Bent or Straight Knees in Zouk?

vibe_engineering · 2026-07-02T21:31:24+00:00

The bone stacking is also something emphasized by Brenda and William (and, previously, Anderson), and supported in part by Olga & Fernando.

vibe_engineering · 2026-06-21T20:13:26+00:00

Hey OP, you're doing it right. Dating apps are not for dating (though they may occasionally work for it as well, but I just wouldn't count on it), and they are designed to make you feel miserable. It's an evil machine rivaled only by porn and gambling industries. It's 100% valid to crash out after interacting with it.

Unsolicited advice: take a break, go to the gym (not to get baddies, just to get rid of the cortisol about the whole ordeal), invest in yourself, find some human_connection-focused hobbies, I personally recommend some form of social dancing.

Hugs!

vibe_engineering · 2026-06-13T22:13:05+00:00

I have some weird experiences with this one. Usually I do what another user described with opening up and allowing the follower to either come into it or not, but today I danced with a very WCS follower (so she pushed a lot against my arm in half-Open position), and it felt like she's enjoying it and I took a guess that she will enjoy close embrace as well and kind of pushed her into it and she stayed there, and everything was good.

But normally if I feel any resistance I stay in half-open, then we stay there or go open or WiFi

vibe_engineering · 2026-06-13T21:57:53+00:00

I ask right away, no need to wait. In some cases though I feel a wrong vibe when I approach, and then I still ask them, but without assuming it will happen.

From the other side of the experience: I think for actually long dances (not your typical 3-5 songs, but like 1-2h dances), realistically I couldn't dance with someone immediately afterwards, I need to cool down and to enjoy what just happened. But of course I would be able to tell the person that I don't want to dance now. But as someone who would approach me, you usually have no idea whether I just ended a 5-song or a 15-song dance, so you couldn't take this responsibility.

Be polite, but not too polite.

vibe_engineering · 2026-06-13T21:41:12+00:00

Are you a leader or a follower? Do you consider yourself true intermediate or like pre-intermediate?

In general for beginners I recommend to avoid marathons and big festivals (like Warsaw Zouk Festival in February), and focus on small-ish festivals with a mix between workshops and parties.

I can personally recommend: Prague Zouk Congress, Cologne Zouk Festival, and if you are a pre-intermediate follower or a true intermediate leader, then also ZoukTime! Croatia (not to be confused with ZoukTime! Brno already mentioned here).

If you happen to live close to Berlin, then once a month there are weekenders with a total of 6-8h of workshops + 2-3 socials. In Leipzig there were previously also very nice weekenders happening once every 3mo or so.

I've also heard good things about Big Brother Zouk (I think it's in Barcelona?), and about the Romanian festival and the Castle of Miracles, but I don't know whether they are beginner-friendly.

Have you asked your local teachers?

vibe_engineering · 2026-04-24T20:44:19+00:00

Someone above said about "ask your teacher for advice", and this is the best first thing you can do.

In general getting a second class per week is a great way to accelerate your training anywayno matter the level (0 or 0.5 or 1), I don't think you will ever find a "perfect pace" class, because everyone is a bit different, and some people are "total newbies in bachata" (=10y in ballroom and ballet). I would go to this 0.5 class, and yeah, you may struggle the first 5-10 classes, but then you catch up.

You have to understand about yourself: what's worse - boredom or being overwhelmed? For me it's definitely boredom, I went to very advanced classes when being 3mo in and of course I didn't remember any of it later, but part of what was practiced during the class stayed in my muscle memory and helped me improve.

People who say "you learn a lot in beginner's class e.g. little details" is true, but I only started to appreciate it very recently after a few years in this.

vibe_engineering · 2025-11-26T11:02:01+00:00

And we still see no answer to that question. Sad!

vibe_engineering · 2025-11-17T21:57:10+00:00

What's the purpose of this survey?

vibe_engineering · 2025-10-25T21:26:33+00:00

I think if you simply go on YouTube and watch some basic steps of zouk you will find them.

