Kizomba Festival

3 things latin-dance promoters and artists should stop doing.

1.  Having multiple personal Facebook accounts.   We've all seen it and have had to deal with it.  At the end of the person's name they have full, I, or II - i.e., My Name Full, My Name I, My Name II. 

This is frustrating when you don't know which account to add/follow.  Also, when you need to reach someone but you don't know which profile to message.  You message one profile but they respond with another.  On top of multiple personal profiles, they have an artist page, a dance company page, and a joint partner page which complicates things further.

What's the solution? It's simple: You delete or convert your additional personal pages and allow people to follow you.  You can have an unlimited amount of followers.  Sure, you'll loose some friends when you delete those extra accounts, but it's worth the short-term expense.  The convenience of properly managing and communicating through one personal FB account is worth it in the long-term.

If you are maxed out at 5k friends, turn on the follow option.  When people try and add you as a friend they are automatically following you.  You can then remove the request request and you are good to go!

2.  SPAM tagging you on FB for every event.  (Even if they know you aren't in the country) Getting notifications is annoying enough.  But getting the same notification from the same promoter every week and having to untag yourself gets incredibly exhausting.  Also, if it's the same weekly event thats been going for the last 5 years, there is definitely no need to be tagging anyone.

Once you create an event, it will automatically appear on everyone's upcoming events that you're friends with.  Unless you are directly involved with hosting the event, no one else should be tagged.  Also, SPAM tagging has become increasingly popular with artists who have a new demo that they just released.   Just like events, demos are filmed almost every day so tagging people who have seen similar demos can becoming draining as well.

3.  Adding dancers to groups that they don't want to be added to.  Groups are extremely convenient in FB when used properly and where valuable information is exchanged.  Unfortunately, in the dance world, 95% of groups are SPAM groups.  Promoters from all over the world post their event, festival, or ****NEW DEMO ALERT*** in every group imaginable.  They spend hours copying and pasting the same text in every group hoping they will get likes or shares.  Facebook has complex algorithms that can pick up on multiple postings using the same text.

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I've had people add me as friends just so they can add me on a group.  When you leave the group you've been forced to join without your permission, be sure to click the box 'Prevent others from adding me to this group.'  

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Additional tips for the dance community:

-If you notice these three things happening to you on a regular basis, just unfriend the person.  Just because you unfriend them on FB, does not mean you aren't friends with them in the real world.  It's nothing personal.

-In your privacy settings, be sure to prevent posts from being posted on your wall without your approval.  

-Going live on facebook is probably the most annoying things I see on a daily basis.  Facebook is really trying to push individuals and businesses to go live.  I don't recommend going live unless you are partying with Justin Bieber.  

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With more and more events and festivals popping up every month, promoters and artists are desperate for attention.  It's important to identify those that are marketing themselves the right way, versus those are not.

If you found this article helpful, let me know.  Let me know what other things annoy you in the latin-dance world of Facebook.  Tag a friend, share this article, and let's improve how promoters and artists market themselves in the latin-dance scene.

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Thank you 2017 latin-dance festivals!

2017 was an incredibly busy year for us.  We filmed over 15 Salsa, Bachata, Kizomba, and Brazilian Zouk dance festivals and congresses.  We were exposed to many different promoters, locations, cities, countries, personalities, dancers, and artists.  We learned a lot about how different festivals are organized and ran.

Like with anything in life, one needs to have balance.  Filmed festivals every weekend will inevitabley burn someone out.  We tried our best to keep a good balance of local gigs, travel, and dance gigs.  Unfortunately, there were months where we filmed several dance festivals consecutively.  

With all the experience we got in 2017, 2018 looks brighter than ever.  We have new clients on the horizon and are super excited to continue working with with our favorite festivals.  It's not easy traveling with expensive equipment and filming/editing a 3-5 day festival non-stop.  There are times where we need to take a step back and take a break.  

Bachatea - Madrid
Amsterdam ZNL Zouk Festival - Amsterdam
Bachata French Kiss - Troyes
WestZoukTIME - Bruno
L.A Zouk Festival - Long Beach
Official - Prague Zouk Congress - Prague
Montreal Salsa Convention - Montreal
Zouk Me Summer Fest - San Francisco
Los Angeles BKS Festival - Orange County
Kizomba Luxembourg - Luxembourg
MiamiBeach KizombaFestival - Miami
Zoukadise - Puerto Vallarta
Montreal Is Kizomba - Montreal
Dutch International Zouk Congress - Breda
Hawaii Zouk Festival - Honolulu
Kizomba Harmony African Dance Experience - Cancun

Check out our work: sbkzmedia.com
Follow us on IG: instagram.com/sbkz_media

We don't try and work with every festival.  Rather, we focus on relationships with good promoters that are fair, honest, and try to do what's best for their respective dance community and push it in the right direction.  A big thanks to all of those promoters that we've worked with, and that we continue to work with in the future - you know who you are!!

 

Shooting the Kill Jill Music Video with Archie and Sizzle

We filmed Kill Jill earlier this year in San Francisco with Archie and Sizzle.  The track was produced by DJ Kakah and we had William/Paloma and Ry'el/Jessica as dancers.   This was not an easy shoot to coordinate since we had many people involved and logistically, it was difficult.

Our first location was Dolores Park.  This is a relatively new park with an amazing view of the city.  We had many takes at this location and it turns out that the footage from this location came out the best.

The second location was the Palace of Fine Arts.  This location is a popular tourist location and was unfortunately a very windy location.  Due to the wind, we didn't use any dancing clips in the music video but utilized some solo clips.

