It begins with sound. Specifically the conventions of sounds we find pleasing and we call music. Kizomba music in this case. The sound gives off a certain rhythm. A legacy of its zouk origins and whichever genre of music, african or otherwise, legacy or otherwise, that it has been fused with.
And we percieve this music and its rhythm through our ears, of course. But perhaps also through vibrations from the the ground, a product of those percussion instruments so much a part of African sound. And in the spirit of expressing these sounds and vibrations the African way we connect with them through our feet.
So we step, we stop, we slow, and we shuffle. We slide, we drag, we glide, and we stamp. We do these as individuals, as dance couples, and as people speaking a single language (another convention of sounds). But always it begins with sound. With listening.
S.M.
Kizomba | Wednesdays | Edinburgh
Beautiful video of Tony Viser & Carla