Beyond Foundations
Tuesdays, 6:30pm-7:30pm
Intermediate-level zouk classes
Instructor Approval Required.
For students who are already comfortable with the fundamentals, these “Beyond Foundations” classes are meant to improve the quality of your movement.
We’ll work on the more challenging aspects of zouk, including the close embrace, refining turning technique, and more.
Level 2 “Beyond Foundations” Prerequisites:
Because of the more nuanced nature of the technique these classes will cover, students attending this class are expected to have at least a couple of months of previous zouk training AND instructor approval to join.
Everyone learns at a different speed, trains at a different frequency, and comes to zouk with a different movement background - so instead of requiring a specific number of months/years of experience, our intermediate-level curriculum is based on students’ grasp of the zouk fundamentals (listed below). Some students may be comfortable with these in just a couple of months, others may require up to a year of working on these before being in a position to excel in the Beyond Foundations classes.
Leaders and followers must be clear, comfortable, and confident in executing the following in a social dance:
Lateral
Lunge -> Simple Turn
Viradinha
Soltinho
Ioio (including free spin exit)
Bonus
Additionally, students must demonstrate competency in:
Utilizing an appropriate dance frame
Basic foot projection
Dancing on time to the zouk beat (in a traditional zouk song)
Polite (and safe!) social dance etiquette
Leaders: comfort in moving while leading (not just staying in place and leading with the arms)
Followers: appropriately delaying movements (not “back leading” or anticipating the lead)
All of the above are taught in our Level 1 “Zouk Foundations” classes.
Students must receive approval from one of the AmoZouk instructors before dropping into the intermediate classes. Don’t worry, there’s no formal test, we’ll just be doing some low-pressure social dancing and cuing you through the things we’d like to see. Once you feel confident in the above, you can just ask one of us in class or at a social to dance with you and confirm you can safely demonstrate competency in all of the above.
For students visiting from out of town, please shoot us a message (we may ask to see a video of your dancing) so we can pre-approve your class participation in class. Thank you!
“Beyond Foundations” (Level 2) Curriculum
Our goal for the Level 2 curriculum is to build on the fundamentals from Zouk Foundations and improve the quality of your movement.
Our #1 priority with these classes is to teach you better zouk technique, NOT just fancy patterns of moves. Because we are so technique-focused, that means a significant portion of each class (~20 minutes) will be dedicated to dance drills that help train the specific technique(s) we are focusing on in that class before we dive into the move of the day.
The moves we teach in this curriculum are not arbitrary choices because they look cool (although they do!), they were chosen because they help reinforce the techniques that will take your dancing to the next level.
| Technique Focus | Move(s) |
|---|---|
| Standard walk & frame | Planadas and 90° viradinha |
| Close embrace, body isolations & undulations | Body isolations & waves from close embrace |
| Frame deep dive: differentiating lunge vs cross footwork | Yo-yo and bonus entrances & exits |
| Brazilian hip motion | Basic in place (but more Brazilian!) |
| Body rolls & undulations | Body rolls in place, traveling body rolls in cuddle position |
| Body rolls & intro to head movement | Elastic/raul from cuddle |
| Turn and step & shared axis turns | Pião |
| Intro to head movement | Balão |
| Intro to head movement | Simple turn into cambre |
| Elasticity, inertia & conservation of momentum | Sugar push and gostosinho |
| Close embrace, torsion & floorcraft | 90° box & floorcraft in close embrace |
| Intro to head movement | Rotisserie from lunge |
| Frame & static axis turns | Planada from cuddle |
| Intro to Wi-Fi, visual leading, and “party dance” stealing/switching | Intro to wifi and party dance |
| Intro to musicality | Syncing with the different tracks within a song |
| Turn and step, torsion, & frame | Pião with ronde |
| Leg elasticity, torsion, & frame | 180° viradinha (lunge and cross) |
| Intro to head movement | Balão |
Just like with the Level 1 curriculum, you may notice that some moves are repeated multiple times - this is intentional! These are moves we use to help teach foundational techniques needed to become a clearer lead/follow, and eventually prepare students to learn more advanced techniques, like head movement, in Level 3 classes.
It is assumed students will need to run through the Level 2 curriculum more than once to achieve competency in these skills. No one is an expert the first time they learn a move, which is why we will continue to cycle through this curriculum to help you get better at these techniques! Realistically, most students should expect to train for at least 8-12 months before being ready to “graduate” to the Level 3 classes (if regularly attending classes 1/week, and participating in the post-class practica).
If you’d like to progress faster, we suggest training with a practice partner outside of class (this makes a huge difference!), and/or taking private lessons to get more real-time feedback to hone your technique.
Stay after class to continue practicing your technique, and grow the Minneapolis zouk community!
All Beyond Foundations students are encouraged to stay for the 7:30pm-8:30pm Zouk Foundations class immediately after, as well as the 8:30pm-9:15pm practica (all for free!). Use this time to keep working on the techniques you learned in the Beyond Foundations class, AND help us grow the local zouk community by providing the newer dancers with more experienced partners to practice with.
For students who have been approved to join Level 3, that class is not included in the cost of attending Level 2 - if you choose to attend both classes you must pay for both.
“Graduation Requirements” To Move On To Level 3
Instructor approval is required to join the Level 3 “Advanced Techniques” classes. Students who would like to join the Level 3 classes must demonstrate competency as a lead or a follow in the following:
Techniques
Leaders:
Solid footwork
Staying on time
Adapting steps to appropriately position yourself
Projecting the feet when appropriate
Smooth weight transfers
Awareness of the follow’s weight placement and position
Spatial awareness and ability to protect the follow on the dance floor and avoid collisions (choosing appropriately-sized moves given spatial constraints, ability to abort/pause moves if necessary)
Clear and comfortable at leading traveling movement and/or turning movement (applies to all movements)
Be able to differentiate between a lunge or cross position footwork for entrances and exits (in a yoyo or bonus for example)
Have general comfort: not using too much force, not leading too big of movements
Clear and comfortable at leading basic head movements in place (balão and rotisserie)
Able to clearly and comfortably lead basic body isolations/undulations (body rolls, raul, etc.)
Followers:
Solid footwork (check out blog for breakdown and tips)
Projecting the leg fully before shifting weight
Collecting the feet appropriately
Rolling through the feet
Allow gradual weight shift
Keeping the weight in the ball of the feet/foot
Stepping on a line
Hip engagement while turning/pivoting (when the pelvis moves the feet pivot)
Good stability/balance while traveling and turning (soft knees generally help)
Step a consistent and predictable length and direction
Consistent good frame
Understand the directions we resist (such as directly in towards the follow or directly out from the follow, or along the “turning circle”)
Understand the directions to allow movement (such as when repositioning the hand to prep for a turn)
Ability to smoothly follow basic body isolations/undulations (body rolls, raul, etc.)
Moves
Be able to comfortably and consistently lead or follow all of the following:
Floorcraft (traveling around the dance floor)
Pião
Planada
Body rolls
Elastic/Raul
Balão
Rotisserie