Samba Dancing

How to dance Samba

Samba Background:

Samba is a lively dance style, which originated from Brazil in late 19th century. It actually involves a set of dances, rather than a single dance, so no dance can be comparable with the original Brazilian Samba dance style. Modern Samba has been developed from an early Brazilian music called “Choro.” The ball room Samba was developed in 1956, since when, various forms of Samba have been developed. The important thing about Samba is that, the dance is done in triple time—meaning, three steps performed in two beats.

Samba Styles:

Samba no pe:

It is a solo dance, involving straight body, with only one knee bent at a time. The rhythm is 2/4, with a-one, and a-two, and back to one. Men dance with the whole foot on the ground, while women wearing heels, dance on their balls of the foot.

Samba de Gafieira:

This form of Samba is considered to be a combination of Waltz and Tango. The steps are done on a quick-quick-slow tempo. This style of Samba is present in dance academies all over the world.

Samba Pagode:

Pagoda originally means a celebration with lots of food, music and dance, and so, this style of Samba was originated in 1980s.

Samba Axe:

It is a very energetic style of Samba dance, which is usually performed as a solo dance. This style of Samba is based on proper choreographic movements.

Samba Reggae:

It is a second most popular Samba style dance in Brazil, mixed with reggae beats and drums.

Samba Rock:

It is a type of night club dance, with a mix variety of other Samba styles.

Samba de roda:

It is a traditional Brazilian dance, accompanied by singing and clapping.

Basic Dance Steps and Timing:

There are several movements in Samba, but the two movements are the basic ones—the Forward Basic Movement, and the Backward Basic Movement.

Combining these two basic steps, make the six steps of the first move—the Forward Basic step. If the man will move his left foot forward, then the woman will move her right foot backward and vise versa. In the Forward Basic Move, the man will perform Forward Basic Movement, followed by backward movement, and the woman will do the opposite. Let us make ourselves understand about these two basic steps.

Back Basic Movement:

Right, Place. Step slightly back, on the first beat of music. Toe first, slide right foot back and change weight on the right leg, not moving left leg.

Left, tap. Up and down. Move left foot back, tapping on inside ball of the foot, with up and down motions.

Forward Basic Movement:

This is the same pattern as above except for the change side that is, Left side to start with, repeating the above pattern.

Back spot movement:

This is similar to the basic movements except, for the forward or back, the tap occurs behind the foot that moves on the first beat.

So, all you have to learn is these two basic steps and you will master samba dance.

How to Dance Samba No Pe

There are many forms of samba danced in Brazil. The two leading samba types in Rio today are the street samba dance called samba no pe, which is a solo dance and samba gafieiro, which is a partner dance.

The conventional type of samba danced during the Rio carnival is samba no pe. But according to some samba dancers there is a slightly difference between samba no pe and the show dance used during the Rio carnival. Samba no pe is also often seen as the most original samba. But others may claim that there is no such thing as an original samba dance.

Samba no pe is done in a 2/4 rhythm where the dancer takes three steps to every bar. This could make the samba to feel like a 3/4 timed dance. Samba no pe could be danced either alone or in a group. The dance consists of one basic step. The basic step requires a straight body and a bending of one knee at a time.

In samba no pe men and women are dancing samba with different steps and emphasis on different things during the dance. The male samba dancers often do a lot of acrobatic tricks with their feet. It is said that a good samba dancer speaks with his feet.

The female dance can be characterized as quick symmetrical feet movement with each foot twisting on the heel. All the time the females samba dancers put emphasis on their femininity by using their hips and shoulders very much.

The male and female dancers can dance together but they do not touch each other. Often the men dance around the women including spins, hops and jumps. The dance has a high tempo and is a complex combination of the basic steps, different variation and improvisation.

The dance is often done unaccompanied and begins straight away when the samba music starts. The speed of the movements change with the tempo of the music, some samba dances are very fast and other samba dances move at a more regular pace.

The dance consists of jumps and turns. It is important that when you jump you should not jump too high. It’s not easy to pick up the samba dance the first time you try. You should not be disappointed if you don’t get the hang of it the first time. It’s important that you stop looking at you feet and that you hold the body straight and at the same time start to relax.