What is SoulZouk?

SoulZouk is a dance where we prioritize feeling in dancing.

The Soulzouk phylosophy

(short)

SoulZouk is not merely a dance style; it is a philosophy that prioritizes empathic connections, self-discovery, and a comfortable dance experience within the Zouk community. The focus is on creating pleasure for both the leader and follower through the use of empathy in dance. SoulZouk encourages dancers to explore their inner dance and find their unique expression without the need to push their physical limits.

The philosophy emphasizes healthy movements to prevent discomfort and injury, ensuring dancers dance comfortably throughout their journey. SoulZouk values feeling over thinking, allowing dancers to respond naturally to their partner's lead and fostering a more authentic dance experience.

Diversity and inclusivity are celebrated in the SoulZouk community, where dancers are encouraged to embrace their individuality while adhering to the shared philosophy. Struggle is seen as a positive element in personal growth, and the community provides support for those who want to explore their dance potential.

Unity within the Zouk scene is promoted, with SoulZoukers aiming to learn various Zouk styles while respecting each style's uniqueness. The philosophy advocates for continuous learning and development, creating a vibrant and open dance environment for all.

see full phylosophy below

The soulzouk phylosophy

Not a dance style ... 

SoulZouk is not a dance style; we do not want to further divide or restrict the Zouk scene. Zouk is constantly evolving and different styles change with time but the philosophy behind SoulZouk has longevity. 

Empathic connection ... 

In the past our main rule of SoulZouk was comfort and pleasure for the follower. From this the "Can you see the smile?!?" catchphrase developed. But if you use empathy in your dance then this and many other SoulZouk ideas emerge spontaneously. Also in the past it was very one sided view and just leader towards follower direction. Now with the empathic connection concept both leader and follower have equal responsibility in the dance. The use of empathy makes the dance a different experience and supersedes all other rules of dancing. This is something that still needs to be researched and developed within SoulZouk. 

Natural dance ... 

SoulZouk dancer is on a quest of self discovery and trying to find his inner dance and just work with his body and explore its limits. The teachers' responsibility is to guide his students and help them find their inner dance. It doesn't mean that we just accept how people and ourselves dance now and don't want to change them. We want dancers to try new things with open mind and nourish the curiosity and ongoing self discovery. We want the inner dance to evolve with their self knowledge and partners interactions discoveries. It should be never ending journey for the dancer and the students. SoulZouk changed Zouk as we know it now and with this philosophy we can always be ahead of other teachers just running out of ideas to teach. We don't need to look for new things to teach from other teachers but just tap in to this ever replenishing source of inspiration. As a teacher we want to find tools for students to be on this journey and not just show them our own discoveries. Sharing how we dance can be helpful and can lead to students' own discoveries. We should affirm that what works for their bodies is good but keep on pushing them to find new ways to express themselves on the dance floor, unless it contradicts other SoulZouk philosophies. 

Healthy movements for healthy body / pleasure not pain ... 

We dance to give each other pleasure not cause pain. SoulZoukers shouldn't dance the moves that are uncomfortable, damaging or painful for the body of either leaders or followers. The moves, combinations and techniques should not be available only to trained professionals, nor young and fit dancers. SoulZouk should allow everybody to dance comfortably till their retirement. However if we teach moves that could be challenging to students we always prepare their bodies first by developing muscle strength and flexibility with time and then teaching elements responsibly to the specific group of people we have in our classes. 

Feeling not thinking ... 

SoulZouk is a dance where we prioritise feeling in dancing. Other dances work where the leader signals something and the follower recognises it consciously and responds with a memorised element of the dance. In SoulZouk we skip the thinking process and lead utilising the natural body responses of the follower. This is possible by maintaining constant connection through dance using all means possible and maintaining highly alert sense of touch and body awareness in both leaders and followers. This way followers can stop thinking about what they should do next and relax completely. Leading is also not based on the thinking process and practiced moves but on applying known leading techniques using intuition, interactive “following the follower” process, and feeling the sensations in your own body. 

We celebrate the ‘beautiful chaos’ of social dancing... 

