What is the Kizomba dance?

What is the kizomba dance?

The Kizomba dance is the latest dance craze to hit the Latin and Caribbean dance clubs in the United States. The kizomba mixes African rhythms with sensual Caribbean percussion. It evolved from a faster Angolan dance genre, the semba, in the 1980's in the capitol of Angola, Luana and spread to all the Portuguese speaking countries continuing to evolve, read the complete article at

 Kizomba dance article  here!

Kizomba music and dancing has been influenced by tango, zouk , merengue, bachata and salsa. It incorporates movement from many different dance genres. Probably the most influential dances are the Argentine tango, zouk and merengue. It is sometimes called the African tango.

 Kizomba with Isabelle & Felicien - Soha Mil Pasos 2014

 Watch more videos here:

• Kizomba Dance Videos here
• Zouk, Kizomba, Samba, Swing 
• Salsa, Bachata, Samba, Cha Cha

 As the kizomba spread across the globe, it borrowed characteristics from other dances and became of blend of several other dance genres.  It uses a close embrace with an upper body lean toward the partner and heads touching at times. This is similar to the close embrace of the Argentine tango. There are movements that resemble ochos and walking steps from tango too. Unlike tango, the lower body and hips move freely both forward, backward, circular and in figure eights similar to the Latin motion used in Latin dance genres.

In recent years, it has spread across most of the Western and European countries including Portugal, UK, France Spain, Belarus, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. Also, it can be found in the Egypt, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Ghana and the United States. There have been Kizomba Congresses in many countries globally including Ghana, Ireland, Belgium, United Kingdom, Hungary, Portugal, France and the United States.

Sources:

Wikipedia

KizombaLove.com

KizombaNYC.com

Mountain View Patch - Cherly Burke

The Dance Center

Article written by Pattie's bio here, she teaches dance in San Diego, California!
More dance articles at DanceTalk on her website at DanceTime Global!

The Allure Of West Coast Swing Dancing!

The Allure Of West Coast Swing Dancing! 

West Coast swing is the ultimate dance genre for free expression and musicality for the dancer. However, because of this freedom to express, it is also one of the most difficult dances and takes longer to become accomplished than many other dance genres.

 West Coast swing incorporates a unique set of techniques which create a fluid movement including rolling count, contra movement, action-reaction lead/follow and flexion/extension, read more about the West Coast Swing Techniques here. The West Coast swing is unique among the swing dances. All of the swing dances like the Lindy Hop, Balboa, St. Louis Shag, East Coast Swing, Jitterbug and Carolina Shag share more swing dance elements but also have unique movement that distinguishes each different style of swing dance.

Read about the Differences Between Lindy, Jitterbug & West/East Coast swing here!

The first swing dance was the Lindy hop, which took movements from the earlier Charleston dance genre. The Lindy hop evolved into the East Coast swing, shag, boogie-woogie and Jitterbug during the forties and fifties. During the late fifties and sixties the West Coast swing originated in Southern California; first called the Western Swing.

Read more about the Evolution of Swing Dancing here!

The West Coast swing has been popular ever since the sixties partly because it has continue to adapt along with contemporary music. It is sometimes called a "Living Dance," because of this continual evolution. New generations of swing dancers gravitate toward the West Coast swing because it is danced to contemporary music and incorporated features of other dances including C&W 2-step, salsa, hustle, zouk and Argentine tango. This adds to the allure of the dance as well. All ages of dancers do West Coast swing and since younger dancers continue to learn it, it continues to flourish.

West Coast swing has gone global to places like the UK, France, Australia, Russia, Italy and many other countries. YouTube has been instrumental in spreading the West Coast swing globally. It is more popular than ever in the 21st century and it looks like it is going to be around for a very long time.

Read more articles on West Coast Swing  here!

Article written by Pattie's bio here, she teaches dance in San Diego, California!
More dance articles at DanceTalk on her website at DanceTime Global!

