Zouk Dance Club at U of M & Ann Arbor

Social dance with Kuna Hamad at the Paris Brazilian Zouk Congress, filmed by Neel Bakshi of Zouk Soul, May 2017.

My story...

After a lifetime of concert dance training (ballet, modern, jazz) and a decade of partnered social dance training (Lindy Hop, competitive ballroom, Blues, Fusion), I stumbled into a Brazilian Zouk social and have not looked back.  I began training as a  dancer while I lived in New York City and began organizing, teaching and DJ'ing when I moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan.  To support my activities with the Zouk Dance Club at U of M & Ann Arbor as well as my creative work as a graduate student, I completed Brazilian Zouk teacher training programs with Renata Peçanha, Laura Riva, and Ry'el Zenzouk.  In addition to teaching regular classes and workshops in Ann Arbor, I have been invited to teach in New York, New Haven, Chicago, and Manchester, England. 

Participation as Research

Inspired by the work of scholar Dwight Conquergood in the field of Performance Studies, I am interested in how participating in Brazilian Zouk dance events both in the Brazilian diaspora and in Brazil facilities a shrinking of the world.  I am positioning my work within the frame of sociologist, anthropologist and philosopher Pierre Bourdieu's theories of habitus and fields of cultural production as a way to question whether Brazilian Zouk dance spaces are culture sharing spaces or whether Brazilian Zouk has evolved into a new more global genre in which the space reflects the multitude of cultural contributions more so than those from Brazil.  With the generous support of the Center for World Performance Studies, the Department of Dance and the School of Music, Theatre and Dance EXCEL Enterprise Fund at the University of Michigan, I have had the privilege of studying Brazilian Zouk not only at international Congresses and local events in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and across five European countries.  Next stop: Brazil.  I look forward to continuing my research following my MFA as an independent scholar, as part of a PhD dissertation project, and an artist.

Travel

To support my journey as a dancer, teacher, and scholar, I have been attending both local classes as well as international congresses for the past two years.  Below are the congresses I have attended thus far.  Check out my blog for more information about my adventures.
2016
Canada Zouk Congress (Toronto)
NYC Zouk Festival
Chicago Zouk Weekender
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2017
I'M Zouk Congress (Miami)
Canada Zouk Congress (Toronto)
Paris Brazilian Zouk Congress
Embodying Weekend, Willem Engel (Rotterdam)
BraSilesia Zouk Festival (Katowice)
​Toronto Zouk Marathon
2017
Zouk n' Play Festival (Atlantic City)
Zouk MX (Riviera Maya)
NYC Zouk Festival
ZouKiz Bachata Convention (Toronto)
Boston Brazil Fusion Dance Festival
2018
London Zouk Festival
5th International Intensive Brazilian-Zouk Weekend (Amsterdam)
Canada Zouk Congress (Toronto)
Future Zouk (Chicago)
Zouk MX