The third location was a lookout point nearby which had great views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Again, the wind was a factor - however, most of the dancing clips were useful and the solos from Archie and Sizzle were great.  We finished shooting at this location around 4:30 and headed to the hotel where we were staying to meet with DJ Kakah and William/Paloma.

Due to arrival/logistical issues, we were pressed for time as the sun was setting.  William and Paloma had just landed so we frantically found a location in the neighborhood nearby.  We took two takes just before the sun had set.   Had we had more time, we would have found a better location and included DJ Kakah in the video as well.

Overall, the music video turned out great.  It really shows the energy of the dancers and plays well with the musicality of the track.  The solo parts by Archie and Sizzle are high energy and I'm really happy with the camera movement.

We shot this video with a Sony a6300.

We plan on working with Archie and Sizzle in early 2018.   You can check out their website here:  KizombaWorth.com Also, keep an eye out for a new CD to be released sometime in March of next year.

What are the differences between Zouk, Kizomba, and Brazilian Zouk?

When most people hear or see the word Zouk, it's synonymous with Brazilian Zouk.  However, Zouk and Brazilian Zouk are two separate dances and it's important that dancers understand "Zouk" and it's history/origins. 

Zouk is why we dance Kizomba and Brazilian Zouk today.  Zouk as a music and dance genre originated from Martinique and Guadalupe which eventually traveled across oceans and developed into new dances.

People are often confused about Brazilian Zouk and Kizomba music.  Can you dance Kizomba to Brazilian Zouk, and viceversa?  Please note: we are generalizing to keep this as simple as possible so the majority of people can understand the basic differences. 

Zouk - Zouk originated from the Caribbean Islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique (see map below).   Zouk is what you would dance at a family bbq on the weekends.   There were no classes or formal moves, it was just something that you grew up doing and was part of every day life.  This music genre grew in popularity by a French Antillean band in the 1980s called Kassav'.

Kizomba - Kizomba is an Angolan dance with heavy influence from Cape Verde.  It's a closed danced where you embrace your partner closely and is danced slower than Zouk.  There was  influence from the group Kassav', along with Semba and other influences.  This too, was a low-key dance that every one grew up dancing to.  Many new sub-styles of Kizomba have since emerged like Tarraxinha and Urban Kiz.

Kizomba grew as a music/dance genre when dancers moved to different parts of Europe.  Since then, Kizomba has grown tremendously and is spreading rapidly all over the world.

Brazilian Zouk - This partner dance originated from lambada music which became popular in the 1980s in Northern Brazil.  The most well known song is Lambada by Kaoma.  Due to the lack of Lambada music, dancers turned to Zouk music which sounded similar to lambada music.  Brazilians fused/incorporated Zouk music into their zouk-lambada dance.  

Brazilian Zouk is a dance genre, not a music genre.  You can dance Brazilian Zouk to anything with a 4/4 beat.  Popular genres include hip hop, rap, trap, electronic, lyrical, indie, rock, pop - and of course, kizomba and zouk like the examples above. 

In the Brazilian Zouk scene, there are many DJs that produce and create remixes of popular songs.  Popular DJs/producers: DJ Kakah, Mafie Zouker, Lord Feifer, Arkkanjo, DJ Allan Z, and DJ Amigo

Some DJs play tracks that have a Zouk beat or "boom chic chic boom" while others play "zoukable" music (an entire blog post can be written on this).

Some points we want to emphasize:

  • You can dance Brazilian Zouk to any music genre with a 4/4 beat if you really wanted to.

  • Zouk music is traditional music from the Caribbean Islands.

  • You can usually dance Brazilian Zouk to Kizomba.

  • You can’t dance Kizomba to Brazilian Zouk music unless the DJ is playing Ghetto Zouk, Kizomba, Tarraxinha, Cabo-Zouk, Zouk.

  • Brazilian Zouk is a completely different dance than Zouk and Kizomba

  • Zouk has become synonymous with Brazilian Zouk. Promoters, artists, DJs, should promote Brazilian Zouk by emphasizing that it is from Brazil. "Brazilian" should be present.

  • Kizomba and Brazilian Zouk are completely different dances. There should not be a mixed Kizomba and Brazilian Zouk room.

Popular Kizomba festivals we've filmed: Kizomba Luxembourg & Miami Beach Kizomba Festival

Popular Brazilian Zouk festivals we've filmed: Dutch Zouk Congress & Elevation Zouk Festival

Bachaturo 2018

I've always wanted to dance bachata in Poland, could this be the year?  In 2017, I traveled through Europe and went to Bachatea 2017.  It was honestly the biggest let down of my life.  For a festival that big, with that stature, that name - I, along with hundreds or possibly thousands others wanted to cry after the first day.

The lighting, sound, floor,  and workshop space was non-existent.  Imagine a super big car repair shop with thin walls that divide the space into Bachata, Salsa, and Kizomba rooms.  Imagine there is no dance floor.  Just hard concrete that give nothing back.  As the teacher is speaking, you can't really understand him/her because you also hear the echo of music and other teachers.  WELP!  This pretty much summed up Bachatea 2017 in Madrid, Spain.

As with any festival, there are pros and cons.  Now that the cons are out of the way, let's talk about the pros.  The stage and performances were impressive.  Lots of seating was available and the stage was huge.  Many artists from all over the world were also there.  

After speaking to many artists and dancers over the years.  Two festivals have always popped up as their favorites.  One being Summer Sensual in Croatia, and the other being Bachaturo in Poland.  I've always wanted to go to Warsaw so this might be the year.  The organization, lineup, production, and overall energy looks promising.  

Here is the recap from Bachatea 2017 in Madrid: