Os2 Dos 300 Kassova are standout dancers from Luanda, Angola. They are a duo rooted in Kuduro dance, that have developed their own unique style of dance, called Kassova dance. Kassova, builds of the foundation of Kuduro, to incorporate full body movements, fast footwork and animation. We have collaborated with Os2 Dos 300 on several projects and are excited to get more insights into their dance. For us Os2 Dos 300 is a great representation of the creativity and energy happening in dance, in Luanda, Angola.
We love getting to know the dancers we collaborate with and we hope you enjoy getting to know Os2 300 Kassova.
1. AFROCONEX: Tell us about Os Dos 300s. What are your names and what does the group’s name mean?
A: OS2 DOS 300: Our stage names are Kabra Macho Kassova and Tonisvaldo Matrix Kassova, together we are OS 2 DOS 300 KASSOVA.
Our stage name (OS 2 DOS 300) is based on the old testament of the Christian Holy Bible, it’s about the story of the three hundred men that God selected to fight against enemies.
To keep it short, the name’s meaning is based in the true story depicted in the Bible, and it says we are from the century before Christ up to the 21st century, and of all the three hundred that God sent we are the last two warriors standing to battle against thousands.
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2. AFROCONEX: Where are you guys from and how long have you been dancing?
A: OS2 DOS 300: We are African, from Angola’s capital city, namely Luanda, more specifically from the Calemba and Cassequel neighborhoods. We’ve been dancing since age twelve (2006), from the times when there were Kuduro street battles; but we’ve been together as dance partners for five years now.
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3. AFROCONEX: We first saw you guys in music videos on BeKuduro, and immediately your movements caught our attention. Since learning about the group, we have collaborated on several projects. The first one was a dance video for an Afro Cuban song. Do you recall that project? What were your thoughts when you first heard this super-fast Caribbean beat? Was it a challenge to dance to the beat?
A: OS2 DOS 300: No, it wasn’t a challenge because we’ve danced Kuduro before and the speed of the style is already in our blood, we just didn’t get to show the world that we are 100% kuduro masters, but it was no challenge for us. The real challenge was making the owner of the video like it, especially because we created the song’s choreography in less than 24h.
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4. AFROCONEX: How would you describe your dance?
A: OS 2DOS 300: We describe our dance as a UNIQUE STYLE; because that’s pretty much what Kassova stands for as a way of life.
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5. AFROCONEX: Speaking about your dance. Tell us about Kassova dance. What is Kassova dance?
A: OS2 DOS 300: Kassova is the only style which if someone learns it they don’t need to learn any other style. Kassova alone capacitates the dancer to several other genres due to its unique and dynamic dance pattern.
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6. AFROCONEX: Did you guys set out to create your own dance style or did it just come into being?
A: OS2 DOS 300: Yes, we determined that we should create our own dance style because we felt a repetitiveness in the Angolan dance world, so we started to create the groundwork, all the while being aware that it should be unprecedented and dynamic, with no already existing framework. Of course, based on how we already danced we tried our best to achieve different results, with the mindset that this new creation can’t be like the rest.
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7. AFROCONEX: I really love the personality and characters you add to your dance. It creates dimensions and adds humor to the dance. What inspired you to have these characteristics as part of your dance?
A: OS2 DOS 300: We confess that it didn’t cross our minds at first that this humor and these characters would one day become the base of what we now call “The Kassova Mimic.” Our act originates from a mix we once did for a competition we participated in and won, in which we played a classic 80’s children’s song from singer Mamborró. In this performance we morphed according to the theme and let our inner children out. From then on, we noticed that this act that embodies humor and theatrics infected our audiences and became ingrained in our personas. We ended up developing it in a more balanced and controlled way, becoming students of the art so that we may teach it as well.
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8. AFROCONEX: If someone described your dance as Kuduro or Afrohouse, would they be misclassifying your dance? Personally, as someone who is studying Kuduro, I see many elements of Kuduro dance in your movements.
A: OS2 DOS 300: Yes, they would be 100% wrong, because our Kassova is like a deviation from the usual, there are no rules. It’s dynamic and doesn’t have a musical style to go along with it yet. It’s adaptable to each dancer’s personal inputs. Kassova as it is performed today has proven set itself apart, especially at its core which is composed of the footwork and the theatrics.
Maybe due to us being old school classic Kuduro dancers, that part of us still lives and is visible in our mannerisms, but there is no similarity in the dance genres because we have developed several techniques that have enriched Kassova to the point that neither Kuduro nor Afrohouse can compete with it.
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9. AFROCONEX: Your style is much different from the current popular Afrohouse moves. Are you a fan of the current way Afrohouse is dance? What would you say is the difference between your style and Afrohouse dance?
A: OS2 DOS 300: We are currently not fans. We were when the true Afrohouse genre first came out, but unfortunately it’s not performed like it used to be.
There is an extreme difference between Kassova and Afrohouse, because unfortunately Afrohouse holds an addictive repetitiveness which makes the dancer lose him or herself; this repetitiveness affects even personal creativity. This is not the case with Kassova. In Kassova an artist can sustain a performance just with facial expressions, without the use of footwork frequently, because of the dynamics. This way it’s easier to grasp the emotion, the musicality of the genre that the KASSOVITES dance to. The aforementioned is not the only disadvantage of the Afrohouse genre, but also that a person can only dance that very same genre; Kassova, on the other hand, can be danced to any kind of musical genre:
Afrohouse, Semba, Salsa, Kuduro, Traditional Angolan Rhythms, Samba, Funk, no matter the BPM. This way a dancer can adapt and be versatile. Even just the bases of Kassova have a lot of influence, giving it quite the leg forward in the dance world.
