Bossa Nova (dance)

Bossa nova was a fad dance that corresponded to the bossa nova music. It was introduced in 1960 and faded out in the mid-sixties.

Bossa nova music, soft and with sophisticated vocal rhythms and improvisations, is well suited for listening but failed to become dance music despite heavy promotion as yet another dance craze of the 1960s.

The style of basic dance steps suited the music well. It was danced on soft knees that allowed for sideways sways with hip motions. It could be danced both solo and in pairs.

There were about ten various simple step sentences published.

A variant of basic 8-beat pattern was: step forward, tap, step back, step together, repeat from the opposite foot.

A variation of this pattern was a kind of slow samba walk, with "step together" above replaced by "replace".

In fact, box steps of rhumba and whisk steps of nightclub two step could be fitted with bossa-nova styling.

Embellishments included placing one arm onto one own's belly and waving another arm at waist level in the direction of the sway, possibly with finger click.