Our current cycle started on May 3rd.

Tickets are still available and you can still sign up!

This is the schedule of our second full 8-week cycle of 2022. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR NEW CURRICULUM BELOW.

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?

Start your journey with our Basics 1 course, starting on May 3rd

Here is where it all begins.

Sign up for our Basics 1 course and take your first steps in Brazilian Zouk.

You can check out more details about the course below. 

Registration

$180 for one course

- 5% discount if you enroll in two courses (applied automatically)


- 10% discount if you enroll in three courses (applied automatically)


- 30% discount if you retake a course you've taken before (with code RETAKE)


- If you have credits from previous classes, contact us for a code to use your credit to sign up.


Sign up to claim your spot!

We have some slots left for each role in some of our courses. Guarantee your slot..

Get Your Ticket!

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, and include a booster 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!

Our curriculum is a breathing and ever-changing organism. After years of teaching continuous progressive classes, organizing socials, workshops, and observing social dance dynamics in our community, we adapt and adjust the ways, the speed, and the order in which we teach Brazilian Zouk fundamentals.

Our current curriculum is the result of one more improvement, aiming to provide the students with the tools to connect all the Brazilian Zouk pieces. 

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 our curriculum to develop your social dancing skills beyond the knowledge of the movements, providing time to dance and practice in class with the guidance of our instructors and assistants. The curriculum is also built to allow the students to receive personalized feedback from the instructors and assistants.

How does the progression 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

  • Fundamentals 1 , 2a, 2b 

  • Social Dancing Skills*

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.

Here is how it goes:

As seen in the picture above, one must:

- complete all Basics Courses in order to progress to the Fundamentals Courses; and

- complete all Fundamentals Courses in order to progress to the Social Dance Courses.

The progression between groups of courses is NOT automatic. Students will need the approval of the instructors through an assessment to be done in class or at specific scheduled dates.

The Fundamentals 2a and 2b courses can be taken on any order or at the same time, provided you've completed Fundamentals 1.

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 review, 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've completed Fundamentals 2a and 2b, you'll have learned the 24 fundamentals.

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 Fundamentals 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.

Fundamentals 2a and 2b can be taken at any order or at the same time. After you've completed Fundamentals 1, you can take Fundamentals 2a and/or Fundamentals 2b and boost your learning!

How do I know what course to take?

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

If you have done some amount of Brazilian Zouk and know some of the Basics, join us at Basics 2.

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.

Check out the main topics of each progressive course

At each course, we cover several aspects of Brazilian Zouk, focusing first on learning each of the main Fundamental Patterns

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

Fundamentals 1

Here we teach the last set of core fundamentals of Brazilian Zouk and put everything together. Compared to Basics 1 and 2, Fundamentals 1 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 and Open Embrace

  • Soltinho

  • Viradinha with direction changes

  • Bônus

  • Balanço

Fundamentals 2a

After Fundamentals 1, we will keep learning new fundamental patterns as well as 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

  • Yo-yo direction changes

  • Abertura

  • Raul

Fundamentals 2b

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

  • Manteiga

  • Cambre

  • Pião

Social Dancing Skills*

After completing all Basics and Fundamentals courses and being approved in our assessment, you can join our Social Dancing Skills courses. Here we will put what you learned to the test with variations and fun changes to the fundamentals. On top of that, we will take a deeper dive into:

  • Variations of Fundamentals

  • Footwork and floorcraft

  • Frame and elasticity

  • Energy management in transitions

  • Lead and follow principle of question and answer

  • Adaptation

  • Body movements

*Social Dancing Skills is an ongoing course that is offered every cycle. 

The content of each new cycle of Social Dancing Skills is different from the previous one, with different variations, concepts, and exercises. 

There will be some repetition over the course of time, having in mind reviewing and polishing the fundamentals.

Solo Technique & Drills

Brazilian Zouk is its current form is a mix of many dance styles, therefore it is important to cover those extra elements in journey to becoming your best! To have a great time when social dancing, the creation of good habits is essential. There aren't many opportunities or courses for us to work on solo techniques FOR partner dancing. Solo Training can be one of the best ways to improve your confidence and build up your stamina. This course for leaders and followers will include lots of practice with drills to help you improve your dance technique. This course os open to students who have completed DZ Basics 2 or a higher level course.

  • Weight Transfer, Footwork and Lower Body Mechanics

  • Drills for Balance and Turns

  • Posture and Body Awareness

  • Body Movements, Alignment and Styling

  • Hip Movement and Upper Body Torsion

  • Body and Footwork Flow and Fluidity