Kuduro music and dance from Angola: origins and evolution

KUDURO

I dug deeper into some cool dance performances and find this interesting music and dance style.

HISTORY

First of all, Kuduro (or Kuduru) is a type of music and dance originally developed in Angola in the 1980s. It is characterized as uptempo, energetic, and danceable.

Secondly, it began in Luanda, Angola in the late 1980s. Initially, producers sampled traditional carnival music like:

• soca and zouk from the Caribbean
• Semba from Angola

Then, they laid this around a fast 4/4 beat.

SIMILAR DANCES

Thirdly, it is similar to the Kizomba rhythm. The lyrics are usually in Portuguese.

For those of you who like urban dances, you will certainly enjoy this dance as well! It has a lot of similarities with new style hip-hop, house.

If you’d like to know more about it, check these articles:

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/12/26/167628341/kuduro-the-dance-that-keeps-angola-going

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuduro

KUDURO DANCE CLASSES

For those interested in learning this dance, there are classes in Paris (France) and London (England):

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Every Tuesday with Iris De Brito from 19:30 to 20:30 known for her afro, for her Kizomba and Semba. It is a high energy class that will make you move!

@ The Space Studios/ 31 Falkirk St London N1 6HQ.

IN FRANCE

Every Monday from 20:00 to 21:00 with Nat Borges (NKM) known for his afro-house and kuduro energy! He is one of the dancers from the video I’m sharing with you later in this post :).

@Studio Bleu/ 32 rue du Capitaine Marchal, 75020 Paris (Porte de Bagnolet- metro Gambetta).

KUDURO DANCE VIDEOS

Finally, have a look at this youtube mix of music and dance videos. The first video is the one I liked most. The choreography is very good and the two dancers are also witty/funny!

What do you think of this music? And what about the dance?

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Street School Dance Battles organised by Vigozone in Hamburg (2015)

STREET SCHOOL DANCE

While planning a holiday trip in Hamburg (Germany), I researched any interesting hip-hop dance events in the city.

I came across the street school dance battles event. I received a free ticket for the dance live performances.

The street school dancers were teenagers of different ages with one common goal: giving the best performance they could to the audience.

And what a show! I felt the dance level was pretty high! I watched incredible crew choreography and battles from all styles, such as:

• new style hip-hop,
• locking,
• popping,
• b-boying
• k-pop,
• dancehall,
• afrobeat
• salsa.

STREET SCHOOL DANCE EVENT STAKEHOLDERS

The host himself was pretty good at dancing. He was also very entertaining. 🎉

One of the judges and his dance partner performed their duet choreography.

If you’d like to know more about the stakeholders at this event, check their Facebook event page.

Now, impatient to see what it looked like? Please find below a small slide show.

I filmed:

• 4 battles,
• 5 crew/duet choreography
• 2 dance demonstrations from the presenter.

To watch them, I invite you to subscribe to my YouTube Channel!

If you encounter country restriction issues (blocked videos), I recommend you to download ‘youtube unblocker’ for Firefox and Google Chrome.

2013 Urban Bboy League international live battles and showcase

If you are a break dancer or just want to watch live 2v2 breakdance battles and hip-kop showcase by the French company “Nomade”, check out the information, pictures and videos of the past Urban Bboy League in Dublin organised by Breakdancing Soc Dit (Irl) & Nomade Cie (Fr).

For additional details about the event, check the event page as follows:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1411565032409813/?ref_dashboard_filter=calendar

Click on the below link to view professional pictures taken at the event:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.623136024398891.1073741843.114522585260240&type=1

And finally, here  are few videos:

Korean-Irish culture night featuring Jinjo breakdance crew and Queen Korean traditional music group

For those who haven’t been able to attend this night, to mark the 30th anniversary of Korea-Ireland diplomatic ties, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in association with Dublin City Council and DIT Conservatory of Music and Dram have organised an evening of lively music and dance.

I have been amongst the lucky ones to get a ticket to view the performances.

We have been given a brochure with the programme for the night. Here are the poster and presentation of the event:

Now, want to see how the performances looked like ? Check out the below slideshow:

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You can also watch video snippets of the event:

Finally, if you’d like to watch a world dance battle, in which Jingo took part, check out this video:

Do you have other videos or pictures of these performers to share with us ? If so, leave the links in the comment box below.

German Hip Hop Dynamix Dance Crew

These are hip hop choreography sets created by Matthias Arndt I wanted to share with you. Recent or old, you won’t get enough of them and won’t stop watching them over and over again!

If you live in Germany near Erfuhrt, you may want to check his dance classes mentioned on his facebook account (see the link below the picture and videos).

Do you have any other good dance crew choreography you would like to share with us ? If so, post the links in the comment box!