Kizomba, semba, urban kiz and tarraxo: how they differ

At a social or a festival you’ll hear people talk about kizomba, urban kiz, tarraxo or fusion almost as if they were the same thing. They share the same roots and often play on the same dance floor, and outside Angola “kizomba” is also used as a label for all of them.

Semba

Semba is Luanda’s urban music and dance, tied to the city’s carnival. It became popular from the 1950s onwards, and Ngola Ritmos, a group that sang in Kimbundu, is considered its precursor. It’s faster than kizomba and is its direct ancestor. The name is linked to the “umbigada”, a move in which the couple bring their bellies together.

Kizomba

It was born in Luanda between the late 1970s and the 1980s: slower semba, played on synthesisers and drum machines and influenced by Antillean zouk. The dance adapts the steps of semba to that slower tempo, with a very close embrace led from the torso and a walking step.

The kizomba taught in dance schools was standardised in Lisbon in the 1990s. That’s where the steps were codified and where classes and competitions began. We go into more detail in what kizomba is.

Tarraxinha

An Angolan variant of kizomba, slower and more sensual. It’s danced pressed close, barely moving around the floor, and in Angola it’s seen as a dance for adult couples. The music tends to be minimal and often instrumental: slowed-down kizomba.

Tarraxo

A darker, more electronic offshoot, usually associated with Lisbon’s Afro scene in the 2010s. On the dance floor it calls for a lot of body work: musicality, dissociation, active listening to your partner and the sensitivity to understand the context.

At NuKiz we see it as an escape route from academicism, an “adiscipline” free of dogmas and static laws, danced for fun and for fusion. If you want to know what it feels like, read Tarraxo papi, tarraaxoo…

Urban kiz

It grew out of kizomba in Europe and is usually placed in France, around Paris, in the 2010s. The posture is different: partners’ bodies are further apart, there’s more tension in the embrace, the legs are straighter and the figures more linear. It’s mostly danced to ghetto zouk, tarraxo and remixes of R&B, hip hop or electronic music.

The name is disputed: some people see it as an appropriation of Angolan kizomba.

Kizomba fusion

It has no fixed definition. The term is used for dance-school kizomba that mixes in resources from other dances, such as tango, hip hop or zouk. At NuKiz we teach it alongside urban kiz and tarraxo.

At a glance

• Semba: Luanda, from the 1950s; faster and tied to carnival.
• Kizomba: Luanda, 1980s; slow, close embrace, walking step.
• Tarraxinha: Angola; even slower, danced pressed close and barely moving around the floor.
• Tarraxo: Lisbon, 2010s; dark, electronic music and a lot of body work.
• Urban kiz: France, 2010s; more distance between partners, straight legs and linear figures.
• Kizomba fusion: dance-school kizomba mixed with other dances.

Which one should you start with?

Start with the basics. Our Tarraxo from scratch classes, for example, are designed for people who have already mastered the earlier levels or are intermediate in urban or fusion. Kizomba spans many rhythms and styles, and each one calls for its own resources, so it’s worth having a foundation before you jump from one to another. If you’re not sure where to begin, have a look at our beginner intensives.