Kizomba, Zouk, and Argentine Tango: What Was First and Does It Matter?
Dancing has always been part of human evolution and culture, though dances weren’t always as structured and defined as they are known today. In fact, a study cited in American Psychological Association discovered that
dancing “probably started as an accident of evolution [that] has become an important cultural force, one that gives us insight into selecting mates and tools for fostering cooperation.”
It is fascinating to watch how three dances - Tango, Zouk, and Kizomba - get influenced by each other borrowing and incorporating various elements. What’s even more interesting they are all based on improvisation and use close embrace.
At its very core, as the article describes,
dancing is “a universal phenomenon,” one that’s based on humanity’s seemingly inherent ability to physically express itself when compelled by the emotionality of music.
Because of this, various dance styles have been created throughout the centuries, many of which are performed with a partner, further strengthening the theory that
dancing is similar to a mating ritual and a way in which members of a tribe or community can promote cooperation among each other.
Among the various partner dances in existence, it is interesting to examine three particular styles whose elements and influences seem to overlap or originate from similar sources: the Argentine Tango, Kizomba, and Zouk.
(Two couples dancing their styles - kizomba fusion and tango to show differences in these dances. Ilya and Irina, Mikhail and Maria.) Of course, as Tango addicts, we can recognize that even though the music is not Tango, the tango couple is much more musical and has much more control and elegance embedded into their movements.
Argentine Tango, Kizomba, and Zouk - Which Came First?
Based on historical accounts, Argentine tango is undeniably the oldest of the three dance styles since it was created over a century before Kizomba and Zouk were conceptualized. Described by Dance Facts as the “music of the unprivileged,” Argentine tango developed among the working-class folk of Buenos Aires sometime around the 1880s, when an influx of immigrants filled the Argentine ports.
A post from Bella Ballroom further relates that Buenos Aires, at the time, became a melting pot of cultures, wherein the native Argentines mingled and intermixed with the African, Spanish, British, Russian, and Polish settlers.
This meant cultures, music, and dances were shared and borrowed from one another.
It is believed that Argentine tango was influenced by the Cuban habanera, the Argentine milonga, and the Uruguayan candombe.
Aside from being considered a dance of the lower classes, it wasn’t long before the Argentine tango was actually branded as an immoral dance by the elites of Argentine society, thanks in large part to its intimate, sensual movements. However, this didn’t stop the spread of Argentine tango across Europe in the early 1900s.
Surprisingly enough, the upper classes of European cities such as Paris and London showed such a great interest in Argentine tango that the dance inadvertently ignited a cultural revolution among the rich. They saw the Argentine tango as a means by which they could break free from their restrictive and imposing lifestyle.
For many, especially the women of Paris, the Argentine tango was a form of liberation and an expression of human sensuality, passion, and connection, which was often regarded with contempt among the upper classes, especially when displayed in a public setting.
Eventually, the Argentine tango became a worldwide hit and gained acceptance among many countries as the dance was modified to suit culturally acceptable norms, as well as local tastes.
According to Dance Facts, tango morphed into various styles, both in its country of origin and all over the world. “However,” the post further states, “many of those styles are ‘additive,’ meaning that they just introduced new elements while keeping many of the traditional tango elements untouched.” This led to the birth of variations in tango, such as the ballroom tango, Internationa Style Tango, Ballroom Tango and the like.
Possibly this Kizoma interpretation allows us all to appreciate what Tango gives us all from lesson #1 - the understanding that the movement is a consequence of both dancers’ constant communication. It shall never be point A and point B, but the never-ending journey smoothly transitioning between whatever steps you are using.
One Hundred Years Later
Around a century later, in the 1980s, the band Kassav, a group of musicians from the French Antilles, propagated Zouk as a genre. According to Britannica, zouk is a French Antillean term first used on the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, referring to nightlong dance parties.
Salsa Latina also defines the term zouk to mean “festival,” and relates that Kassav’s first album Love and Ka Dance was the origin of Zouk, wherein the music they created bore influences of different styles from the Caribbean, as well as “kompa (Haiti), cadence and merengue (Dominican Republic), calipso (Trinidad & Tobago), and others all combined with strong carnival sounds.”
According to Heritage Institute, since the parties in the French Antilles islands were called zouks, and this is where Kassav’s songs were popularly played, their music was eventually known as Zouk music, and the genre was born.
The same post further states that “Zouk music started to become popular around the time Lambada music was fading from the Brazilian dance scene. After Lambada music stopped being composed, Brazilian Lambada dancers started to use Zouk music. Soon, an off-shoot of Zouk called Zouk Lambada was born.” With the increasing popularity of Zouk music, other French Antillean bands joined in, leading to the global prominence of the genre.
Similar to Tango, Zouk alternates between open and close embrace, the difference being that the choice is dictated by the familiarity with the partner and the speed of the music.
At around the same time, Kizomba, another partner dance, is believed to have originated in Angola as the term, according to Go & Dance, “comes from an expression of the Kimbundu language, whose meaning is ‘fiesta.’” Kizomba as a dance didn’t become fashionable until the 1980s, though its predecessor “Semba” was already being danced in Angola around the 1950s and ‘60s.
