03/05/2026
Blush ๐
this video popped up in the feed yesterday showing our first Kizomba dance class demo. So I decided to share
A brief history of Kizomba in Cape Town...
(by Regan Christmas )
2011/2012
I went to England to continue my dance training with some of the UK's best dance teachers.
The Stars or Salsa Congress took place in London featuring some truly incredible artists.
I was encouraged by some of my friends to attend a Kizomba workshop by the legendary Paula & Ricardo - ALC Dance and by the time I had completed numerous hours of Kizomba, I knew that this style was not only going to have a huge impact on the Salsa world, but that I had to introduce Kizomba to the Cape Town dance community which I'd been servicing since 2003.
NB: while there was already a large Angolan community in Cape Town, their Kizomba dancers and teachers had not managed to pe*****te the Salsa/Bachata/Latin community, so as far as I knew, Kizomba was totally novel to us.
So, I returned to the Mother City in January 2012 and started training, and training...
Even though I had been teaching partner dance for almost a decade by this point, Kizomba was VERY DIFFERENT when compared to the ten other styles I could dance. Out of respect to my teachers, the culture, and the art, I wanted to do it right.
So, in May of 2012, Academy (then called The Salsa Studio) launched our Kizomba classes. Until that point our city's dance socials comprised of just Salsa, Bachata, and Reggaeton. I introduced the concept of SBK parties in our own socials and while the other promoters and DJs would not play Kizomba music for us, we cheated and practiced whenever Reggaeton tunes would be played ๐ต๐
Well, to say that it was a labour of love may be evidenced by the fact that it took THREE YEARS for Kizomba to become mainstream in Cape Town in 2015! ๐
Fast forward to 2026 and I can say that Kizomba and now Urbankiz are growing and still have a ways to go in development, and I'm proud to see so many of my first students not only sharing their passion on the dance floors, but that they are even teaching their own classes โฅ๏ธ
May we continue to honour the art and culture of so many dancers from Angola, Portugal, and France, as well as so many other places who contribute to the growth and evolution of these dances ๐๐บ
Kizomba (2012-05-02) Class demo