Samba History

 Samba History

The Samba or the Samba, (the Brazilians name it in the masculine), is a typical dance of the carioca nights of Rio de Janeiro. There are different styles and it cannot be said that Samba is danced in a single way, but that it is a group of dances that have the same origin, without being able to know which of the styles is the genuine version.

Samba developed after the arrival of slaves from Mozambique and Angola, torn from their breasts by the Portuguese, to take them to work in the fields and colonial houses of Brazil. These Africans brought with them their customs, especially their rituals, music and dances. In Africa it was called "Semba" (which has a double meaning: prayer and navel). This dance also had a double meaning: the mystical, since the dance was performed to invoke the spirits of the ancestors and the sensual, since one of its influences is the "umbligada", which refers to a navel-to-navel blow.

It is clear and evident that the Samba has its origin in Africa and not in Jazz as many people believe. It is true that Jazz is a musical genre that has a lot to do with Africa and that Bossa.

As it evolved through the extensive geography of Brazil, it took on different nuances, which is why, as we have said before, there are different styles of Samba: some are danced individually, others in pairs, and others in groups.

Know how to dance Samba de Gafieira

The Samba de Gafieira is danced as a couple, in a social embrace of the dance. It is a dance in which the man is the one who directs the woman. The music has a very nice cadence and patterns and they lift your spirits when dancing, especially when feeling is involved.

 

In the dance halls of Spain, little is danced, since not all the teachers have enough knowledge to teach it. It is not a difficult or complicated dance, it is simply that it has not been learned and since it has not been learned, it has not been taught. This is the reason why few people dance Samba when they put it in dance sessions. DJs are generally not very fond of playing Samba because the tracks are left very empty and they don't like that, but those who have learned to dance it know that they have to ask the DJs to include it in dance sessions.

 

The Samba is a rhythm that is measured in 4/4 measures, that is to say, in four beats per measure. The slow step is made to coincide with beat 3 of the bar and the sequence of steps responds to a series of “fast-fast-slow…”.

 

The couple is not always facing each other, but alternate steps leading to the side to return to facing steps, always at the discretion of the man, who leads the dance as a couple.

 

The Samba de Gafieira, as the traditional dance that it is, does not have its steps and figures standardized, as happens in the Samba Internacional, whose steps, figures, and combinations are fully identified, measured, and standardized.

Nova is a style of Samba that has a fusion with Jazz.