Dancing can look a ritual or it can look like an absolutely sexy act. Lambada has its moves, but they are most definitely graceful and arty.
Lambada is a Latin dance from Brazil. It is sensual and graceful and danced in couples to a one-two-three beat. The dance is sexy, yes, but it is danced by all kinds of people, of all ages and sexes. It's very graceful and fast-paced, and believe me, when you have to move your feet and body that fast on the dance floor without tripping all over yourself, the last thing on your mind is sex.
The word ‘Lambada’ comes from a Portuguese word that refers to the wave-like motion of a whip. This flowing wave motion is reproduced by the dancers' bodies and is one of the main elements that distinguishes Lambada from other Latin dances.
Lambada first appeared in northeastern Brazil in the 1980s, having descended directly from the traditional Brazilian dance Carimbó. The 1980s was a decade of national dance fever in Brazil where each summer a new dance craze would sweep the nation, only to be replaced by a new dance style and rhythm the next year. Thus, despite the initial success of the dance, Lambada was at this point far from gaining global fame and recognition. Many of the first lambaterias (dance houses devoted to dancing Lambada) that opened in 1988 couldn't survive the low season and closed a few months later.
If it hadn't been for two French businessmen, Lambada may have disappeared altogether. Seeing a lucrative business opportunity, these two men from Europe travelled to Brazil and bought the copyright to over 300 Lambada tracks. They then recruited a group of experienced dancers and, upon returning to France, founded the Kaoma Band, which was an immediate global success. Their first single reached number one in 64 different countries, and the world was introduced to Lambada.
The dance returned to Brazil from Europe, and another wave of Lambada swept the nation, this time reaching all parts of the country, including the economically evolved southeast region. Lambada soon became one of Brazil's biggest cultural exports, as internationally recognised as the Samba.
The association of Lambada and the idea of “dirty dancing” became quite extensive – the appellative “forbidden dance” was and is often ascribed to the Lambada – mostly due to the 1990 movie Lambada, although the people who dance this rhythm in Brazil and everywhere else prefer to define it as a sensual and romantic dance rather than an erotic one.
