Samba

Samba is a Brazilian dance in 2/4 time danced under the Samba music. However, there are three steps to every bar, making the Samba feel like a 3/4 timed dance.

There are two major streams of Samba dance that are very different: the Brazilian Samba music has been danced in Brazil since late 19th century. There is actually more dances, rather than a single dance, that define the Samba dancing in the country; so, no particular dance can be claimed with certainty as the "original" Samba style.

Rio de Janeiro is the Samba type, we see during Carnival parades.

"Samba no pé" is a solo dance that is mostly danced when samba music is played. The basic dance goes as follows: a straight body and bending one knee at a time. The feet move very slightly - only a few centimeters at a time. The rhythm is 2/4, with 3 steps per measure. It can be described calling it and-a-one, and-a-two, then back to one.

The basic movement is the same to either side, where one foot moves to the outside lifting up just before the first beat, lifting on the "and-a" and replacing itself on the floor on the one beat (i.e. the right leg moves slightly to the right) and this leg is kept straight. The other foot moves slightly towards the front, and closer to the first foot. The second leg bends slightly at the knee so that the left side of the hip lowers and the right side appears to move higher. The weight is shifted to this inside foot briefly for the next "and-a", then shifted back to the outside foot on the "two", and the same series of actions is repeated towards the other side.

The dance just goes with the beat of the music and goes from average to fast speeds. Men dance with the whole foot on the ground while women, often wearing heels, dance just on the balls of the foot. Professionals may change the steps slightly, taking 4 steps per measure instead of 3, and often add various arm movements depending on the music.

There are also regional forms of the dance in Brazil where the essential steps are the same, but because of a change in the accent of the music people will dance similar movements to the slightly changed accents. For instance, in Bahia the girls tend to dance tilting their legs towards the outside instead of keeping their knees close to each other as in Rio de Janeiro.

Samba de Gafieira

Samba de Gafieira is a samba dance completely different from International Ballroom Samba. It appeared in the forties and it gets its name from the Gafieira, which were popular nightclubs of Rio de Janeiro at that time.

The dance derived from the Maxixe and followed the arrival of the Choro (another samba musical style). It left most of the Maxixe's Polka elements behind but maintained the entwined leg movements of the Argentine Tango, although adopting a more relaxed posture than the later. Many see this form of Samba as a combination of Waltz and Tango and several Brazilian dancing academies actually use elements and techniques of these two dances to teach Samba de Gafieira movements and choreographies.

Dynamically speaking the steps are done on a short-short-long tempo and the basic step motion goes as follows:

From its beginning to nowadays the Samba de Gafieira has incorporated many acrobatic movements and has evolved to become today's most complex dancing style of Samba in Brazil. This style is present in dance academies worldwide.

Samba Pagode

Samba Pagode is another Samba partner dance that resembles the Samba de Gafieira but has less acrobatic movements and tend to be more intimate. It became a dance style after the appearance of the Pagode and it started in the city of Sao Paulo.

Samba Axé

Samba Axé is a solo dance that started in 1992 during the Brazilian Carnival season in Bahia when the Axé rhythm replaced the Lambada. For years it became the major type of dance for the North east of Brazil during the holiday months. The dance is completely choreographed and the movements tend to mimic the lyrics. It's a very energetic kind of dance that mixes elements of Samba no pé and aerobics and because of the lyrics, which are made for entertainment, the dance generally has some sort ludic element.

Several Axé music groups such as "É o Tchan" have as part of their marketing strategy to always release a choreography together with every one of their songs; therefore, Samba Axé is an ever-changing kind of dance with no commitment to maintaining any formal set of steps or routines (there's actually no such a thing as a basic step in Samba Axé.)