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Zouk is a style of rhythmic music and dance originating from the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local creole of French with English influences. In Africa, it is popular in franco and lusophone countries. In Europe it is particularly popular in France, and in North America the Canadian province of Quebec.
The zouk music style was invented in the early 1980s when many different styles were fused, such as compas, balakadri, cadence and bal granmoun, mazurka and biguine, French and American pop, and kadans, gwo ka and other indigenous styles.
There are four ways to dance to zouk music
1) Zouk Love (Original way) *French Caribbean way (Antilles/Haiti).*French-speaking Africa way.
2) Zouk-Lambada style. The Lambada dance (or an evolved version of Lambada) danced to Zouk rhythm music. *Brazilian zouk. A dance style evolved from Lambada and danced to Zouk rhythm music. *Lambazouk or Lambada. Lambada dance style (or a variation of it) danced to Zouk music.
3) Angolan Kizomba. The music was developed directly from zouk.
4) Cape Verdean Cola-zouk dance style.
Zouk in the Caribbean (Original way)Caribbean zouk, is a dance performed in the Caribbean, most often in the islands of Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica and St. Lucia. As merengue, it is danced basically by changing the weight from one leg to the other in the music, which many teachers of dance simply call the time. The choreography is simple and little elaborated. The dance steps of Caribbean zouk dance style differ significantly from the Brazilian zouk-lambada dance style. In Caribbean zouk two steps are performed on the music ("1-2, 1-2, etc"), where in Brazilian zouk three steps are performed on the music ("1-3-4, 1-3-4, etc"). This changes the dynamics of the dance. Zouk in BrazilIn Brazil, the zouk rhythm is used to dance a Brazilian style derived from the Lambada, however, with movements more suited to the music. The Lambada is usually very fast and frantic. Unlike that, the zouk in Brazil is often slow and sensual, enabling many steps and turns. |
