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The idea is that the international zouk flash mob, which started in in perth, Australia.
Was, to my opinion, not picked up enough by zouk teachers in Holland.
I approached many schools and teachers, but it was
holiday time, so they were busy with other things.
So I thought: "OK I will do it myself", so I trained
my *** off, to master the choreography in-depth
I have been posting, writing, inviting everybody I know in the zouk scene
"come on guys let's do this! it is fun!"
I just planned and started training sessions in Amsterdam and later in Rotterdam
and the 1st session... right away, boom! 50 people! it was fantastic! super!
As a student you approximately need 2-3 sessions
of 2-2,5 hours to get the full choreography
and if you come again a few times, we can polish and work on details
so we need a few sessions to be able to dance the choreography which takes 2.20 minutes
we had a few sessions now, in fact 3.
There will be another 4 sessions in Amsterdam
in which the same 50 people, and new ones will come
and they are quite fanatic with it, it really occupies them!
And the great thing is it does not happen only in the Netherlands!
But in 90 Cities all over the world! Divided over ± 35-40 countries!
About which we inform each other all the time!
"hey we have a new group!!" "wow! There is a new
group, training in Vietnam! In Mumbai! In Moscow!"
we keep informing each other, putting our training sessions very proudly on Facebook!"
this is also how we keep each other motivated
and off course there is a small element of competition in it, which group is the best???!!
Well, yes, besides Amsterdam and Rotterdam, there are guys
and girls training in other cities in the Netherlands
In Leiden, Breda, Heerlen, I hope I did not forget a location!
Yes, I wonder myself indeed sometimes, why am I doing all this?!
Indeed I put a lot of time in it!
But in the end, you want to spend your time,
especially your free time, in a way, you really enjoy
aside from liking dancing so much…
it also fun to experience this -sort of-discovery journey together
as I did not create this choreography myself, I also had to analyze and memorize it
in order to be able to teach and train it
and it is just really fun doing this!
50 people, being in this room, 25 couples
helping them step-by-step, count-by-count note-by-note, through the choreography
and that they, after only 2 hours, feel… WOW! We can do it now!
It creates bonding, it makes you happy, it is fun, it is social
you are moving to music
actually I cannot think of nicer things to do than dancing!
Especially when you have the feeling you are really
working towards a goal, really achieving something
it creates extra bonding
what would be most beautiful, if everyone in the world knows what is zouk
and that it touches them
like it touched those dancing it now
me, many others
it is not just a little dance, it changes your life
eeehhm… if you dance, you cannot fight
so, the moment when people are in touch with the positive part in themselves,
cozy, together, social
maybe… even…. spiritual?
You cannot be occupied by negativity
if we can offer THIS touch, THAT feeling
people looking at it, thinking.. WOOOOW, this is beautiful! I want to do this!
And at he same time realizing, this is a positive
message to the world I think it would be awesome!
What is zouk? it is most handy to benchmark it to other dances...
Most people have seen ballroom or salsa but zouk is a Brazilian dance
a country where they have partying in their genes!
And as a dance, zouk is much more versatile compared to the dances I just mentioned
you can actually even integrate some of these
dances, like tango, salsa but also HIP HOP into zouk
an important distinction is that it is much more
fluent, it is much more fluent than any dance I know
it is more flexible… more sensual….
And the feeling you can get is you enter a different
world, it is not that we are all loco loco, but…
you are floating, and I think it has always been the purpose of acne is to float
maybe… maybe the Viennese Waltz 200 years ago,
had the same effect well the Viennese Waltz is a
bit out now, we don't dance that one so often
anymore but THIS is the idea… floating together!
It all makes it a wonderful dance, a fluent dance, to do together
to summarize…. it just makes you happy!
What triggered me to dance zouk? It is different for everyone, but…
what triggered me is...
it was an ideal way of dealing with a heartbreak!
You can put a lot of feeling and emotion in this dance!
Can be happy can be drama, it is not really important, which feeling
zouk to me is an ideal recipe to dance your feelings away
it helped me really well, it was not possible with other dances, because
you are more restricted by the the energy and atmosphere of the dance itself
zouk is much more free and versatile, you can put all your moods into it
to me it was much more… well, if you don't feel well…
and than dance zouk… you will feel much better
1,5 year ago… it was necessary for me, it went really well! Hihi
and after that? once you are "inside" ….
Eehmm.. I don't know how to explain… probably the endorphins which run free?
Well off course this broken heart was over after
a few months… hm.. well, maybe a bit longer…
but the feeling zouk gives you, remains… and you keep looking for it
and you find it every time, sometimes more than other times, but always
for sure, when you go to zouk party
or to a zouk congress, when you dance 3-4 days… I danced 32 hours in one weekend once…
HA! you are drowned in it, it is lovely.
I cannot imagine a nicer way of spending my time
I would like it when other people would experience similar
maybe there are 1000s or even 10.000s of people
who don't know this dance, but could experience the same happiness, if they knew zouk
who am I to deny them this?
I think everybody must know about zouk, should dance zouk
the world would be a nicer place
world peace? it may sound pretentious… but I am absolutely sure
when you dance, you are happy and when you are happy you cannot be aggressive
I am certain it works this way
it has a therapeutic effect, it makes you healthy, young, happy….
I even believe dancing can be a metaphor for life…
you dance with somebody… it is communication, it is a relation
you can see the music as fate…. You dance together
to the music, like you dance together through life
it is a more philosophical approach, a dance is a short relation during 3 minutes of music
which makes you more happy
and I think it cannot be wrong if the world becomes a little bit more happy
more love...
zouk is the language of connection
you can dance with everyone...
it is funny… recently I was dancing in Prague, on a zouk
congress, with a girl from Singapore, gorgeous by the way…
off course she spoke English very well, as they do in Singapore
I don't recall we spoke a single word while dancing!
But we understood each other perfectly!
She understood perfectly what I meant...
which direction I wanted to go, which move I wanted to make, she felt
and followed perfectly for a short while you share a special moment
and it can be anybody! a girl, lady from Singapore,
China, Norway… anywhere! And it happens every time!
Every time you experience this connection
from anywhere! and I think this is what touches people, why we are DOing this…
with 3000 people in 90 Cities in 35 Countries
we have this connection together, it is what touches our souls, where we find each other