WHAT IS ZOUK?
Brazilian Zouk is a lead and follow social dance from Brazil, under the Latin partner dance umbrella that includes the very well known ‘Salsa’ as well as Kizomba and Bachata and many more. It is danced to 4/4 timing which means most of todays music is ‘Zoukable’, just one of many reasons people love the dance.
Encompassing aspects of contemporary ballet, lyrical, jazz. tango and even hip hop, along with the iconic sweeping hair whips of it’s Mother ‘Lambada’, Brazilian Zouk combines all of these dance styles and more to create not only a stunningly beautiful spectacle but also an exhilarating experience for both the lead and follow. And yes, it is actually led and followed without choreography!
Brazilian Zouk was developed in Rio de Janero by Renata Pecanha, Jaime Aroxa and Adilio Porto in the mid 90s to fulfill the hunger of Lambada dancers after Lambada music fell away from pop culture, and the basic step had to be altered in order for them to dance to the slower beats. The basic step was adopted from an older Brazilian dance Samba de Gafiera, and so Brazilian Zouk became more linear as opposed to Lambada which is much more circular in it’s step patterns.
Brazilian Zouk is danced all over the world in nearly every country, with dozens of large Zouk Congress’s worldwide that dancers attend in order to learn from the worlds top instructors and dance with hundreds and sometimes thousands of fellow ‘Zoukers’ at the parties, and compete in various Zouk competitions.
Here in New Zealand we have our own thriving Zouk community with a number of Zouk schools, and even have our own Congress’s and Weekenders purely for Zouk. You will find a list of these on our ‘Events’ page here.
Below are some of our favorite Internationally renowned Zouk Artists which Trent and Rebekah have also had the pleasure of learning from in person at Zouk congress’s and events!
IMPORTANT NOTE!
These are the worlds TOP Zouk Artists; in these videos they perform advanced head movements. You do Not need to learn these kinds of head movements to dance zouk, but are Optional to learn later on when you are very ready….so don’t freak out! 😉