Urban Kiz
Urban Kiz is a partner dance built on body connection — no figures to memorize, no gap between intention and movement.
Join an Urban Kiz classHistory
Angolan and Cape Verdean communities in Lisbon brought kizomba to Portugal, and from there it spread across France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. By the late 2000s, kizomba was one of the fastest-growing partner dances in Europe.
European producers started releasing faster, electronic kizomba-adjacent tracks — what became known as ghetto zouk and urban zouk. Traditional kizomba vocabulary didn't fit the new music, and dancers started inventing one that did.
Teachers like Curtis Seldon & Carola Quattrelli, Sara Lopez & Isabelle Pucci, and Mickaël "Mika" Mendes codified a new vocabulary: sharper musicality, longer pauses, syncopation, sliding footwork, and a still-deeper focus on body-to-body connection. Urban Kiz was born — and immediately controversial.
Urban Kiz is now one of the most-danced styles on European kizomba festival floors, with the slower, more intimate Tarraxa living inside it as its natural companion. The conversation between Urban Kiz and traditional kizomba continues — both are taught, both are danced, and the strongest dancers move freely between them.
Style Breakdown
Urban Kiz is a dance about one thing — connection — explored in six different ways.
Everything else serves it. Without a clear, active connection through the body, no figure and no musicality in Urban Kiz works.
Lead and follow live in the chest, the frame, and the weight — not in the hands. Every movement is proposed and answered through contact.
Pauses and held moments do as much work as movement. A clean stop on a breakbeat is a statement — and it only reads when the connection is solid enough to carry it.
Sliding feet, sharp half-beats, syncopated walks. The footwork is precise and technical — but never decorative; it has to come from the lead.
Ghetto zouk, urban zouk, electronic kizomba edits, slow R&B remixes — typically 90–110 BPM. Modern, emotional, built for the Urban Kiz vocabulary.
The best Urban Kiz dancers aren't the most technical — they're the most present. The whole dance rewards listening: to the music, to your partner, to the room.
Community
Israel has a real Urban Kiz community — a few hundred active dancers concentrated mostly in the Tel Aviv metro area, with regular socials and occasional workshops with visiting teachers from Europe.
The scene is welcoming by default. Urban Kiz is built on listening, and the local culture reflects that — people come to dance with everyone, not to perform.
Motion Lab is building an Urban Kiz program in Ramat Gan grounded in solid connection work and clean technique. Classes are progressive, music is curated, and beginners aren't an afterthought.
On the social floor
Most Urban Kiz socials cross between several related styles in a single night. These are the ones you'll meet.
The main vocabulary — sliding footwork, sharp musicality, syncopation, body-led communication. Danced to ghetto zouk and urban zouk.
The slow, intimate dialect — almost stationary, body-led, built around isolations and weight shifts. Played at most Urban Kiz socials as a slower contrast.
The Angolan parent — walking-based, melodic music, classical embrace. Still played at every Urban Kiz social, and a foundation worth learning on its own.
The Angolan grandparent — faster, more playful, more grounded. Less common but turns up at the bigger festivals and rounds out the family.
Watch
Urban Kiz Global
Urban Kiz in Israel
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No partner needed, no experience required — just show up and move.