Whether you’re coming from years of personal experience dancing in formal dance classes, or if you’ve never stepped into a dance studio but love to move, YOU ARE WELCOME HERE.
This is your home base for all things Adult Dance at City Y. For our Fall/Winter session we’ll be focusing on Afrobeats.
The short version: Afrobeat is a style of music from African artists, typically a fusion of funk, traditional African rhythms, R&B, and house music.
First, know that technically there is a difference between Afrobeats and Afrobeat. Afrobeat is the Father of Afrobeats, born in Africa in the 1900s, and coming to prominence around the 60’s and 70’s, particularly in Nigeria. One of the most well-known Afrobeat artists and originators is credited to be Nigerian artist Fela Kuti.
Afrobeats is a more recent fusion of music inspired by Afrobeat, hip hop, R&B, pop, and club music of Africa and beyond. The past few years alone has seen a huge BOOM in Afrobeats popularity, with artists like Rihanna, Beyonce, and Childish Gambino, to name a few, using sounds and dance styles of Afrobeats as inspiration their music and dance/movement.
You probably know more Afrobeats than you realize, especially if you frequent TikTok, YouTube, or other social media reels.
Like other club/street-based dance styles, certain movements and combinations have names. These movements are often curated by music artists or dancers in clubs that have strong online presences. As with most styles of music and dance, these steps are inspired and influenced by one another and can appear in other cultures or countries with different names or variations.
Popular afro moves:
These sounds and moves are catchy – listen and watch at home!
I’ve created a playlist with some new and classic Afrobeats-style music that you’ll be hearing in class.
Our choreography is inspired by Loic Reyel, a Cameroon-born and Montreal-based choreographer.