South Africa's amapiano has the world dancing
With energy and purpose, they rehearsed a sequence in the style of the house music subgenre born on the streets of the townships around 15 years ago and now showcased by stars like Beyonce and Tyla.
Soweto's Finest Dance Studio draws dancers of all kinds -- from ballerinas to party-goers -- to learn the amapiano moves sweeping the world through TikTok tutorials and challenges.
Amapiano "is not about the words but you feel it inside of you," said Venus Chidinma, 25, a professional dancer from New York who studied at the studio for several weeks.
"It doesn't matter where you come from, what race, what colour -- you feel it and you have to just move. It's just from inside you," the Harvard graduate told AFP.
Central to the sound is the log drum, a distinctive bass that sets it apart from other forms of dance music. It blends soulful jazz and deep house with 1990s kwaito to create a local genre with no strict rules.
The dance style mixes up others, from the coordinated quick steps of South African panstula to the "baleka" move that closely resembles Michael Jackson's iconic moonwalk.
"Its authenticity to South Africa makes it stand out," said Thando Nhlapho, the 21-year-old professional dancer and choreographer at the landmark Soweto studio.
Nhlapho, still glistening from her latest class, creates and posts dance videos on social media to "get my name out there".
"I don't only dance to amapiano but I choose to use amapiano as a marketing strategy because it is now the trending thing, the hot thing globally," she told AFP.
Global language
"Amapiano is so powerful, it's taken over Africa," said Emmanuel Mwenya, 25, a choreographer from Lusaka.
"In Zambia, we dance and sing along to the music even though we do not understand the lyrics," said Mwenya, who spent a week in South Africa to learn the style.
"We do amapiano but it's never original. So I thought I'd take the time to come here to learn something original," he said at the studio.
Amapiano is its own language, said the professional dancer who also uses social media to promote his work. "Whether you speak Zulu, Bemba, Nyanja, English... it all connects, no matter where you're from."
This spirit of inclusiveness comes to life on social media, where people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures unite in dance challenges, like the one for "Tshwala Bami" on TikTok that was taken up by US performer Jason Derulo.
"My mom is 46 years old today and even at her age, I still teach her some TikTok dance challenges," said 21-year-old South African Snethemba Mathe, her face lit up.
Xiaoying Zhan, 30, brought three friends visiting from China with her to a class.
Zhan, who is from China but now lives in South Africa, said she caught on to the amapiano beat during the Covid-19 lockdown around five years ago. "I was enjoying the music and that is why I started dancing to amapiano," she said.
"The music has a lot of upbeat tempo," she said, listing South Africa's DBN Gogo and Uncle Waffles, originally from neighbouring Eswatini, as among her favourite artists, but only after Tyla.
According to Spotify, amapiano featured in more than 855 million streams recorded in 2024 alone, making the genre a powerful promotion tool for career dancers.
"Amapiano is something that's so easy to vibe to," said Chidinma, the dancer from New York who posts videos of various styles on her Instagram account. "Whenever people come up with a dance, it's going to go viral," she said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
11 hours ago
- France 24
Japan's high-tech sunscreens tap into skincare craze
The huge number of people poring over Price's video shows the growing interest in skincare products from Japan, much like the K-beauty phenomenon from South Korea. It includes sun protection, increasingly recognised as a daily essential by influencers who want to shield their skin from ageing and enthuse about the lightweight texture of Japanese brands. Companies that have perfected their secret formulas want to capitalise on booming demand, including by building factories overseas and selling to Japan's record influx of foreign tourists. Price, 32, fell into a "year-long rabbit hole" while making her video, learning about everything from SPF science to cultural attitudes to sun exposure. "I always loved Japanese sunscreen, since I first moved to Japan in 2012," she told AFP at her studio in Tokyo. "I remember trying it for the first time and thinking, 'this is so much better than anything I tried in Australia'," her home country where sun cream felt "thick, sticky, greasy". "I thought that the video would be popular... but I wasn't expecting it to reach as far" as it did, Price said. The habit of regular sunscreen use is spreading, especially among younger generations, said Takuya Wada, who works in marketing for Japanese chemical and cosmetics firm Kao. "There are no borders when it comes to obtaining information on social media, especially Instagram and TikTok," he said, adding that influencer posts have a "very large" impact on global sunscreen sales. 'Beautifully white' The global skincare market was worth more than $115 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to $194 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. A boom in celebrity skincare brands has contributed to the industry's growth -- with A-listers like Kylie Jenner using social media to share their beauty routines, including sun protection, with hundreds of millions of followers. When it comes to sunscreen, country-specific regulations mean no single company dominates the field, as the entry barriers to new markets are higher. Kao's main sunscreen brand Biore UV is ranked 10th worldwide for sales, and second in Asia -- competing with the likes of L'Oreal and Beiersdorf, and Japanese rivals such as Shiseido. The company wants sales from sun protection to reach 35 billion yen ($240 million) in 2027, up 1.6 times from 2023. It plans to boost overseas production by opening three new sunscreen factories, in Indonesia, Brazil and Germany. It is technically difficult to develop formulas that block the rays effectively with a smooth texture, as demanded by Japanese consumers, said Takashi Fukui, research and development director for Kao skincare products. But using scientific know-how to strike this tricky balance is what makes Kao "different from other European or American makers". In Japan, a cultural obsession with light skin dates back to the sixth century and using white powder imported from China later became a status symbol among nobility. Fair skin indicated a life away from outdoor labour and sun exposure, and an old Japanese proverb says "white skin covers the seven flaws". In the 1990s, people began using sunscreen or other cosmetics to avoid tanning -- a trend dubbed "bihaku", or beautifully white. These days, Japanese women use sunscreen as everyday protection against sunspots and ageing, caused when UV rays penetrate into the skin, said Fukui. Winter sun Tans have long been fashionable in Western countries, but awareness of skin cancer risks is rising, making sunscreen an important healthcare product there, Fukui said. One fan of Japanese brands is Thai skincare influencer Suari Tasanakulpan, who calls them "lightweight" compared to "heavy and uncomfortable" Western offerings. "There are always new technologies and innovative textures that are often ahead of other countries," the 40-year-old, who reviews sunscreens on YouTube, told AFP. At an outlet of drugstore chain MatsukiyoCocokara in Tokyo's Shibuya district, around 90 sunscreen products are lined up on the shelves. "Sales of sunscreen is improving year on year," said Takeshi Otsuki, deputy manager of the chain's cosmetic division. "More people are using sunscreen on a daily basis these days, so their needs are becoming more diverse," he said. The number of male customers is also increasing, and Japanese sunscreens are very popular with overseas tourists who buy them in multipacks, Otsuki said. While summer is high season, sunscreen is popular year-round, because Japan has a "relatively high number of sunny days in the winter, and the sunlight hours are long". YouTuber Price now uses both Japanese and Australian sunscreen, depending on the occasion. She sees the rise in education about sunscreens worldwide as a win-win situation. It "means you're going to be better protected in general, which is great for everyone", she said.
