Zouk Lab: Close Embrace & Hip Movements

IT’S NOT ONLY A CLASS, IT’S A LAB! Laboratories are an essential part of the learning process in dance studios. Normally reserved for team members and instructors, labs are a special kind of class, designed to go beyond the patterns and dive deep into specific topics and concepts of the dance. This kind of approach, combined with regular classes, is one of the key elements that made the pros become pros. Brazilian Zouk is at its core a close embrace dance, with many movements coming from our hips. As we advance in our learning of this dance, working on our hip connection and close embrace can improve our lead and follow. In order to feel comfortable inside those elements, we have to understand important concepts like relaxation vs tension, dissociations and isolations, torsions and rotations and how to build and create trust through movements. Tuesdays at DanceSport Dupont Circle March 12-26 3-week series 6:45-8:15pm Topics will include: Relaxation in close embrace Dissociations and isolations Body placement Hip Connection Comfort Torsions and rotations Weight transfers Trust building with your partner In this lab with Gui Prada and Vanessa Scott, we will study together those elements to become the most comfortable dancers we can be. For that it is essential to be able to execute the fundamentals well. If your timing is still off, or you still can't figure out the steps of the basic in place, linear basic, lateral or viradinha, another class will be more suitable to you. Pre-requisites: we ask that participants should have completed our District Zouk Level 1.5, Level 2 (Progressive Fundamentals) or higher within the last 3 months. If you haven't completed those series but would like to join or are not sure if this series is right for you, reach out to a District Zouk instructor to see if this class is a good fit for you. Enrollment: $66 for the 3-week series No drop-ins - you must sign up for the full 3-week series When purchasing your ticket we ask you to decide if you'd like to lead or follow in the classes so we can keep the lead/follow ratio fairly even. Note: DanceSport Dupont Circle class cards cannot be used for this series. Location: DanceSport DuPont Circle2201 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 Between P & Q St's, 2 blocks west of the Q St exit of the Dupont Circle red line Metro. Directions and unlimited adjacent Embassy Row parking info available at: [hidden] bus lines: G2, D2 & D6, 42, N line to Friendship Hts, S line from Silver Spring & downtown and Dupont Circle Circulator from Georgetown The Instructors: 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. 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 go half on DVDs and learn Zouk from scratch together. About two years ago Vanessa moved to the DMV area and has been zouking as much as possible ever since. She joined the District Zouk dance team and has performed with them for two years. This year she went to the first ever 30-day Rio Zouk Immersion Course in Brazil where she studied with top world 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 of zouk and differentiate between different philosophies. In 2017, Vanessa completed a 40-hour personal training with Xandy Liberato in Spain. She has enjoyed traveling the world soaking up different flavors of zouk and is excited to share her passion and knowledge with others. District Zouk’s mission is to offer regular opportunities to learn and dance Brazilian zouk, and to nurture and grow the Brazilian zouk community in DC. Ashley Kent and Valentine Luu co-founded District Zouk with Amy Abbott and Bianca Desroches, and they have been teaching weekly Brazilian zouk classes at DanceSport Dupont Circle since June 2014, as well as organizing workshops and other events. District Zouk's classes are technique-focused and accessible to those new to social dancing, those with a background in other dance styles, and those who have been learning and dancing this dance for awhile. District Zouk received an award at the New York Zouk Festival in October 2017 for their contributions to zouk in North America. More Info below.