About the Author

Pattie Wells hails from San Diego, California where she writes article and video blogs for her world dance resource website at DanceTime.com. Also, Pattie is working on several writing projects including her new website at PattieWells.com, a novel in linked stories and a poetry manuscript titled Fire In Rain.  In addition, she continues to teach a limited number of private dance lessons in San Diego including dance lessons for weddings.

What dance should I learn first?

What dance should I learn first? I recommend newcomers to dance start with....read more here.

Having taught partner dancing for almost four decades, I have been asked this same question hundreds of times. I will briefly answer this question for partner genres of dancing like American style ballroom including rhythm and smooth, East & West Coast swing dance, Latin dances including salsa, bachata and merengue and Argentine tango. I will also  provide some links for further reading, read dance lessons FAQ here!



Many people have the privilege of starting dance lessons as children, training in ballet, jazz and tap. Nothing is cuter than a group of toddlers dancing the yellow, ducky dance as their first performance. My nieces had this fantastic opportunity to perform and acquire grace and coordination at a ballet school as children, pre-teens and teenagers. This head start in learning dance makes it easier to pick up new dance genres throughout ones life.

Many people start dancing  later in college or after they are secure in their careers or sometimes even after retirement. I started learning formal dance in college with ballet and jazz classes. Later, in my mid-twenties, I walked into a ballroom dance studio and began training in partner dancing and was mentored in dance teaching by numerous experienced, highly accomplished dancers. After three years training and teaching in a ballroom dance studio in San Diego, California, I branched out on my own and have continued to run my own teaching company since 1980.

I recommend starting with one of these dance genres if you have never danced before and/or have no musical background:

Recommended for newcomers to dance!

• East Coast Swing/Jitterbug  (Read more about East Coast Swing here)
• American style Waltz (box step, etc.)
• American style Foxtrot (walking steps)
• American style Rumba (box step, breaks)
• Merengue (Latin walking steps)
• Salsa Dance (Club Latin dance with Basics, Turns)

Recommended after the fundamentals of dance have been learned.
I recommend these dance genres after one has acquired a few basic concepts including the concepts of rock steps (breaking action), walking steps (forward & back) and triple steps (three weighted steps for two beats of music).

• West Coast Swing (Read more about West Coast Swing here)
• Argentine Tango (walking and rock steps)
• Hustle  Dancing (either L.A. style or N.Y. style using rocks & walking steps)
• Night Club 2 Step (side steps and break steps)
• American style Cha cha (triples steps and rock steps)

Additional Recommended Dance Genres.
There are a variety of other dance genres to pick up in each of the major groups of partner dances as follows:

Swing Dance (Read about the swing dance styles here)
Lindy Hop
East Coast Swing (triple)
Carolina Shag
St. Louis Shag
Balboa
Charleston

* Read the Differences between Lindy, East & West Coast swing and Jitterbug here.

American Ballroom:
Viennese waltz
Tango
Samba
Bolero
Mambo

International Style:
Latin Dances include Samba, Cha Cha, Rumba, Jive and Paso Doble
Standard includes: Foxtrot, Waltz, Viennese Waltz, Quickstep

Club Latin:
Bachata
Swango
Merengue

Blues Dance:
Improvisational dance to blues music

Country Western Dance:
Country Western 2-Step
C&W Waltz
C&W Cha Cha
Cowboy cha cha
C&W Polka
Pony Swing
Rodeo Swing

The questions of why humans dance and when it started will be featured in future blogs and articles. Please check back and read more articles by Pattie Wells here.

About the Author

Pattie Wells hails from San Diego, California where she writes article and video blogs for her world dance resource website at DanceTime.com. Also, Pattie is working on several writing projects including her new website at PattieWells.com, a novel in linked stories and a poetry manuscript titled Fire In Rain.  In addition, she continues to teach a limited number of private dance lessons in San Diego including dance lessons for weddings.