Zouk in Rio
May 26th 2010 01:03
Dancing with the Statue in Copacabana Beach in Rio
I have been in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I went dancing two nights in a row and it was a blast!
I was a bit anxious as Rio is the land of Zouk, the land of Jaime Aroxa, Carlinhos de Jesus, Alex da Silva, among so many other great dancers.
I have to thank LDA and say that my technical level was quite good compared to the other dancers in the floor, I was at least in the same general level. In fact I was asked to dance non-stop during the whole night and thankfully almost every partner said good things about my dancing and danced with me more than one song.
The first night was a mix with Salsa, Forró, Soltinho, Gafieira, Zouk and Samba-Rock. The salsa level was not as high as in Australia so my intermediate was enough to have fun. Soltinho is a cha-cha into rock music, very entertaining, I watched and said: I can do this, so when asked I just did.
At the end of the night I decided to go home as I was about to puke on my fellow dancers. I did so many spins, hair flicks, dips and moves that my balance was gone... It was easy to realise that when I looked at my partner and saw two of them with about three hands around!
The second night was amazing, zouk only. I almost killed myself dancing, or was killed... I’m not sure. Both nights I saw people watching me dancing, but I only danced with good people, so they were watching the couple, not me alone. The great news is that I didn’t have to ask anyone to dance with me!!! It is such a great feeling to actually be asked to dance... over and over again!
The technical level of the girls are about equivalent to our Australian zouk ladies (including students) but the Brazilians do have a natural “ginga” (specially people with African blood) that makes learning and dancing easier on them.
The guys are above the level in Australia, not exactly in terms of steps they know, but more on the capability of leading. Because the dancing crowd is probably bigger they are used to leading people they do not do classes with and therefore do not know what they are trying to do. The result is the creation of excellent leaders. They do not lead too many dips and tricks, just the perfect balance, and they use the music excellently.
On top of Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro
Seriously I felt I was in heaven! The other great thing is that no-one dance with you only one song in a row, it is pretty rare. Usually they dance at least two, maybe 3, 4 or 5!!! So you have time to get used to the person’s way of dancing and leading and it is extremely enjoyable. This is an idea that at least in salsa, we should adopt in Australian dance floors, it is a simple idea and it makes the world of difference in the feeling of the dancing.
To anyone that needs one the thing to do is to come to Brazil and “import” dance partners, both girls and guys, there are so many with such a great potential, many that have ballet and contemporary background (it was fashion for girls to learn it) , I could see some pretty good potential “Larissas”... and some strong guys too.
It was funny to see a few faces I knew from Australia and meet a few other teachers and instructors that visited our Aussie congresses.
The night was unforgettable and I only stopped once I could not put my feet on the floor anymore.
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