Once the basic stance is established, hand motions and facial expressions are added to communicate whatever the dancer desires, though more often than not they take cues from the song they are dancing to. Dancers who've mastered their freestyles are untouchable as they smoothly hit drops, take steps and double time their movements all without missing a beat. For one, it set off a sub-genre that leans into a slightly faster rhythm and features cheeky lyrics to keep dancers moving across the floor with attitude.
And secondly, for young Africans in the diaspora, it became a badge of honour — a modern cultural export that flipped the narrative, rightfully positioning African youth culture as forward-thinking. Perhaps the biggest Afropop dance craze ever, the Azonto fever spread so far even foreign governments had to recognise it.
Kukere In , Nigerian singer Iyanya struck gold with his Afropop hit Kukere. The dance that became widely associated with the song is a direct adaptation of a traditional dance called Etighi. Founded by the Akwa Ibom people, the dance is widely known across Nigeria, especially among the Efik people. The dance, which gets easier or harder depending on body proportions, involves leaning forward with locked knees and lifting each leg up and down to initiate the age-old shaking of the backside.
While there is room for freestyle in the arm movements, the locked position of the legs makes this dance a lot more straightforward and easy to adapt to other songs. Kwaito is the South African music genre that refuses to die When kwaito first emerged from Soweto in the …. Alkayida In , a new dance with a peculiar name arrived with the aim of unseating Azonto from the Afropop dance throne.
Outside of its provocative name, of which the title in parentheses roughly translates to 'boys are tired,' the song itself was a major hit due to its more serious themes that touch on general hardships in life. The dance has two basic moves. The first involves a stationary side-to-side leaning motion, while the arms open and cross with each lean.
The second is a backwards step and lean, while the arms and shoulders mimic a repeated motion similar to placing a pan in the oven and then taking it out. Nevertheless, many dancers tend to incorporate Alkayida into their Azonto, which has allowed the dance to stay relevant over the years.
Enjoy some bouncy experimental beats with Blinky Bill On the back of his debut album, the Kenyan artist …. Skelewu Skelewu was introduced by Nigerian Afropop star Davido in the music video for his record of the same name. In a much more concerted effort to create a dance hit, the release of the song was coupled with a social media competition for the most liked rendition of the dance.
Fairly simple, the dance is comprised of a backwards rolling of the shoulders with one arm continually extended and the other arm placed either on your waist or on your chest. The song has two videos, one of which is labeled as an instructional dance video and features Davido and friends dancing on top of cars. After a few narrative breaks, the video ends a bit like Thriller, with all those "bitten" by the fever doing the dance together in the street. This is the story of how Africa and slavery have influenced Brazilian music From samba to manguebeat, the rhythms and sounds ….
An expressive freestyle dance, it has no set instructions. There are, however, some basic moves any beginner will need to get started:. Tempo: Azonto can accompany any beat, but most would agree that it looks best when danced up-tempo.
Beginners should start with the 2-step and move upwards from there. Feet: Place your right leg slightly in front of your left, and twist on the whole leg on the ball of the right foot. Hands: Point your index fingers and cross your right wrist over the left in front of you.
With each twist of the leg, move the right arm forwards and backwards. At a twist of the leg, raise your right arm up with fist clenched and pop your hip. Start with 2-step boxing moves, lean your body to the left, or imitate chores like driving. For more ideas, check out this instructional music video by Gasmilla , or this animated tutorial.
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