Learn how to dance Kizomba

Kizomba music and roots

Where did Kizomba come from? Kizomba means “party” in Angolan dialect Kimbundu. Kizomba dancing originated from Angola in the 1980s. Kizomba music is a combination of Semba and Zouk. It sounds slow and romantic yet it has some powerful rhythm due to the electronic percussion. At first, Kizomba was danced in Portugal and most Portuguese-speaking African countries. Over the years Kizomba has become very popular around the world and is now being danced in the U.S, Canada, France, Spain, Netherland, China, HongKong, Dubai and many more places. 

Variety of styles in Kizomba

Kizomba is a sensual partner dance and coordinated hip rotations are the character of the dance. There are three main styles popular around the world. Traditional Kizomba, Urban Kiz and Tarraxo.

Kizomba

Kizomba is an African partner dance. The character of this dance is close connection, smooth and grounded movement. The follower can often close her eyes to prevent anticipation and just feel the lead and connection. In my opinion, Kizomba is a meditative dance. It does not require a lot of energy yet can make you feel amazing once you are well connected with your partner. 

Urban Kiz

Urban Kiz is a fairly new style originated primarily in France in 2014 and quickly became popular. This style is danced to a more electronic fusion of Kizomba music performed with modern instruments (synthesizers, keyboards, samplers). It is also fused with many R&B and Hip Hop songs that have been remixed for this style. The character of this style is linear movement, more frequent syncopation and breaks, an upright stance and traight knees for the ladies when doing foot tricks. In Urban Kiz many of the moves are lead from the frame rather than the torso. Longer pauses and rapid changes of rhythm, allowing for more freedom of creative expression in the dance, especially for the leader. 

Tarraxo and Tarraxa 

Tarraxo music has a strong electronic sound and heavy bass and repetitive percussion. The dance has a bouncy feel to it and the emphasis is on isolated hip movements and many different body isolation combinations, it almost looks a bit pop n lockish. Some people call the dance Uran Tarraxa. 

Tarraxa is an older style of Angolan music, using upbeats and downbeats equally with lots of focus on fluid hip movements and a calm upper body. The dance is called Tarraxinha. 

What style of Kizomba do we teach at DanceNest?

You might be thinking that there are no Kizomba Dance classes near me. What do I do? Well, you are in luck because you can now learn this dance online with DanceNest. At DanceNest we teach Kizomba to start and are planning on adding more Urban Kiz Courses.