From Kizomba to Urban Kiz

As kizomba spread from Angola across Europe in the 2000s, a new generation of dancers in Paris reshaped it into a distinct style: Urban Kiz.^[1]

A Paris evolution

Urban Kiz emerged in Paris in the early 2010s, a hub for kizomba's next phase as the Angolan diaspora carried the dance into Portugal, France, the UK, the Netherlands, and Spain.^[1] Around 2013 dancers including Curtis Seldon and Cherazad Benyoucef pioneered a new way of moving, and the name "Urban Kiz" was adopted around 2015 to distinguish the style from traditional kizomba.^[1]

A new sound and shape

Where classic kizomba flows in smooth, circular motion, Urban Kiz adopts a sharper, more linear and staccato vocabulary, danced to a new palette of music: ghetto-zouk, tarraxinha, Afrobeat, and remixes laced with R&B, rap, and hip hop.^[1] The word "urban" names that newer, hip-hop-and-zouk-inflected sound, while "kiz" preserves the link to its kizomba parent.^[1]

Why it matters

Urban Kiz is one of the most visible modern offshoots of kizomba, and by 2017 it was being showcased at its own world championship alongside related styles like tarraxa.^[1] Its rise shows how a traditional Lusophone-African dance, carried into the European diaspora, can be continually reinvented for new audiences and new sounds.^[2]