Lambada is a sensual partner dance, originating in Brazil, which became internationally popular in the 1980s. The Lambada is said to have emerged from existing Brazilian dance styles such as Forró, Sayas, the Maxixe, and the Carimbó. Lambada has many links with Maxixe, some of the figures were inherited by the Lambada we dance today, for example the Balão apagado, a figure where the lady rotates her head while it hangs loose, and the Boneca or doll were all taken from Maxixe.

In the 1980’s Lambada started to become popular in Bahia, Brazil and established itself in the city of Porto Seguro. Although it was recognized to have became a summer-fever, the Lambada was far away from having its true world-wide success. The many first lambaterias (a place to dance Lambada) which opened in 1988 couldn't cope the low tourism of the winter season and closed a few months later.

At the end of the 1989 summer, a couple of French businessmen came to Brazil and bought the musical rights of approximately 300 Lambada songs. They went back to France, and created the Kaoma Band and generated a lot of money on marketing, turning Lambada a world-wide known style, reaching even the far east of Japan in which Lambada is danced until nowadays. Lambada entered the global mainstream when the French pop group Kaoma recorded a number one worldwide summer hit "Lambada" which sold 5 million singles in 1989. In Portuguese the Lambada song is called Chorando se foi which means the one who left crying.

The dance spread across the world and due to a lack of good Lambada dancers to make films and shows, most professional dancers started changing the way it was danced. Rock spins and steps were added, like those from Jive and East Coast Swing. Also some acrobatic movements became more common-placed.

After 1994 the Brazilian music style which gave birth to the dance, started to fade away, and the dancers began to use other musical sources to continue practicing the Lambada dance. Among these rhythms were the Flamenco Rumba (such as from the Gipsy Kings) and some Arabian music. Many of the Caribbean music like Soca, Merengue, Salsa and Zouk were used to dance the Lambada. Finally the dance recovered most of its original way and style, with less acrobatic moves, smoother, intimate and closer contact.

Today the majority of Lambada is danced to Zouk and Kizomba music and the dance has evolved a lot. There is an ongoing discussion as to whether this Zouk-Lambada style is a new type of dance or the natural evolution of the Lambada of the early 90s. Because the evolution of the type of music used by dancers, Zouk-Lambada today is divided in different styles. Style types include differences such as tempo, specific movements and stepping technique.

The Zouk-Lambada style is very popular in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, United Kingdom, Spain, Netherlans and Australia and is growing in popularity in many other countries