Brazilian zouk in Hamburg & Lüneburg

All about Brazilian Zouk classes, workshops and events in Hamburg and Lüneburg

Zouk Skill-sharing Day: Guidelines

The purpose of the skill-sharing day

Many of us devoted a substantial time to learn about Zouk, dancing, and movement technique. We traveled to congresses, took workshops, classes, explored on our own, or simply figured out things during social dancing, which gave us ideas about how to improve our experience while dancing and that of our partners.

It is now time to share what we learned and thought about along our dance journey and to create for all participants a safe space to learn, practice and discuss dance related topics.

Keep in mind: presenters are not professional dance teachers and may not know everything about the topic they chose, and that is completely fine as we are here to learn together. Also, we may all have different opinions about connection, musicality, and even movement technique, and that is also fine, as we all have different preferences, different bodies, and different aspects we like to focus on during the dance.

We should not be afraid to share our knowledge, ideas, and opinions, and we should be open to consider other people’s views and focus on trying to learn something from everyone rather than on criticizing and questioning what does not seem to fit our own view.

Guidelines for the presenters

As a presenter, you are given a 30 minutes slot. You can use the slot to present your topic, practice it together, or discuss it. It is up to you how you manage your time, as long as you respect the time limit you are given.

Please, keep in mind that, even if people show a lot of interest in your topic, it is not fair to take extra time. Indeed, by doing so you would reduce the time available to other presenters, cut time from breaks (which are always needed) or reduce our social and practice time at the end. Keep in mind that ideas like the skill-sharing day highly depend on people being respectful and cooperative!

Some general suggestions:

  • It is always better to plan on less time than you have. That also allows for a smoother transition between one presentation and the next one. For instance, if you are given a slot of 60 minutes, plan to be done in 50 minutes, and use the remaining time for discussion, questions and answers (Q&A), or just an extra song to practice. 
  • You can decide yourself how you structure the time you are given, but remember: it is always better to do less. Think in advance what you want to talk about. It can help to time your presentation and to bring a piece of paper with some notes in the form of bullet points. If you are not experienced in giving presentations, do not rely substantially on improvisation. If you are leading a discussion, remember that it is YOUR role to cut the questions and make sure that the time limits are respected. The organizers will intervene if the discussion exceeds the time limit, but we don’t like to do that. 
  • It is entirely up to you how you manage Q&A. You can allow people to interrupt you while you are presenting, or dedicate a space to Q&A at the end, or just skip that altogether and let people ask you questions during the breaks or practice time. Again, be sure that the discussion do not flood into someone else’s slot, breaks or practice time.
  • Take care of the music during your own time slot! Choose a few songs that you want to use to practice and put them in a playlist that you can easily access. Please, do that in advance, so none has to wait while you decide what to play!
  • It is up to you how you regulate partner-change during the practice. We suggest adapting it to the content of your presentation.

Guidelines for all the participants

A few more things to add for everyone attending:

  • Please, let us know if you are attending, and keep in mind that the price has been estimated on the number of expected attendances, so we really count on you!
  • Feel free to reach the presenters during the break and the practice time if you want to ask them questions, but avoid interrupting their dances or conversations.
  • Show up on time! It is sad to start talking to an empty audience and be interrupted by people coming in at any time. Also, as we pay for every hour that we book the room, we would very much appreciate if we could start on time.
  • You are in no way required to attend all presentations, but it is nice if you decide to. If you want to take a break, please, make sure that you are not disturbing. People chatting around the room or playing their own music nearby could easily become an annoying background noise.
  • Usual conventions on hygiene, safety and appropriate behavior on the dance floor should be well-known to all dancers, but just in case: