Almasabrosa organises kizomba courses in Firenze.
Kizomba is a dance born in Angola between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. As a musical genre, kizomba arose above all from the fusion of two other musical genres that were already present in Angola at the time: semba, said to be the ancestor of the better-known samba, and zouk, the musical genre from the French Antilles that spread across many countries of West Africa. It then spread to other Portuguese-speaking countries such as Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Brazil, and thus to Europe. The name of this dance perhaps derives from kizombadas, the word Angolans used in the 1950s for the local parties where people danced.
The Almasabrosa kizomba course offers an easy path to understanding how to dance in a social setting right away. We first teach a few simple sequences that allow every beginner to enjoy the pleasure of social dancing far sooner than with any other type of partner dance. It is a romantic dance, danced as a couple, and its style strongly recalls that of zouk, but we also find elements of other pre-existing African dances, such as semba, as well as elements of Dominican merengue and Argentine tango. Our course allows the couple, following the rhythm, to freely interpret the music being danced, with slow and sensual movements as well as more rhythmic ones. In this sense we explore some body movement techniques that help give a different interpretation of the various musical moments. We then study some partner evolutions that require leading skills and the complicity between man and woman typical of tango, with some more open dance passages and synchronised steps.
During the year, specific classes (workshops) are organised.
Origin and evolution of kizomba
Kizomba was born in Angola (in Luanda) in the early 1980s following the influences of the semba tradition, along with kilapanda and merengue. It was the Kimbundu name for a dance in Angola as early as 1894. Since Angola is a former Portuguese colony, kizomba songs are sung in Portuguese, even though at first they were songs in Kimbundu and in the other national languages of Angola. The dance style of this genre is also known for being very sensual, with romantic music.
On this basis, kizomba emerged as a more modern musical genre with a sensual touch, blended with African rhythm. Unlike semba, kizomba is characterised by a slower and usually very romantic rhythm. Nowadays, in Europe and around the world, the word “kizomba” is used for any type of music derived from zouk, even if not of Angolan origin, since it is very difficult to distinguish between zouk, cola-zouk and kizomba; all these styles are called kizombas. Roughly and generally speaking, one can say that zouk is sung in French, cola-zouk in Cape Verdean Creole and kizomba in Portuguese or Kimbundu. Although kizomba was not originally a fusion of semba and zouk, a zouk-influenced version of kizomba developed, under the name “Kizouk” or “kizombalove”. This zouk-influenced kizomba (or vice versa) is very popular all over the world.
In Angola most clubs are based in Luanda. Among the various Angolan kizomba musicians, Bonga is probably the best known, having helped spread the style both in Angola and in Portugal. The influence of Angolan kizomba is felt in most Portuguese-speaking African countries. The countries where this dance is most popular are Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Portugal, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor, Martinique, Brazil and the territory of Macau. In Portugal, particularly in and around Lisbon, immigrant communities have established clubs centred on the genre with a renewed style of kizomba. Kizomba spread in Europe in the 1990s, but in Italy it has only been known for a few years.