Kizomba: What started as a war turned into a dance

Today let me guide you through Kizomba’s history and influence during the Angolan Civil war and emigrations of the Afro Luso Countries to Portugal. First things first, you might be wondering what Kizomba is, it is a genre of music and dance that came from Angola. In their language, which is Kimbundu, the term “Kizomba” means “party”; and to give you an idea of what this represents you need to know its background…

Talking about the music itself, there’s so much behind. The Angolan civil war, beginning at the time of the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975, things were very tough and frightening back then, that a lot of families intended to leave Angola and escape to wherever they could. For them, there was a need for creating a social environment where they could feel secure to share their culture. Many communities of Africans were trying to adapt to these new changes, they didn’t relate that much with the people they were meeting, so you can imagine that it was very hard. There was a lot of drama going on in everyone’s lives, which encouraged them to write what they were feeling, their experiences became songs and then hymns that would tell their stories, a little sad by the way, for instance, stories of how they left their people and land behind. Every African felt related to those lyrics since they were retelling all that they had to go through. They all were gathering to sing with so much emotion, these great meetings with friends were already having the name of “Kizombadas“. With those gatherings, Africans managed to keep their traditions and strong family values alive.

Also read: Dancing for survivivng

As a dance itself, it was born 20 years later, after the main musical influence. However, it took it a little longer to become trendy; in the ’80s, there were various popular clubs in Lisbon, where they would find a deeper approach to the dance; although it was difficult to see Portuguese in one of these, as African music was still considered for lower classes. There was a whole factor of discrimination that got translated into a fusion of African rhythms with the two-by-two dance style from European society. These European dances that had been previously influenced by tango and merengue that came across from Argentina and Cuba.

In its beginnings, Kizomba was more static and lacking in turns, with a dance stuck between the torsos and very sensual hip movements. Little by little became explosive and contagious, nowadays it has conquered many people’s souls. Kizomba is perfect for anyone who wants to enter to the dancing world due to its softness and easy basic steps, allowing any dance lover to evolve gradually, learning more complex steps and, more importantly, allowing the beginner to enjoy the pleasure of social dancing much earlier than any other type of dance for two. Kizomba movements include knee flexion with ascending and descending rhythms, as well as hip rotations. It is usually danced in a circle, with leads and follows facing each other and stepping forward and backward.

As kizomba has evolved, more rapid footwork and many tricks showed up, while the torse of the couple remains in close contact. If you want to learn the basic steps of Kizomba you can take this StepFlix Kizomba class  that will give you a better understanding of this dance.

Today, in addition to being extremely popular in Angola, Cape Verde, and Portugal, Kizomba has spread to much more countries such as Spain, France, England, Poland, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Belarus, Lithuania, Egypt, Switzerland, Serbia, Canada, and the US.

Despite all variations of Kizomba, it is usually danced slowly and with sensual moves as many people consider it, but for Africans was more than that, it was a way to connect with each other, to speak the same language, it was an act of complicity between two people and it was also an intimate experience that they wanted to repeat over and over again, many people describe it as a breath of fresh air.