The Zouk dossier – the ascension of this dance
February 23rd 2009 05:26
Alisson dancing Zouk at SSC09
It is so amazing how life sparkles from a thought. Everything and everyone eventually came from a thought. It is remarkable to witness the ascension of a new dance style. When I joined LDA, four years ago, we had one course, one class per week, of four weeks courses for Lambada. It wasn’t even called zouk at that time. We had all the levels in one, the crazy aficionados mixed with the total beginners. Mr. Amit – DJ Zoubasa was there from the beginning.
He tells me that he used to carry a lambada/zouk CD with him everywhere he went and beg, literally beg, on his knees, for the salsa DJs in the city to play one song. Just one song! When they did he would dance with the first (and probably only) person he could find that knew any amount of zouk in the room.
Kadu & Vali Zouk Social at the Sydney Salsa Congress 09
I keep trying to imagine what it was not to have where to go and who to dance zouk with, and only by thinking it got harder to breath. Zouk is so addictive I saw a lot of salsa fanatics in the Brazilian room at the congress, most of the pictures I posted were taken in the “zouk room” as it was safer for my fractured arm to be there than in the packed Salsa party room.
Every year we have more and more choreographies of zouk in the latin congresses, there were quite a few in the SSC. As a zouk-addict I was happy to see. A lot of friends commented how good it was to find so many good zouk dancers in one place.
In Sydney what boosted the rise of the style were a few things:
- 101ºC Party – a monthly get together that plays mostly zouk and bachata, I was there from the first one, only missing two in more than an year, one when I was in Brazil and one when I got sick. I performed in one too.
- Jaime and Liz fell in love with zouk, and nothing like a professional passion to boost a style.
- The two Brisbane Brazilian dance congresses of 2008 getting zouk lovers from all over the country together.
Junaid and Katherine at SSC09 - Zouk
It is a special thrill to be part of the beginning. I have no idea where zouk is going but I know it is growing world wide and every one as every dancer that sees it goes “WOW”!
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