Lambada debuts on Dancing with the Stars!
October 13th, 2009. Published under Zouk Lambada in the News. 3 Comments.
San Diego Zouk Lambada is so excited that the Brazilian Lambada now has a US audience. On October 12 Dancing with the Stars had couples perform lambada for the first time on national television and so far the response is overwhelmingly positive. It’s important to point out, however, that this US ballroom-version interpretation of lambada is not the kind one would find on the dance floors in Brazil. Sadly, the basic step is nowhere to be seen and the outdated lambada movements, reminiscent of 1980s Kaoma videos, are mixed with swing and salsa spins to fill the space between flashy lifts. Nevertheless, the energetic performance succeeds in capturing the energy of the audience and epitomizing the reason people still continue to dance lambada today–it’s so much fun!
In San Diego you can take a lambada class on Tuesdays at 7:30pm at Dance Place Liberty Station. Classes are $10 and you can try out your first time for $5! The style of lambada we dance originated in Porto Seguro, Brazil (the birthplace of lambada). In the last two decades lambada has been influenced by zouk music from the french Caribbean and now the moves have evolved to be able to be danced to slower zouk music or the traditional faster Brazilian lambada songs. Here is a video of some amazing professional lambada dancers:
3 Comments
admin on October 13th, 2009
I agree, Mari–if the US can see lambada is not a “raunchy” dance (as stated by one of the judges) and that it’s not a “whatever dance” with “very little technique” (as stated by celebrity Mya)… then they can open their eyes to the real lambada!
Milt on October 13th, 2009
“Ballroom” dancing lambada on DWTS. Whooaa….
I must say they pulled a cool trick at about 1:20.
I think the US may need to start by prefixing lambada with “zouk” and they will start to see a whole new “ani-mal”. 
Bring some Porto Seguro dancers to the US to perform a demo on DWTS. 
MariHodges on October 13th, 2009
It’s great that American tv has finally recognized the continuing existence of lambada, but it’s too bad that they stick with the flashy performances with inaccurate steps and moves that have nothing to do with lambada as it is danced today and just perpetuate misconceptions about the dance. It’s a shame ABC didn’t bother to do any research or hire an actual lambada expert/choreographer as they do with other dances. Lambada is a beautiful, elegant and sophisticated dance that requires an incredible amount of physical ability and technique. Let’s hope that this exposure on tv at least inspires people to learn more about what lambada really is!