Kizomba Cali

anceses y Semba de Angola en Africa. Kizomba music is characterised by a slower and usually very romantic rhythm. Most kizomba songs are sung in Portuguese. The dance came later, and has elements of semba, zouk and tango. The music and dance spread rapidly through the Portuguese speaking countries of Africa and the Atlantic, and became popular with expats of these countries in Portugal itself, and also in Paris (which already had a zouk scene). In the last ten years the dance has spread throughout all of Europe. It became very popular with some salsa dancers and most salsa events in Europe now include kizomba (as well as bachata and merengue). I first discovered kizomba when they started playiing it in my local salsa club in Ireland, 5 years ago, and 4 years ago I started taking classes. There is a strong kizomba scene in my country, both among salsa dancers and also the Portuguese speaking community. Indeed my home town has the biggest Portuguese speaking community in Ireland. I quickly got addicted and it became my favourite dance, mainly due to the sense of connection between the couple, which for me is stronger than other couple dances like salsa or even bachata. Since then I´ve been to over a hundred classes in cities and congresses in Ireland, London. I´ve danced with people from Portuguese speaking countries who grew up with kizomba. Kizomba has become very popular in Europe and is starting to spread to the Americas. Because kizomba is very fashionable, there are many teachers. However, much of what you see on youtube is a choreography. I´m passionate about teaching people how to lead and follow, rather than just executing a choreography. If you know how to lead and follow you can dance with any other kizomba dancer in the world. If you just know how to follow a choreography, then you can only dance with people who know that choreography. I believe in teaching people the basics first, before moving on to more complicated figures and routines (which will not work if the basics are not in place).