Kizomba, according to Salsa Latina, “is how Angolans define their own afro-zouk, a fusion between zouk, kompa, and Angolan traditional music,” distinguishing it from other styles of zouk from other places like Cape Verde (Cabo Verde), Guinea-Bissau, Congo, Mali, Ivory Coast, Gabon, São Tomé and Prince, Mozambique, Nigeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, and others.
Between Kizomba, Zouk and Tango, Kizomba is perhaps the youngest, though by only a small margin when compared to Zouk, from which it has also derived influences
It’s kind of interesting to watch the familiar tango movements, but with expression painted rather than felt in this Kizomba interpretation.
As mentioned in Kizomba Dance: From Market Success to Controversial National Brand, Kizomba was in vogue among the “Portuguese-speaking ‘African’ communities living in Africa and Europe sharing transnational ties.” The article further states that Kizomba was danced to zouk music, which “became a great success from the 1980s onwards in France, parts of West Africa, America, Asia, and certain cities in Europe through transnational connections.” With the band Kassav touring Portuguese-speaking Africa, it wasn’t long before Kizomba as a dance made waves in that community as the band itself energized “the already existing passion for their music in that region.”
Passion & Motion in Emotion
A quick look at the history of Argentine tango, Zouk, and Kizomba points to one fascinating element shared by these three dances: they all began at parties or are intended for social gatherings. Each one shares this factor of human connection, passion, and revelry best exemplified by the music and movements incorporated in each dance style.
For instance, in Argentine tango, much of its foundational steps are a result of improvisation instead of choreography. Argentine tango is an intimate expression of emotion and meaning through the power of dance; this raw, unfiltered element makes it unlike any other form of dance in the world. Argentine Tango is felt in the soul and heart and expressed by the feet. It is more than just a dance style as it relies more on intuition than calculated movements. A post from Tanguito describes ut beautifully stating that tango is
“a two-way dialogue. It is about a physical, emotional, and spiritual encounter between two people who can communicate wholly without words.”
The music of Argentine tango also encourages improvisation because of its sudden changes in dynamics, though repeating patterns are formed with upbeats and downbeats. Much of tango music is melancholic yet sensual in mood, largely reflecting the hardships, aspirations, and romantic predilections of the Argentine masses. The intensity with which these emotions are conveyed through tango songs draws dancers to free their bodies in movement, achieving that spiritual and emotional connection through motion.
Certainly, Tango dancers have an easier time improvising Zouk than the other way around. In this couple, you can feel the Tango connection emanating through.
On the other hand, Zouk is a modern, versatile, and easily adaptable dance that can suit dancers of all ages and, in fact, appeal to many in the younger crowd. Like the Argentine tango, Zouk has no formal moves. According to What are the differences between Zouk, Kizomba, and Brazilian Zouk? zouk is “something that you grew up doing and was part of everyday life.” Zouk’s music typically has fairly fast rhythm, followed by a strong beat that uses the traditional instruments in a live orchestra. It is also sung mainly in French creole.
While influenced by Zouk, Kizomba is danced slower than the latter and integrates more of Argentine tango’s intimate elements as it is a closed-embrace style of dancing.
According to Salsa Latina, “Kizomba is characterized by a slower, romantic, more sensuous rhythm than the traditional Angolan Semba dance. Kizomba music emerged as a more modern music genre with a sensual touch mixed with African rhythm and Haitian Kompa.” Further to Kizomba’s musical and movement style, cairn.info explains that Kizomba was commodified in Portugal in the 1990s, and its wide variety of dance styles was condensed into basic steps following its success in dance schools and clubs. In less than a decade, Kizomba “became a global phenomenon following in the footsteps of the transnational salsa circuits of teachers and festivals, spreading not only through Western Europe and the USA but also through Eastern Europe, Asia, as well as North and West Africa.”
From these comparisons, one could see that these three dance styles are best experienced in closer settings since their movements are more intuitive and informal in nature.
The music, varied though it may be, serves not only as a guide for how the dancers must move but also a kind of spell that ignites motion in emotion, elevating their experience from mere dance to spiritual liberation.
An Elevated Experience
Dance as a form of human expression has been present as far as humanity itself could remember. Even though one could never pinpoint the exact moment when ancestral humans started dancing, the feeling seems so inherent and natural that it’s not far-fetched to think that dancing has been encoded in our DNA.
Regardless of its evolutions and variations, dancing, in general, remains a collective experience that brings people of all walks of life together in one language spoken by bodies in motion.
That said, knowing which came first among Argentine tango, Zouk, and Kizomba can be considered as part of one’s overall experience with the dance. After all, it’s hard to have a full appreciation of a cultural phenomenon without knowing about its origins, influences, and significance within a particular moment in human history. Knowing how these dance styles began and how they evolved or caused evolutions among other aspects of life and self-expression allows one to have a deeper enjoyment of all three dances.
The beautiful, and truly the most amazing thing about tango, is that once understood and empowered with all the aspects of improvisation, connection, musicality - it allows you to do anything to any music. It allows you to be who you are, express who you are, what you feel - in that one moment!