Bachata
Bachata comes from the Dominican republic of the 1950’s. It is attributed to the mix between the Latin-American dance bolero and the Cuban son. The first bachata song “Borracho de Amor” is credited to Jose Calderon and was recorded in 1961. Bachata evolved through decades and was made more popular in the 1990’s with the singers Luis Vargas and Antony Santos as well as Jean Luis Guerra who introduced modern elements as pop in the dance.
Kizomba
Kizomba is a dance of the end of the 1970’s originating from Angola and combining the African beats with the Haitian compass (modern merengue). Kizomba, which means “party” in Angolan, is a slow, sensual rhythm dance in contrast with the traditional semba. Although the kizomba songs are mostly sung in Portuguese, they led to confusion between kizomba and creole-zouk (mostly danced on Cape Verdean creole songs) that is a dance created after Cape Verdean immigrants have blended a national dance, the coladera, to the Haitian compass. Kizomba was first popularized in Angola and Portugal with the help of the Angolan singer Bonga and others as Andre Mingas, Calo Pascoal, Don Kikas and dance teachers as Mestre Petchu and Jose N’dongola.