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10. AFROCONEX: What advice would you give to other aspiring dancers in Luanda?
A: 0S2 DOS 300: The advice that we give is to try to understand how the people think, and be disciplined. Seek excellence and forget fame. Put money second. Seek the essence of creation. Study the deepest rhythms of Afrika and Angola because there is much to be discovered. Fall in love with the art, even if the recognition that we get in Angola is not what we deserve. This is our own land, we shouldn’t give up. Use the YouTube channel to create, be strategists in your careers. Don’t conform. Maintain the thirst for growth and evolution. Uplift Angolan culture in your circles.
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11. AFROCONEX: Almost every video you guys put out has unique moves creation. Where do you find inspiration for your dance creations?
A: OS2 DOS 300: Thankfully, we put something in our minds since the beginning. We didn’t want to be understood; in other words, we had to have an undefined inspiration source. Everything had to inspire us, and we would perform only what we truly felt. So we have quite an ample vision about dance as a subject and thankfully we’ve learned a lot. We understand how the world works. Audiences want real things, the more different and unprecedented the better. So every time we think of something we determine that it has to be totally new. Starting from the music, to the movements, to the outfits. We admit that every project or video of ours has had a different source of inspiration. We once thought about shooting a dance video with no music, just the sound of a speeding motorcycle. That would be a challenge. The idea came from the fact that our younger brother is a biker. So we execute every idea we have because we believe that if we don’t use what your mind gives us then it stops trusting us, it stops contributing to our plans and ideas.
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12. AFROCONEX: Who are some of the dancers you look up to?
A: OS2 DOS 300: At this point in time our list of dancers is quite diminished because we admire many who no longer practice the art but still are legends of the time when we danced Kuduro. Nonetheless, we revere and appreciate Ti Bonhonho, who is an Underground Kuduro Dancer who works with musician Puto Lilas, and is already forty years old but still maintains an incredible physical resistance. Also, Manuel Kanza.
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13. AFROCONEX: What are some of your struggles as dancers in Angola?
A: OS2 DOS 300: It’s not easy being Angolan, much less a dancer in Angola, because there aren’t enough opportunities for everyone. There is no time to dedicate to dance or art in general because of social pressure, how our people go hungry and don’t have the basic living conditions. We dropped out of college for the art. We left our parents’ homes to experience the art fully, freely, and without jeopardizing anyone else by constantly causing them to worry that we don’t have a future in the arts, even though we have already proven the contrary. We make a living from the art, we don’t do anything else, all this just to be able to invest the time and obtain positive results. At the mastery level that we are, sometimes we are capacitated to do extraordinary things, but there is no money and we don’t have the necessary equipment available.
We don’t party hard, we only go to family celebrations. If we go out at night its got to do with dance. We don’t go out with friends, we do everything at home, we have fun at home. All this just so we don’t lose focus, because if we do, we will suffer for it. Opportunities here are scarce, that being said we have to be ready to seize each one that pops up. We worry about everything here, even those things we shouldn’t have to worry about any more. Maybe I need to earn money with my internet videos, but I have no way of doing that since I need to upload high quality videos and there are no means for that. Creating these videos is costly and the internet rate and accessibility is another issue. We aren’t able to obtain an online teaching dynamic that will earn us something.
We need to step outside of Angola for us to be able to shine. To shine more than just having a longstanding career. In Angola there are few in the profession who are aged thirty-five and over, because here everyone has adopted the idea that there is no point in dancing.
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14. AFROCONEX: Tell us, what dreams do you have for Os 2 300s?
A: OS2 DOS 300: To shine outsider of Angola, to take the Kassova genre further, to turn the Kassova genre into a mainstream art so that everyone who performs it may make a living off of it and not experience what we experience. We want the genre to become an international staple, and that we actually get recognized for bringing into existence a rare and unprecedented dance style. We want to win at the “World of Dance,” the biggest dance competition in the world, and work on leaving behind a legacy; so that when our time is passed we are held as references for those who come after.
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15. AFROCONEX: Is there a place in Luanda that dancers go to dance and share their dance?
A: OS2 DOS 300: No, not anymore. This happens in a restricted way now. It’s not like back in the days of street Kuduro, where there were constant challenges. There are a few small circles that some dancers created, but there is no more weight. Nowadays the Inspiradanza dance academy has been such a beacon for dancers that it has naturally become a meeting place, we just end up there without noticing, and always end up having valuable exchanges.
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16. AFROCONEX: For people who are not familiar with Dance in Luanda, what would you tell them about Luanda, and Angolan dance?
A: OS2 DOS 300: There is a lot of talent here, much to spare actually. There are dancers with great dynamic. In Angola there are dancers capable of carrying the whole country on their shoulders to any corner of the world, the dancers in Luanda have a fierceness and energy about them, a spiritually driven willpower, a commitment when it comes to dance. Many might lack a sense of responsibility when met with the experience of travelling outside of Angola, but they still deserve a fair chance based on their talent alone. Every Angolan dancer shines outside of their home land.
We asked the duo to give us a tutorial of Kassova dance. View the full visual and tutorial below
View our past collaborations with the Kassova brothers
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