Join a Brazilian zouk class!

Take a look at our schedule for the upcoming last cycle of progressive classes in 2021.

This is the schedule of our last full 8-week cycle of 2021. 

LOCATION

All classes will be held at DanceSport Dupont Circle

2201 P St. NW (GPS 1520 22nd St. NW)
The Church of the Pilgrims Fellowship Hall
(Entrance from the south side via stairs going down)
Washington DC 20037

New to Brazilian Zouk?

Join our Basics 1 course and start your journey.


This is the course where it all begins. Learn the first set of fundamentals in Brazilian Zouk and start falling in love with this beautiful dance. 

Sign up with a partner and get 5% off. All you need to do is purchase a leader and a follower ticket and the discount will be applied automatically.

Registration

$176 for one course

- 5% discount if you enroll in two courses


- 10% discount if you enroll in three courses


- If you have a credit from classes that were cancelled in 2020, contact us for a code to use your credit to sign up.

Safety Protocols

For all of our events we will be following the same safety protocols laid out here:

  • Proof of vaccination required (must be two weeks from last shot). If you haven’t already verified your vaccination status at one of our events, we’ll ask you to show your vaccine card or a photo at your first class.

  • Hand sanitizer will be provided.

  • Short symptom survey prior to each class via Danceplace (show screenshot upon arrival).

  • Masks required.

Symptom Screener before each class helps us ensure safety.

Complete the short survey before going to class and save a screenshot of the confirmation screen to show us when you arrive.
Symptom Screener

Learn more about our new curriculum!

How does it work? Why did we change it?

After years of teaching continuous progressive classes, organizing socials and workshops, and observing social dance dynamics in our community, we realized a couple of different things:

  • Newer dancers usually did not attend socials and practicas, so the class time was their main time to practice and dance

  • Our progressive courses were built under the premise that students would practice in socials and practicas, so the class time was mostly dedicated to teaching new material every week

  • Students were not able to absorb all of the new content, causing some to reach higher levels with issues in doing the previous content

In light of this, we decided to change the way our curriculum is structured and some of the content itself.

The premise of our curriculum

Our main goal at District Zouk is to provide the tools to help you become a comfortable and versatile social dancer. That includes the techniques behind creating a comfortable dance both as a leader and a follower; solid foundations; musicality; use of the space and floorcraft; social dance dynamics, etiquette and safety.

We built the new curriculum to develop your social dancing skills beyond the knowledge of the movements, providing time to practice in class with the help of our instructors and assistants.

How does it work?

Our curriculum presents 24 fundamental patterns in Brazilian Zouk, along with their direction changes, lead/follow principles and other body movements. We divided this content into six progressive courses of 8 weeks each:

  • Basics 1, 2, 3

  • Social Dancing 1, 2, 3

Each of these courses covers a set of fundamental patterns, floorcraft, body movements, musicality, lead and follow principles, plus social dance dynamics, etiquette and safety. We’ve incorporated these other important elements into the curriculum to provide a complete learning experience. 

How is each course structured?

Each course is 8 weeks long, with one 1.5-hour class per week. Out of these 8 weeks, 6 are dedicated to teaching new content and 2 are dedicated to practice, feedback, and discussions about connection, music, social dance dynamics, etiquette, safety and other exercises and challenges that will bring all the course’s content together. 

Once you get to Social Dancing 3, you'll have learned the 24 fundamentals, and then the material is divided in 3 main topics: Comfort, Floorcraft and Transitions.

Can I do two or more courses at the same time?

We strongly encourage you to take more than one course at the same time if that's possible for you. The different courses are progressive and complementary. So, for example, if you’re placed to do Social Dancing 1, you can reinforce your knowledge of any set of fundamentals by concurrently taking any of the previous Basics courses. If you take more than one course at a time, you’ll receive a discount on each course.

How do I know what course to take?

If you’re new to Brazilian Zouk, start at Basics 1.

If you've been dancing Brazilian Zouk already let us know so we can set up an individual assessment for you. With the assessment, we'll be able to verify what course(s) will work best for you.

What is covered in each course?

Below you will find some of the main topics of each specific course. In all of them, we will cover some aspects of:

  • Musicality

    Each course will study a different layer of musicality. This is such a wide and comprehensive topic and we're really excited to have it fully incorporated into the curriculum. Brazilian Zouk can be danced to such a wide variety of music styles and we will share tools to dance to all of them.

  • Social dancing dynamics, etiquette, and safety

    All of our courses will discuss social dancing dynamics, etiquette, and safety. We will give tips and tools around these topics and address the modifications we can do in our dance to adapt to the different venues we dance in.

  • Foundations and Body Movements

    Our main goal with our courses is to provide the tools to create comfortable, and healthy social dancing. With that in mind, all of our courses will talk about Brazilian Zouk's main foundations and Body Movements. Each course will explore a different family of Body Movements and give close attention to a set of foundations.

Basics 1

Here we start the Brazilian Zouk journey, teaching the first set of fundamentals with direction changes, basic musicality concepts, and body movements. In this level we will cover, among other topics, the following fundamentals:

  • Basic Steps (In Place, Side, and Linear)

  • Viradinha

  • Simple Turn

  • Lateral

Basics 2

Our second course teaches a new set of fundamentals, putting them together what was studied in Basics 1.

  • Lateral Opening

  • Traveling Turn

  • Yo-yo

  • Elástico

  • Cuddle

Basics 3

Here we teach the last set of core fundamentals of Brazilian Zouk and put everything together. Compared to Basics 1 and 2, Basics 3 presents a more challenging content, with combinations that will make sure what you learned in Basics 1 and 2 is well absorbed.

  • Connection and lead and follow principles in Close Embrace and Close Hold

  • Soltinho

  • Bonus

  • Balanço

Social Dancing 1

After Basics 1-3, we begin our courses that will study directions changes and lead and follow principles that will help your social dancing evolve. We will have more time in class to practice and experience different possibilities and situations on the dance floor. For this course we will cover the following fundamentals:

  • Gostosinho

  • S and Abertura

  • Manteiga

Social Dancing 2

This is where we teach the last set of vertical fundamentals. We continue exploring the different dynamics in social dancing through our practices in class.

  • Avião

  • Cambre

  • Raul

  • Pião

Comfort & Flow

Brazilian zouk is known for its continuous flow and lead/follow connection. In this social dancing special topic series, we’re going to study the key internal elements that generate comfort and flow and how they relate with some of the external ones like the space, the music and the partner. During this 8-week course, Gui & Elena will explore concepts that will bring more ease, comfort and fluidity to your dance, such as:

  • Weight transfers

  • Footwork and floorcraft

  • Frame and elasticity

  • Energy management in transitions

  • Lead and follow principle of question and answer

  • Adaptation

  • Body movements

Social Dancing 3

The last of our courses tackles 3 different topics: Comfort, Floorcraft ,and Transitions. Here is where we want to take your social dancing to a whole different place and with that in mind we are going to explore:

  • The versatility of the linear basic in the different embraces

  • Different options to transition to and from fundamentals like Simple Turn.

  • Small and big body movements

  • Tools for traveling using the the basics

  • Finding transition points and creating sequences