Note for people new to Socials: We are a nice and friendly community, but don't expect to come to a social with no Kizomba dance experience, dance all night and get people to teach you on the dance floor. This is a place to dance and have fun. Kizomba is a dance language (its it's own unique language, no other dance will make up for your lack of Kizomba skills), although we will be friendly, show you the basic step and give you a dance, you will probably end up sitting quite a bit, if you really want to be part of the community learning the dance is really a must. Socials are to dance, not to learn, so don't expect your partners to teach you. If yu want to practive and get feedback, it's better to come to the Sunday practices. However, people will not keep helping you as it's meant to be a sharing experience, so you should have something to offer as well. If you have no Kizomba background at all please start with taking classes.

Also, be conscious that in Kizomba partners do not only dance one dance together, it's actually kind of rude to do so, it send the signal that you did not enjoy the dance. Traditionally the minimum of dances people dance together is 3 dances, that let's the partner know that you enjoyed dancing with them. But also traditionally when dancers get a good connection they can ride the connection and dance .5, 1 or even 2 hours together. So, be conscious of that when you attend your first socials. We do recommend dancers in the community to try to change partners more regularily than usual as we are a small community, so that everyone gets to dance.

Also be aware that good hygiene goes a long way as well as good Kizomba posture (no one want to feel private bits) and a friendly attitude. Most of us try to get around and dance with everyone, but most of the time there is just not enough time to do so, and we also get tired and need breaks, also if you can only dance some of the styles under the kizomba umbrella, don't expect higher level dancers coming to ask you to dance on songs like Tarraxo, when you don't have any idea what the dance even is, they will probably choose to dance with someone who can dance the dance, but a more beginner dancer who also doesn't know the style will probably be happy to dance with you. So, don't come in with the expectation to be able to dance with all the top dancers every time. Have your own fun, also feel free to ask people to dance. Also, be aware that if you look busy on your phone or having a conversation we will quite likely not want to intrude and will not ask you to dance.

From my experience, Having a positive and friendly attitude, being humble and understanding goes a long way. Also, for the most part you will get out of it what you put in. So, if you take classes, practice and get your level up, people will want to dance with you, they will get excited to see your progress and share in your journey. You may not realize but many beginners due to problems with their posture, walk, frame and technique are often painful and/or tiring to dance with for more than a few minutes, so it's not that we don't like you, but we can't dance like that all night and be able to recover easily. So, we really appreciate people who put the work in and get a good foundation, as we can then dance comfortably, take less breaks and feel good at the end of the night. Don't let this stop you from going out to socials as a beginner, I actually recommend it as it will help you level up more quickly. Just be aware that you may be sitting out quite a bit at the beginning. But you can learn a lot just from watching as well.  No matter our level, we have all started by being beginners and most of us are rooting for you and try to encourage you to get better. We were all stumbling and awkward at the beginning, that is why most of us will dance with beginners and try to make them feel welcome. Who knows, in one year you may be one of the rising stars of Kizomba ;)

To some of you Kizomba may still seem very close and sexy. Especially when you see the isolation based styles like Tarraxhina and Tarraxo. Some of you may be scared to really connect with your partner. Although, sometimes people come into a social with a bad intention (very rarely does in happen in Halifax) most people are friendly, nice people. They are also not interested in anything of a sexual nature. The connection in Kizomba is more of what we call a Soul/spiritual connection. Even if it's very close physically, we connect on a whole different level. This can also be scary at first, it kind of feels like bearing your soul to a complete stranger. But with the openness, trust and sharing, comes the sweetness of Kizomba. It's like two hearts sharing one moment. I always say that Kizomba comes to you when you are ready for it. Either way, be ready, for many of you, to be challenged with your boundaries and beliefs. The other scary bit is that due to the proximity and nature of the dance, your partner can feel any barrier, hesitation, etc that you have. It's both scary and amazing at the same time. It brings an honesty to the table that is lacking in many dances. Once you can let go and truly connect, feel, be in the moment Kizomba can feel like floating in the clouds twirling in the soft wind, you can loose all sense of time and space and just share a very pur moment between two souls. When danced in it's pure form with the right intention it's a very innocent and pure dance. We dance with each other, sharing a deep connection and unique experience but once we finish the dance we say thanks and move on to the next partner and repeat. There is no expectation for more.