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.