Notes on technique in Zouk (and other dances)

[AlZouker]

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It can be beneficial to have a place to exchange various bits on technique, figures or any ideas on dancing any dance style; so lets set it up for Zouk

[AlZouker]

First a short intro to my posts. I write them primarily for myself and for the guys and gals I dance with in Dublin to get better dance experience dancing Zouk and to establish some grounds for developing the dance further later. However, the notes may be useful to anyone dancing Zouk or even other dance styles anywhere (even though the Notes are also reflection on what I see here). A number of the things have actually background in DanceSport training. For those who don’t know what DanceSport is, I wrote a quick intro here.

Disclaimer – please, read: All my notes are written as I believe they can be useful in development of dance skills and it is what works for me, however by reading any of my notes you agree that I cannot be held responsible should you hurt yourself or anyone else or should you do any harm to anyone / anything. Before taking any physical activity you should consult your doctor / physiotherapist. 

If you find you have some problems dancing Zouk, something isn’t working great, not sure how to do something or if you’d simply like to learn some more to get an idea on how things work in the dance, you may find the notes useful. If you want to learn Zouk just at basic social dancing level, it is a relatively easy dance and there is no need to know much to be fine doing it. However, if you like to develop your dancing to a high level, there is also plenty of space for it in Zouk. The notes are for all different levels of dancers, so don’t get scared by the amount and complexity of information in some of the posts. Simply try to take what you can and find useful out of that and you can always ask if there is something not clear. Every dance can be developed to a really high level where it requires a lot of knowledge, skills and body development from the dancers. The fact though is that you don't need to be a world champion to be able to enjoy the dance. Everyone enjoys something else in the dance. Hope the notes help you in developing your dancing.

Note: I keep updating all the posts here, so it may be handy to register a nickname here. When you are logged in, the forum will always tell you which posts you have already seen or which are new / updated since your last visit.

[AlZouker]

Practice

It is very important to practice dancing to get better. Practice does not make perfect, as some say. Practice makes permanent. Practicing the wrong thing is worse than not practicing at all because it encodes the wrong patterns in your brain and then it can be very difficult to remove them when trying to fix the bad habit.

Regular practicing of the correct thing is essential for improvement. Not everyone can / wants to do this but nevertheless the fact is that if you really want to improve then practicing fewer than three times a week is not enough. Then the gaps between the practice sessions are too long for the muscle memory and as far as your muscle memory is concerned then you'd always be starting almost from the scratch. Your progress then would be much slower than if the gaps between practice sessions were short enough that your active muscle memory still keeps the effect from your last practice and can build on that. Not everyone can do that but still something to keep in mind.

Questions?

[AlZouker]

Quick overview of the basic concepts

Originally I didn’t intend to write on topics in any particular order. However, everything in dancing is interconnected, so there needs to be at least a short overview of what relates to what at the beginning. Whatever topic I’d start with I’d need to refer to the others as well and that’s easier when the topic has already been introduced …

Zouk is a partner dance – a man dancing with a woman (mostly). Both have their own – different roles in the dance. In order for both to dance ‘together’ - not everyone doing something completely unrelated - they need to communicate what they are going to do and how they are going to do it. Communication in dancing is called ‘leading & following’. Leading and Following is communication. Always remember this. It is not pushing / pulling or getting you pushed or pulled. Man leads and the lady follows, however both leading and following is active two-way communication – both sending signals and listening; not enforcing something or passive waiting to get you moved somewhere.

This communication is made possible through ‘connection’. Connection is what allows transmission of signals between partners. It can be physical, in some cases visual or other. Both partners are responsible for keeping good ‘tone’ in the connection constantly – not too strong, not too weak; so the connection can be used for sending and receiving signals clearly and they are easy to understand and interpret. There are some cases – figures, where it is necessary for one partner to hold the other partner’s weight at a position or one partner to give additional energy to the other partner to move. However, in general do not rely on your partner to hold you (carry your weight) or move you (shift your weight from one place to another). Mostly each of the partners is responsible for holding themselves up and moving their own body when they have communicated the intention to move. Almost every sentence here would make it into a large chapter to get in detail but these are very shortly some of the most important basic concepts in dancing.

Questions?

[AlZouker]

'Top frame' and 'connection'

‘Top frame’ is my term for the ‘horizontal frame’ (if you look from above) created by the partners’ shoulders & upper backs and arms when they are connected at least at one point - or usually by two, e.g. by hands. Imagine you’re standing with your partner in closed hold. As you are connected, your shoulders, upper backs and arms form the ‘top frame’. However, top frame can have any shape and the partners don’t necessarily need to be connected by two connection points like in closed hold. It is still a ‘top frame’ (of a different shape - open) when the man is holding the lady by a single hand and turning her. Their arms, shoulders and upper backs are still physically connected by at least one point and all about 'top frame' applies the same.

‘Top frame’ as a means of 'connection' between partners is used for transmitting signals between partners. There needs to be a constant ‘tone’ along the whole ‘length’ of the top frame. That allows for signals to be sent through clearly and easily. ‘Tone’ in connection is muscle tone that keeps the connection ‘together’. If you place your hands on your partner’s hands – palm against palm and push against each other slightly, you create ‘tone’. When you keep good tone in the connection, you can feel clearly at all times what your partner's body is doing – in all 3 dimensions. This is what allows easy lead and follow.

Do not make the tone too strong. (If you eat something too spicy, you won’t feel any of the other tastes in the meal. The same applies with sending and receiving signals in communication with your partner – you wouldn’t be able to feel and react to more subtle signals.) The higher level you are the more subtle the signals can be. Do not make the tone too weak either, then it is hard to get any signals through (like if you speak too quiet). The amount of pressure can change depending on what the man is leading at the moment but try to maintain at least the minimum - good connection tone at all times. As well, try to feel how your 'top frame' is connected with the center of your body.

Questions?