Why do you dance like you're competing?
Because Brazilian Zouk is one dance living as five: the social dance, the performance, the competition, the after-class demo, and the teaching dance. In this ZoukNerds episode, Gui Prada and I name all five, and what happens when you train one while wanting another.
Gui saw it in a private lesson in Australia. A follower past 65 told him, "I am dancing not to go crazy. I do this as a mental health tool." Her balance diagnosis from other teachers: engage your core, point your feet. Competition tools. The real fix was weight distribution. She almost got emotional, because she thought something was wrong with her.
I put my hands up here too. In my Australia years, everybody trained for Jack and Jill. My classes taught the cleanest, most precise execution, and we called it social dancing.
What manifestation of the dance are you training?
→ The body: when I competed, my body was ready for a show any minute. A relaxed embrace? My body could not process it.
→ The feed: we don't have social media anymore. We have attention media. It decides which version of the dance looks like THE dance.
→ The diet: people want comfort, but 99% of their training and Instagram watching is Jack and Jill. I wanna be healthy, but I go to McDonald's every day.
If you ever left a social feeling like your partner was performing at you, this is why. The order is improvised. The execution is not. That's choreography.
The big takeaway: training for Jack and Jill is not the bad thing. It's how you're training for Jack and Jill. Know which dance you're training, and change the chip between them.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro: one dance, three dances
05:41 "I am dancing not to go crazy"
07:00 Weight distribution fixed her balance
12:55 My competition body couldn't relax
15:14 The 99% Jack and Jill diet
17:45 Train a concept and a feeling
19:36 João Lambadeiro: stage moves went social
21:00 My Australia confession
26:27 Attention media, not social media
29:26 How Brazil studios kept paths separate
36:44 Improvised order, not improvised execution
37:29 The fifth manifestation: the teaching dance
39:36 Change the chip
42:55 Don't let others create your reality
Co-host: Gui Prada
ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/
Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zouk.nerds/
Episode: S06 Ep16 | ZoukNerds Podcast
