Samba (dance) Samba is a lively, rhythmical dance of Brazilian origin in 2/4 time danced under the Samba music. However, there are three steps to every bar, making the Samba feel like a 3/4 timed dance. Its origins include the Maxixe. There are two major streams of Samba dance that differ significantly: the Brazilian Samba and the Ballroom Samba.

 Samba (dance) Samba is a lively, rhythmical dance of Brazilian origin in 2/4 time danced under the Samba music. However, there are three steps to every bar, making the Samba feel like a 3/4 timed dance. Its origins include the Maxixe. There are two major streams of Samba dance that differ significantly: the Brazilian Samba and the Ballroom Samba.

Brazilian Samba Samba music has been danced in Brazil since its inception on the late 19th century. There's actually a set of dances, rather than a single dance, that define the Samba dancing scene in the country and none of them can be elected as the official one.

Samba no pe The oldest, most popular and traditional form of Samba danced in Brazil is the Samba no pe (Foot Samba). It originated in the suburbs and favelas of Rio de Janeiro and it's the type of Samba we see on the Brazilian Carnival parades.

"Samba no pe" is a solo dance that is most often danced impromptu when samba music is played. The basic movement involves a straight body and a bending of one knee at a time. The feet move very slightly - only a few inches at a time. The rhythm is 2/4, with 3 steps per measure. It can be described calling it and-a-one, and-a-two, then back to one. The basic movement is the same to either side, where one foot moves to the outside lifting up just before the first beat, lifting on the "and-a" and replacing itself on the floor on the one beat (i.e. the right leg moves slightly to the right) and this leg is kept straight. The other foot moves slightly towards the front, and closer to the first foot. The second leg bends slightly at the knee so that the left side of the hip lowers and the right side appears to move higher. The weight is shifted to this inside foot briefly for the next "and-a", then shifted back to the outside foot on the "two", and the same series of actions is repeated towards the other side.

The dance simply follows the beat of the music and can go from average pace to very fast. Men dance with the whole foot on the ground while women, ofter wearing heels, dance just on the balls of the foot. Professionals may change the steps slightly, taking 4 steps per measure instead of 3, and often add various arm movements depending on the mood of the music. There are also regional forms of the dance in Brazil where the essential steps are the same, but because of a change in the accent of the music people will dance similar movements to the slightly changed accents. For instance, in Bahia the girls tend to dance tilting their legs towards the outside instead of keeping their knees close to each other as in Rio de Janeiro.

Samba de Gafieira Samba de Gafieira is a partner dance completely different from International Ballroom Samba. It appeared in the 40s and it gets its name from the Gafieira - popular urban nightclubs of Rio de Janeiro at that time. The dance derived from the Maxixe and followed the arrival of the Choro (another samba musical style). It left most of the Maxixe's Polka elements behind but maintained the entwined leg movents of the Argentine Tango, although adopting a more relaxed posture than the later. Many see this form of Samba as a combination of Waltz and Tango and several brazilian dancing academies actually use elements and techniques of these two dances to teach Samba de Gafieira movements and choreographies. Dynamically speaking the steps are done on a short-short-long tempo and the basic step motion goes as follows:

step - replace - forward (long) step - replace - backwards (long) From its inception to nowardays the Samba de Gafieira has incorporated many acrobatic movements and has evolved to become today's most complex dancing style of Samba in Brazil. This style is present in dance academies worldwide.

Samba Pagode Samba Pagode is another Samba partner dance that resembles the Samba de Gafieira but has less acrobatic movements and tend to be more intimate. It became a dance style after the appearance of the Pagode and it started in the city of Sao Paulo.

Samba Axe Samba Axe is a solo dance that started in 1992 during the Brazilian Carnival season in Bahia when the Axe rhythm replaced the Lambada. For years it became the major type of dance for the North east of Brazil during the holiday months. The dance is completely choreographed and the movements tend to mimic the lyrics. It's a very energetic kind of dance that mixes elements of Samba no pe and aerobics and because of the lyrics, which are made for entertainment, the dance generally has some sort ludic element.

Several Axe music groups such as "E o Tchan" actually have as part of their Marketing strategy to always release a choreography together with every one of their musics, therefore the Samba Axe is an ever changing kind of dance with no compromise on maintaining any formal set of steps or routines (there's actually no such a thing as a basic step).

Ballroom Samba The ballroom Samba is danced to music in 2/4 or 4/4 time. The basic movements are counted either 1,2 or 1 a 2, and are danced with a slight downward bouncing or dropping action. This action is created through the bending and straightening of the knees, with bending occurring on the beats of 1 and 2, and the straightening occurring on the "a".

As a ballroom dance, the samba is a partner dance, meaning that two dancers dance as a couple connected (for example in the normal partner dance position where the leading man's left hand is held up and the ladies right hand grasps it, and his right hand is placed on her back, and her right hand rests on his shoulder). The man "leads", indicating the direction that his partner should move so that she can "follow" though the term is slightly ambiguous - the goal is usually for the leader to give enough notice for both dancers to move at the same time to the music, not for one person to begin and then the other person to follow (though there are movements that do require that both do not perform the same movement at the same time, in general there is a synchronicity to the movements, and even in choreographed dances the leader is responsible for signaling the timing for the movements to occur at the same time).

The ballroom samba, like other ballroom dances, is very disconnected from the origins and evolution of the music and dance that gives it its name and the dance movements do not change depending on the style of samba music being played. It is a form created for its suitablility as a partner dance, and lightly borrows some movements from some afro-brazilian traditional dances such as the dances in the worship of candomble and the chamadas of capoeira angola though without the context of either tradition.

Wikipedia information about Samba This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Samba (dance)".