Zouk Lambada

The popularity of Zouk Dance is expanding globally.
The origins of Zouk are in the French Caribbean. Zouk Dance was introduced in Europe, the United States, and Australia by expatriate Brazilians.

Zouk Dance is based on a close hip to hip dance style that is distinctly Caribbean. Historically, latin dancing began with Merengue, which found its way over the border to Haiti (French), and from there to the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique where they brought the dance even closer together and named it “Kole Sere” (French for “Tightly glued at the hips”).

Later, Zouk leaped cultures to Brazil where dancers modified the count from 2 to 3/4 with the understanding that a 3/4 foundation allows for more choreography. From that point, Brazilians started to develop Zouk around 1985, building upon another existing Brazilian dance called Carimbó, then stopped to work on Lambada in 1989, and then Zouk Dance again ever since 1995.

As a consequence of Zouk’s multicultural history and travels, there is some discussion as to how the dance evolved.

A growing number of Salsa and Merengue dance schools and nightclubs in Europe have now introduced Zouk Dance. As of last year, it has now become the most popular Latin dance style.