Welcome to the third and last part of our beloved Starting From Scratch series, our first online Brazilian Zouk course for beginners. In parts I and II, we had 8 weeks together and covered the core Fundamentals. 


For this new course with Gui Prada and Vanessa Scott, we will cover the next fundamentals of Brazilian Zouk, as you will see in the curriculum session. 


This is be a combination of solo training and partnerwork, therefore there is no need to worry if you don’t have a partner. We’ve got you covered!


COMBINATION OF SOLO TRAINING AND PARTNERWORK? HOW DOES IT WORK?

This course is designed to give equal focus on both leaders and followers’ foot and body work by showing and executing movements separately before getting into partnerwork. In our 1 hour classes with Gui and Vanessa you will learn new fundamentals of this amazing dance. During some of the class time, we will show and break down the steps for each role, executing them apart from each other so you can clearly see the mechanics of everything. We will then get together as partners to talk about leading and following, connection principles, and show how the movements work.

I DON’T HAVE A PARTNER. WILL I STILL BENEFIT?

Definitely. The way this course is structured allows for those who don’t have a partner to benefit as much as those who have a partner since we will spend most of the class’s time on the solo execution of the fundamentals. 


We start with the followers part and then move on to the leaders part. So, if you are a follower you can keep practicing as we go through the leaders part.


We are excited to offer one more option of partnerwork class for those who don’t have a partner. We are positive that if that is your case, you will benefit from it.

WHY SHOULD I JOIN?

Brazilian Zouk is a beautiful and fun partner dance that is growing in popularity around the world.  On top of that, it changes the lives of many of those who learn it. Once you start, you will be introduced to a community of people from around the world that love this dance, plus you’ll have a great physical activity to practice.


This course will be a great opportunity to get to know more Brazilian Zouk fundamentals and learn their basic execution. In addition, this learning group will provide you with regular times to learn and ask questions of our instructors, additional opportunities to practice, and a community to share videos with and get feedback.


This is also a way you can support our instructors, some of whom teach dance as their full-time occupation, and they can support you during this time.

Prerequisites

This course assumes you have completed the Brazilian Zouk: Starting From Scratch courses or any other fundamentals course that covered the following fundamentals:

  • Basics - in place, linear (Passso Básico) and side

  • Simple Turn

  • Viradinha

  • Send Away

  • Lateral

  • Body Movements (Sideways and Forward Undulations)

  • Lunge (Preparation for Turns)

  • Cuddle

  • Lateral Opening and Traveling Turn

  • Soltinho

WHAT IS THE CURRICULUM?

This course will pick up from where we left in Starting From Scratch (Part II) and talk about:

  • Elástico

  • Yo-yo

  • Bonus

  • Reverse Body Roll

  • Direction Changes in Viradinha and Yo-yo

  • Combinations of the fundamentals already learned

WHAT IS INVOLVED IN THIS COURSE?

  • 1 hour-long recorded classes

  • Recap Videos of the Classes' Topics

  • Demonstration Videos of the Classes' Topics

  • Complementary videos with more details and possibilities

  • Opportunity to send questions to our instructors

  • Stored content so videos can be accessed and reviewed later (for up to 90 days)

Price

Purchase our Starting From Scratch (Part III) and join us!

Or become a member and get access to all of our content!

Get access to 30+ recorded courses, plus additional benefits to enhance your learning experience. We have 3 amazing options for you to choose from. Click on the button below to know more!
More info on memberships
All-in Membership description

Would you like to have a taste of our Online learning experience?

Just sign up to our taster and check out some of our lessons.

Instructors

Senior Instructor Gui Prada

Gui Prada started dancing in 2004 inspired by the movie "Shall We Dance?". He began to dive deep into dance in 2006 as a work-study trainee of the Jaime Arôxa Dance School in Rio de Janeiro. Jaime Arôxa, one of the creators of Brazilian Zouk, was the head instructor and was a mentor for the most accomplished dancers in Brazil. During his 6 years as a member of the school's team, he learned all Brazilian partner dances (Forró, Samba de Gafieira, Soltinho, Bolero and Zouk) as well as Argentine Tango. After he left the school, he continued dancing and learning from other remarkable instructors, including Fabiano Vivas, Kelly Reis, Érico Rodrigo, Guilherme Pimentel and many others. Since then he has focused his training and research on taking the best of each of these dances and applying it to the close embrace, with the purpose of conveying a sense of well-being and relaxation to dance partners. In 2016 he attended the first Zouk Retreat in Valencia, led by Xandy Liberato, Brenda Carvalho and Anderson Mendes. After that, his research on partner dancing took a new direction, as he continued working with Brenda and Anderson to seek for the application of the concepts explored at the retreat in different ways by using the references of the other Brazilian partner dances and Argentinian Tango. As a result, the importance of the basic steps and concepts became evident, since it is through them that all dances reach another level. Gui is looking forward to sharing his technique and training with students here in Washington DC to help them improve their basics, comfort and confidence on the dance floor.

Junior Instructor Vanessa Scott

Vanessa Scott found zouk in New Zealand and was drawn to its music, fluidity and circular movement. When she lived in the midwest US, she persuaded a ballroom teacher to split the cost of some instructional DVDs and learn Zouk from scratch together. In 2016, Vanessa moved to the DMV area and has been zouking as much as possible ever since. She joined the District Zouk dance team and performed with them for three years, and began teaching with District Zouk at the end of 2016. In 2017, she went to the first ever 30-day Rio Zouk Immersion Course in Brazil where she studied with top Brazilian instructors Jaime Aroxa, Renata Pecanha, Brenda Carvalho and Anderson Mendes da Rocha. Working closely with them in such an intimate setting allowed her to see the depth and different philosophies of this dance. She continued learning from some of the top international instructors, including a 40-hour one-on-one training with Xandy Liberato in Spain and a 19 hour training with William and Paloma in Singapore. In 2018, she formed her own Ladies Performance Team with District Zouk and she continued as the director and sometimes as the choreographer. In summer 2019, the District Zouk Ladies team won first place at the National Team Zouk N Play Competition under Vanessa’s direction. Vanessa has been teaching, traveling the world, and soaking up different flavors of Zouk, and is excited to share her passion and knowledge with others.