France 24
14 hours ago
- France 24
Utopia and fragile democracy at Art Basel fair
The four-day event in the northern Swiss border city of Basel, which closes on Sunday, features more than 280 galleries presenting works by around 4,000 artists. The monumental works section features an 85-metre-long installation entitled "The Voyage -- A March To Utopia". Created by the studio of Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout, it features 80 large sculptures forming a procession of absurd objects, where "everybody walks in the same direction... on their way to a happy place", the artist told AFP. The journey begins with a team of oxen, followed by all means of getting to that better world, including a walking stick, a cart, a toilet on wheels, a wheelchair and a mobile surgical theatre for those struggling to keep up. Next come objects representing everything the convoy is carrying, followed by sculptures of ghosts symbolising those who didn't make it to the end. It ends with machines set to destroy the road behind them, so that "there's no going back", the artist explained. Flag of logs A stone's throw away, Spanish artist Jaume Plensa presents a work composed of 21 aluminium doors engraved with the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. Entitled "Forgotten Dreams", it invites viewers to contemplate collective aspirations and not forget the horrors of the past. Vietnam-born Danish artist Danh Vo has installed a huge US flag made from hundreds of logs and 13 steel stars, referencing the first version of the flag from 1777. Reconstructed at Art Basel, "In God We Trust" was first created in 2020, during the presidential election campaign between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The logs were removed one by one and burned in fireplaces, gradually causing the flag to disappear. The work serves as an allegory of the fragility of US democracy. Go-go dancers Art Basel is above all a commercial event, where artists and galleries come to meet wealthy collectors. But the fair is also very popular with art lovers who come for the simple pleasure of browsing the works on show. Its "Unlimited" section brings together monumental pieces intended for museums and major collections. It includes recent as well as older works, including a performance created in 1991 by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a US artist from Cuba who died of AIDS in 1996. Called "'Untitled' (Go-Go Dancing Platform)", it features a man dressed in silver shorts dancing on a podium for a few minutes, twice a day. "It's an interesting moment to revisit it," said the "Unlimited" section's curator, Giovanni Carmine, recalling that the artist created the performance shortly after the death of his partner from AIDS, "in a context that was also very reactionary". Gonzalez-Torres responded with "a very political gesture" with a performance that is "a celebration of life". Angels and light The "Unlimited" hall features 67 works, including three angels by German sculptor Thomas Schutte, which foster "a certain ambivalence", said Carmine. With "their wings resembling razors", are they "protective angels or angels of the apocalypse?", he asked. Japanese artist Izumi Kato brings a touch of poetry with his stone structures, painted with enigmatic faces, drawing on the Japanese tradition that each stone contains a spirit. US artist Arlene Shechet plays on contrasts, with a heavy orange abstract sculpture designed to give an impression of lightness despite its weight. "The current political situation is dark and so bringing light and colour and joy and spirit and art is very meaningful," she told AFP. © 2025 AFP
Fashion Network
a day ago
- Fashion Network
Giorgio Armani, convalescing, will absent from men's shows in Milan
Italian designer Giorgio Armani, "currently convalescing at home", will be absent from his two shows at Milan Fashion Week presenting the men's collections for spring-summer 2026, his fashion house announced on Friday. The 90-year-old designer will therefore not be present at the Emporio Armani show scheduled for Saturday and the Giorgio Armani show scheduled for Monday. "In his absence, Leo Dell 'Orco, head of design for the men's collections, will greet the public at the end of the shows," the house said in a statement. Even in his absence, Giorgio Armani, who "has worked with his usual commitment on the collections to be presented", "will closely follow every step of the shows", it stressed. An empire-builder in the luxury goods industry, "il re Giorgio" ("King Giorgio") is a visionary designer who has distinguished himself in haute couture, ready-to-wear, accessories, perfumes, jewelry, interior design and luxury hotels in cities such as Milan, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai. Rome, June 20, 2025 (AFP)
