The Origin Of Azonto

 Azonto is a dance and a music genre originating from Ghana. Azonto is known to have originated from the coastal areas like Chorkor, James Town, La, Teshie, and Nungua, all part of the Greater Accra Region
The dance involves a wildly excited or uncontrolled set of hand movements that either mimic everyday activities or are meant to signal an often amusing intention. It begun with one or two step movements but has been advanced to more complex and almost acrobatic movements. Just like most African dances, knee bending and hip movements are elements to dancing it. The dance has effectively evolved from a few rudimentary moves to embrace depictions of ironing,washing, driving, boxing, grooming, praying, swimming, and others.
Generally, the dance reflects the creativity and sense of humor of the Ghanaian people. The dance, which is usually performed with an accompanying smile, evolved from the combination of several local dance moves that originated from Ghana during the early 2000s. The dance has evolved with the fast pace dance culture of modern West Africa.

The term "Azonto"^[1] which originally was a rude reference to wayward girls, has been adopted as the handle for a Ghanaian fast-beat dance music Genre and the accompanying dance that goes with it.
It originates from the word Azontoa (pronounced in some dialects as Abontoa) which means an ugly street girl. Originally used in the early 1990's in songs that were intended to offend female student schools that were not much liked, the word seems to have become an acceptable word since then.
Example Use of the 1990's

"Alele oh (School Name) Azontoa (Abontoa) mo nenam kwan kyɛn na mo yɛ noma bone gyae nkwada bone sɛm yi". (Akan)

Azonto started in Senior High Schools, with a different form of movement, until it went viral with the current trend of movement in the early 2011. Azonto music and dance went viral in 2011 and became Ghana's first pop culture phenomenon to have gained global appeal.
The basic movements of the Azonto dance is said to have originated in Ga communities along the coast of Ghana's capital, Accra. The dance moves involve freehand movements and gesturing with varying signals and role plays. Azonto is influenced by Ghanaian cultural dances and popular dance forms that go with the hitherto most popular genre, hip life.
Azonto took many forms before getting its current name. Its first form was the Gunshot dance, where the shot of a gun was mimicked anytime a move is made (sounding like kpeee, kpaa, kpoo. and so on). This dance was very popular in second cycle institution (senior high schools) around 2007. Then came synthetic or China-made imitations of popular shoes which was also given the name Kpoo because it could wear at anytime. For instance, the sole of your shoe could come off at anytime whiles walking or even crack, thereby earning the name Kpoo or kpee because of its fake nature. Later on wayward girls also earned that name (kpoo or kpee) because of their pretending and unpredictable nature of behaving.
That is one of the reasons why Azonto is associated with wayward girls. It was as a result of the various forms the name was associated to prior to being associated with dance. Azonto originated from the coastal areas like Chorkor, James Town, La, Teshie, and Nungua. It was called 'Apaa' meaning Work. The basic moves where washing, ironing and boxing which were popular occupation of people in these coastal areas. Azonto is all about creativity and freestyling, there are about three hundred moves in the Azonto dance.
Azonto was popularized on social media by the music videos that portrayed the dance form with fast-pace tempos, home-made dance instructional videos uploaded on YouTube with no commercial intent, and group choreographers done by mostly Ghanaians and other African nationals living in the UK.^[2]
Azonto craze went as far as the Far East and is till date (March 2013) the most popular dance form in Ghana and arguably the whole of Anglophones West Africa. As most Ghanaians will say, it's a dance that is here to stay.