Have you ever tried learning African dance moves? It’s such a unique and fun movement that after my first class, I was hooked! I didn’t always know about African dance, but now I’m so happy that I see it a lot more in different dance studios.

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African Dance Moves

Growing up in the Philippines, I was never exposed to African dance. We focused mostly on our own traditional dances, but there’s something so beautiful and raw about African dance moves. I love that it comes from the heart, the soul and the ground. What I mean by African dance moves coming from the ground is that a lot of it focuses on standing strength and total body articulation. You really have to plant your feet down to get to the next move or else you might get off balance. There’s a no limb left behind rule and trust me, when you hear the drums, you’ll HAVE to move. African dance is a complete social gathering which in turn teaches about values, community roles and social patterns. I love that they celebrate everything with dance– festivals, prayers, funerals, teaching history, they make it all part of the dance. Oh yeah, did I mention the live drumming? There’s nothing better than dancing to a live drummer and it enhances the movements in the performance. You feel the beat in your heart and it makes it that much more raw! Are you ready to feel the power of African dance moves? Let’s vibe. Meet our Afrovibe instructor Zen. She’s a powerhouse that will make you drip with sweat in all of her workouts! She’s got high energy and African dance moves that go with it. Check out more Afrovibe on our instagram and use #hipshaker so we can give you some love.

Beginner African Dance Moves

Let’s talk about my favorite move from this 5 minute workout: hip roll with push back. Roll one hip forward and then jump back and push back with your arms. I love this move because it takes your whole body to create this move. Of course, add your own flavor to it and really let your hips roll babe.

Shake Body African Dance Choreography

Never heard of Shake Body by Skales? Now you’ll want to dance to all of their songs because it’s so catchy and it’s such a great band to dance to. The move I want to focus on for this choreography is the arm swings with the side to side steps. I had to learn the arms first for this one because it doesn’t feel natural to swing your arms back that fast. Once you get that, add your side steps and you’ll be good to go.

African Dance Moves With Arm Toning

Not only can you get amazing moves from African dance, you can also incorporate toning your arms with it. Babe, Zen is a drill sergeant when it comes to arm toning. Honestly, the hardest one for me was the arm circles. It’s so simple but when you do it for a long time, your arms get really really sore!

Shekini African Dance Choreography

Here’s another great song for you to discover, Shekini by PSquare. I love this choreography because it’s basically 4 African dance moves jumbled together. The first move is a total leg killah! Basically, you bring one knee up to your chest while your arms try to reach the floor. You practice and repeat and if you’re like me, repeat again and again!

More African Dance Moves Anytime, Anywhere With Afrovibe

Afrovibe is a French Afrocentric dance workout that combines muscle toning and cardio dance training that is built around African dance moves from the Caribbean, the Middle East and Brazil. This workout can improve your flexibility and strength while having a dance party in your own living room. This is just one of the 200+ dance workouts you can access on our dance studio now!

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• 6 days of hip hop cardio dance workouts
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