Valentine’s Day – FREE kizomba dance lesson

Ricardo Lemvo y Makina Loca
Wednesday, February 14, 8-10pm 
Union Station Historic Ticketing Hall

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with the sensual music and dance style of kizomba. Join us for a FREE kizomba dance lesson led by Chris Kizomba, followed by social dancing accompanied by live music featuring Ricardo Lemvo y Makina Loca.

Kizomba is both a dance and a style of music, which developed in Angola in the 1980s and 1990s. The dance derives strongly from zouk, a Caribbean Carnivalesque quick rhythm originating in the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and which is reminiscent of reggaeton and Brazilian funk. Zouk, which means party or festival, drifted to Angola, where it mixed with traditional Angolan music and semba, the Angolan origin of Brazilian samba, resulting in kizomba.

Ricardo Lemvo is the embodiment of the Afro-Latin Diaspora, connecting back to Africa via the Cuban clave rhythm. He is truly multi-cultural and equally at home singing in Spanish, Portuguese, Kimbundu, Turkish, Lingala, and Kikongo. Lemvo’s innovative blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms with pan-African styles has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “seamless and infectious.”

Chris Kizomba was named US Kizomba Champion at the inaugural Africa Dancer USA in March 2014. He has taught at numerous festivals and was recently featured as a Kizomba dancer on live TV in Mexico City while promoting Angolan Kizomba artist Coreon Du’s new single “Bailando Kizomba.”