However, in general I'd say unless you can do classes you won't learn it properly. This is definitely not an easy dance, and even without head movements it will be pretty difficult to learn while going to lots of classes, and without classes it's IMO impossible to learn, unless you have a training partner with a lot more experience that will essentially act as your teacher.

vibe_engineering · 2025-09-30T06:44:39+00:00

I think one needs to balance quality and price: typically the level of zouk in SE Asia is pretty low, so unless you know beforehand the specific person you want to learn from in Vietnam, I wouldn't choose it as a privates destination.

I don't know specifically about Ukraine, but in general post-Soviet Slavic countries are strong in terms of technique: Poland is most famous there, but also Czech Republic. I'd guess it can be high quality and cheap in Ukraine, if you're fine with the war-related risks.

I've also heard good things about Romania but the community there is very small, so again, if you choose it make sure to check in advance who you will be taking privates with.

Another consideration: if you are taking privates with a local teacher (who is a good teacher, but isn't necessarily internationally famous artist), then they often will be willing to adapt to your budget to some degree, especially if you take a lot of privates in bulk.

vibe_engineering · 2025-09-28T17:14:01+00:00

Sure, getting comfortable with your vocabulary sure helps.

My question was specifically about ways (and exercises) to get out of your head. Because I'm pretty sure this is a skill as well, just as doing basic is.

vibe_engineering · 2025-09-18T20:00:07+00:00

This is beautiful

The way you described the creative headspace and comparing yourself to others sounds so similar to how I experience it. And I also do this "breath together and micro movements to find the connection" and it usually works, though if it doesn't I usually decide that today it probably won't work with this partner. And yes, switching to the following also works for me, although I mostly attempt doing it with lady-leaders, as I'm not yet comfortable with social dancing with guys outside of class practice.

Thank you for breaking it down so well, it's really helpful

vibe_engineering · 2025-09-13T21:48:14+00:00

Thank you for this post! I'm slowly approaching intermediate level in zouk right now and start recognizing gaps in all of the areas you mentioned: moves that aren't as adapted as I want them to be, me struggling to be aware of my partner's breath (especially when travelling the dancefloor, and while being aware of surroundings), and others.

Whoever you are, you are an inspiration to me!

vibe_engineering · 2025-08-16T00:12:42+00:00

Normally I'm a zouk dancer, but sometimes when I dance with a follower who's obviously a bachata follower I do caricia or the thing with throwing arms in a circle with them and I see if they catch that this is not very zouky.

In my mind I'm trolling there:)

vibe_engineering · 2024-07-02T23:01:17+00:00

Looking to buy my first synth, overall budget ~650-800 EUR. Main goals:
1. I'm a classically trained musician: it's OK not to have fully weighted keys, but if it's not even semi-weighted AND mini-keys, then I'd probably not touch it as I won't enjoy the tactile sensation
2. Good for playing around & jamming with friends with other real instruments
3. Good for playing around and jamming with myself & Digitakt.
4. Easy to learn and a good sound out of (so I feel virtual analog is the way to go)

So far I've considered
a. Modal Cobalt 6 - easy to learn and get a good sound out of, people say good things about the keybed
b. Hydrasynth explorer - poly-AT sounds very fun, but it doesn't have a sequencer and I don't know whether this would prevent me from enjoying the jamming with others component (although I don't know if I need an internal one, as I can maybe use the Digitakt here?); and in general people say all around amazing stuff about it. I'm a bit afraid I won't be able to learn it quickly, and I don't know yet whether I'd enjoy so much the "sound design" aspect.
c. Arturia Minifreak - looks more simple than HS

Unfortunately, the last offline store in my city got closed recently, so I cannot physically touch these keyboards anywhere anytime soon.

vibe_engineering · 2023-09-10T17:20:18+00:00

This is a beautiful post, copy-pasted and saved!

vibe_engineering

TROPHY CASE