We are not focusing on the precision of the execution of combinations but instead we celebrate the ‘beautiful chaos’ of social dancing and everything that it brings: connection, creativity, musicality, fun, inspiration, interpretation, and much more. As SoulZoukers we try to perfect art of leading and following but not fixed patterns. It's ok to teach patterns but as a way for people to learn the techniques but still we want to encourage students to break them, explore the movements and not focus on patterns. 

Leading and following ... 

We strongly focus on skills of leading and following but we take it step further than everybody else in Zouk. Most dancers use traditional concepts like fixed frame, basic steps and choreographed elements. In SoulZouk we explore and take it to next level with elements from martial arts and other non dance related disciplines. The biomechanics and general knowledge of the body and it's anatomy is essential to be a true SoulZouker. Going this way will give you constant source of inspiration in your dance and allow you to develop new material to teach your students. 

Different but the same ... 

We accept and celebrate diversity. We won’t dance the same or teach the same moves, techniques or combinations but the methodology and philosophy behind what we do will always be the same. We don’t want to be clones of each other but be known for the feeling we give to our partners on the dance floor. If you look at SoulZouk teachers and dancers they all dance differently because we try to find the dance inside us not just copy the visuals of the form of other dancers. It doesn't matter if you enjoy dancing traditional Zouk, Lambada, RnB or sensual close dance to lyrical music, there is space for you within our SoulZouk family. 

Scene unity ... 

We strongly stand for Zouk scene unity. A true SoulZouker should be able to dance as a leader and follower in all zouk types styles including lambazouk/lambada at least at basic level. We shouldn’t be bad mouthing other styles but respect the differences and embrace what we can learn from them. We shouldn’t create divisions in Zouk but be inclusive. We shouldn’t exclude anybody from the scene because of the way they dance. Also we should base our dance on strong knowledge of basics of Zouk. Every SoulZouker is proud of his basic step and other basic elements. Additional to that we learn and know other styles so we can be better leaders and followers. We dance with everybody but know how to protect ourselves from problems in other Zouk styles. As SoulZouker we should be able to dance elements of Lambada, Traditional Zouk, Rio Style, NeoZouk and just apply SoulZouk techniques when doing it. 

Struggle is good ... 

Dancers do not need to be a natural at dancing to bring great value to the Zouk scene. Struggle can make you a good dancer, teacher and performer. People who are willing to try are always those that deserve to be invested in and not those who think they know it all from the start. Also, SoulZouk was created from a struggle when China and Luciana were reprimanded for not dancing like everybody else, kicked out of the parties and called names and ridiculed. But what they started changed Zouk dramatically. The SoulZouk Family was created because they saw that so many underdogs of Zouk go through the same painful process. 

The SoulZouk name gives you a refuge and a space in a community that allows you to be different, and helps you to discover and develop your inner dance. 

Not a dance style ... 

SoulZouk is not a dance style; we do not want to further divide or restrict the Zouk scene. Zouk is constantly evolving and different styles change with time but the philosophy behind SoulZouk has longevity. 

Empathic connection ... 

In the past our main rule of SoulZouk was comfort and pleasure for the follower. From this the "Can you see the smile?!?" catchphrase developed. But if you use empathy in your dance then this and many other SoulZouk ideas emerge spontaneously. Also in the past it was very one sided view and just leader towards follower direction. Now with the empathic connection concept both leader and follower have equal responsibility in the dance. The use of empathy makes the dance a different experience and supersedes all other rules of dancing. This is something that still needs to be researched and developed within SoulZouk. 

Natural dance ... 

SoulZouk dancer is on a quest of self discovery and trying to find his inner dance and just work with his body and explore its limits. The teachers' responsibility is to guide his students and help them find their inner dance. It doesn't mean that we just accept how people and ourselves dance now and don't want to change them. We want dancers to try new things with open mind and nourish the curiosity and ongoing self discovery. We want the inner dance to evolve with their self knowledge and partners interactions discoveries. It should be never ending journey for the dancer and the students. SoulZouk changed Zouk as we know it now and with this philosophy we can always be ahead of other teachers just running out of ideas to teach. We don't need to look for new things to teach from other teachers but just tap in to this ever replenishing source of inspiration. As a teacher we want to find tools for students to be on this journey and not just show them our own discoveries. Sharing how we dance can be helpful and can lead to students' own discoveries. We should affirm that what works for their bodies is good but keep on pushing them to find new ways to express themselves on the dance floor, unless it contradicts other SoulZouk philosophies. 

