Urban Kiz

Urban Kiz is a couple-dance derived from Kizomba. The origin is the result of exportation of kizomba abroad, as well the Angolan community in diaspora introduction of the Kizomba into different countries mainly Portugal, France, UK, the Netherlands and Spain between 1980–2003. It was first popularized in social media sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. Dancer Moun started dancing since 2008, but was not known yet as reference as Urban Kiz). Curtis and Enah started in 2011. However, Urban Kiz was created in Paris, France somewhere between 2012 and 2014 by Enah, Moun & Curtis. The dance still went under various names, such as Kizomba 2.0, French Style Kizomba, New Style Kizomba, because no consensus was reached on a final name. The dance style evolved influenced by Ghettozouk and remixes with R&B, Rap, Dance and Hip Hop. The newly created dance was still sold as Kizomba although it changed from Kizomba completely. After fights in 2015 the new name Urban Kiz was created and publicly announced. Though there is some controversy around the origins of the style, it's widely accepted that the brand Urban Kiz was pioneered in Paris by famous dancers Enah, Moun & Curtis.[1]

So the Urban stands for the RnB-related music (Ghetto-Zouk) it was danced to and the Kiz is only there to show that it was influenced by Kizomba. Urban Kiz is not the short form for Urban Kizomba, but unfortunately many misuse the Kiz to still sell it as Kizomba. As the music changed, the dancers made new interpretations on how to move to this music. The main difference with Urban Kiz is that the dancers generally keep more distance between them and often don't have the chest-to-chest connection as is common with Kizomba. The legs are straight and the energy is different with much more body tension in Urban Kiz. The figures made often also require movement along straight lines or changing direction only at perpendicular angles or reversing direction. Pivots and pirouettes of the lady are also more common in Urban Kiz than in Kizomba, although they did appear in Kizomba and especially in Semba (Kizomba was derived mainly from Semba influences), but not as much, since the chest-to-chest frame did not allow for it as much. The Urban Kiz music has many dynamic changes of pace, with transitions to a slower tempo (bridge in music), accelerations and breaks. Contratempos are also often performed and preferably in synchronization with the Urban Kiz and Ghetto-Zouk-beat. The Urban Kiz is also characterized by dancing on a line and feint movements of the legs of men and the hip movements or popping of ladies, especially to tarraxinha music.[2] Kizomba is completely different because the Kizomba music which is faster than Getto-Zouk and asks for continuous movement with less breaks, circular and you dance more grounded with soft knees. But Kizomba is also danced to Ghetto-Zouk but different as it is done by Urban Kiz dancers.

There is a new derivative of Kizomba being defined today, sometimes called Fusion Kiz or Kiz Fusion. This is a style utilizing the sensibilities of Kizomba dance, with the contemporary flair of Urban Kiz, but with more flexible rules and inclusion of moves and techniques from other dance styles, for example Bachata or Tango.[3] Kiz Fusion is often danced on genres of music that transcend the Kizomba music umbrella - for example, hip hop, R&B, and pop music.[4]