony) in the early 80s of the 20th century thanks to the fusion of local merengue and semba dances. Its formation was also influenced by traditional Cuban movements and the famous tango. That is why kizomba is often called “African tango”.

The dance quickly spread throughout the world, starting in Brazil, Mozambique and, of course, Portugal. Over time, it penetrated dance parties in London, and from there it spread throughout Europe. Kizomba music is most often accompanied by words in Portuguese.

In recent years, kizomba has begun to gain popularity in Ukraine, and it’s not surprising! After all, the dance is incredibly romantic, sexy and passionate - how can you resist it? And although kizomba has some similarities with some Latin American dances, it is an absolutely independent dance, as history proves. In order not to beat around the bush, we suggest watching kizomba on video and enjoying the beautiful and gentle movements.