Healthy movements for healthy body / pleasure not pain ... 

We dance to give each other pleasure not cause pain. SoulZoukers shouldn't dance the moves that are uncomfortable, damaging or painful for the body of either leaders or followers. The moves, combinations and techniques should not be available only to trained professionals, nor young and fit dancers. SoulZouk should allow everybody to dance comfortably till their retirement. However if we teach moves that could be challenging to students we always prepare their bodies first by developing muscle strength and flexibility with time and then teaching elements responsibly to the specific group of people we have in our classes. 

Feeling not thinking ... 

SoulZouk is a dance where we prioritise feeling in dancing. Other dances work where the leader signals something and the follower recognises it consciously and responds with a memorised element of the dance. In SoulZouk we skip the thinking process and lead utilising the natural body responses of the follower. This is possible by maintaining constant connection through dance using all means possible and maintaining highly alert sense of touch and body awareness in both leaders and followers. This way followers can stop thinking about what they should do next and relax completely. Leading is also not based on the thinking process and practiced moves but on applying known leading techniques using intuition, interactive “following the follower” process, and feeling the sensations in your own body. 

We celebrate the ‘beautiful chaos’ of social dancing... 

We are not focusing on the precision of the execution of combinations but instead we celebrate the ‘beautiful chaos’ of social dancing and everything that it brings: connection, creativity, musicality, fun, inspiration, interpretation, and much more. As SoulZoukers we try to perfect art of leading and following but not fixed patterns. It's ok to teach patterns but as a way for people to learn the techniques but still we want to encourage students to break them, explore the movements and not focus on patterns. 

Leading and following ... 

We strongly focus on skills of leading and following but we take it step further than everybody else in Zouk. Most dancers use traditional concepts like fixed frame, basic steps and choreographed elements. In SoulZouk we explore and take it to next level with elements from martial arts and other non dance related disciplines. The biomechanics and general knowledge of the body and it's anatomy is essential to be a true SoulZouker. Going this way will give you constant source of inspiration in your dance and allow you to develop new material to teach your students. 

Different but the same ... 

We accept and celebrate diversity. We won’t dance the same or teach the same moves, techniques or combinations but the methodology and philosophy behind what we do will always be the same. We don’t want to be clones of each other but be known for the feeling we give to our partners on the dance floor. If you look at SoulZouk teachers and dancers they all dance differently because we try to find the dance inside us not just copy the visuals of the form of other dancers. It doesn't matter if you enjoy dancing traditional Zouk, Lambada, RnB or sensual close dance to lyrical music, there is space for you within our SoulZouk family. 

Scene unity ... 

We strongly stand for Zouk scene unity. A true SoulZouker should be able to dance as a leader and follower in all zouk types styles including lambazouk/lambada at least at basic level. We shouldn’t be bad mouthing other styles but respect the differences and embrace what we can learn from them. We shouldn’t create divisions in Zouk but be inclusive. We shouldn’t exclude anybody from the scene because of the way they dance. Also we should base our dance on strong knowledge of basics of Zouk. Every SoulZouker is proud of his basic step and other basic elements. Additional to that we learn and know other styles so we can be better leaders and followers. We dance with everybody but know how to protect ourselves from problems in other Zouk styles. As SoulZouker we should be able to dance elements of Lambada, Traditional Zouk, Rio Style, NeoZouk and just apply SoulZouk techniques when doing it. 

Struggle is good ... 

Dancers do not need to be a natural at dancing to bring great value to the Zouk scene. Struggle can make you a good dancer, teacher and performer. People who are willing to try are always those that deserve to be invested in and not those who think they know it all from the start. Also, SoulZouk was created from a struggle when China and Luciana were reprimanded for not dancing like everybody else, kicked out of the parties and called names and ridiculed. But what they started changed Zouk dramatically. The SoulZouk Family was created because they saw that so many underdogs of Zouk go through the same painful process. 

The SoulZouk name gives you a refuge and a space in a community that allows you to be different, and helps you to discover and develop your inner dance.