Brazilian zouk in Hamburg

What is Brazilian Zouk?

Brazilian Zouk finds its roots in other dances, especially Brazilian partner dances such as Lambada, Bolero, and Forró. A detailed history of Brazilian Zouk can be found here: History of Brazilian Zouk.

While the dance itself comes from Brazil, its popularity around the world increased exponentially in the last years, also contributing to the differentiation of zouk styles and zouk music. Large Zouk communities exist in Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and many other European countries – nowadays you can dance Zouk in most big European cities!

Why We Love Zouk

There are many reasons why we fall in love with zouk, some of them are:

• The variety of music you can dance zouk to, which includes traditional Brazilian Zouk music, R&B, pop music, classical music, and much more.
• The connection between the partners, the attention that zouk dancers pay to the quality of touch, comfort, and tuning with the partner before getting into patterns.
• The variety of movements, creativity and musicality. Stepping, waving, head-movements. Sharp or slow movements, on beat or on the melody. Everything is allowed when it comes to dancing zouk, as long as the partners enjoy it together! Zouk is the dance to express yourself, to be free! It’s up to you if you want to dance complex patterns or simple movements, to be playful or just surrender to the flow.
• The zouk flow. We all tend to agree that we love the flow of zouk. But what exactly creates this flow? Smooth technique, movement preparation and absorption, sensitivity to the partner and many other things. Multiple aspects contribute to this complex and beautiful feeling, you need to experience it to understand it, but be aware: it’s addictive!

Where you can dance zouk

In Hamburg, we offer local classes, workshops, and often invite zouk teachers from other cities and countries. But you can also travel to zouk festivals and have a full unforgettable immersion into this wonderful dance.

Typical events are:

• Zouk weekenders, normally small events (20-50 participants) where you can learn in depth from one single zouk teacher or couple and get to know better the other participants.
• Zouk festivals, where you can take workshops from different teachers and experience different styles, while also having parties every night with multiple zouk Djs and dance till your feet can’t anymore.
• Zouk marathons, for the real zouk animals that just want to focus on social dancing. In marathons, you will have day and night parties, adding up to 12–18 hours of dancing per day. No workshops, no shows, really just dancing!

Where you can find local and global zouk events

• Zouk classes and events in Hamburg: classes, workshops & parties and zouk weekenders.

• Zouk events in Europe and Global: You can find events through this this spreadsheet (with an extensive list), this website, and through Facebook groups and other social media.