1. Hi Dana I have heard you have spent time at Dubai zouk festival. Please let us know your experience there? Is there any difference between European zouk congress and Dubai Congress? Hi Kazouk, Actually it was more of a coincidence that I found myself traveling to Dubai. In 2012 Jan and Anni from Berlin told us about that congress in Dubai. At first, my friends and I were more curious about the city than the festival. We had a really nice experience. The people there were very friendly, open and gave us a warm welcome when we got there. Also we were asked for dances way more often than we were used to. This made us join every up-coming Zouk festival in Dubai. Another highlight for us was the dancers from Oman, because they had such a warm and happy attitude that we got really flashed. Of course, we then also didn’t want to miss the festivals in Oman. Right now I am taking a few months off from my school in Germany to spend some time in Oman and give also some workshops.
2. Mr Darius recommended you as a special zouker, not only you are fantastic dancer and founded I am zouk and Dresden. Could you tell me more about the motivation that you founded the and your background as a dancer?
I started dancing at the age of 5 and since then I have spent many years mastering different styles including Salsa, Zouk, Hustle, Ballroom dances, Tango Argentine and Belly dance. When the Zouk dancer John Hawkins from Brisbane / Australia came to Dresden, I fell in love with the dance Zouk. Together we started the first Zouk classes in Dresden in 2010. This was the start of 'Zouk Dresden', a continuously growing Zouk community. From then on I have continued to give regular Zouk classes in Dresden. During the last 2 years I joined several Zouk Festivals all over the world. This gave birth to the idea of organizing the “Zouk Family Meeting” in Dresden which was supposed to bring all the European Zouk lovers together in one place and spend some time together on both, the dance floor but also some social activities. Since 2011, I have been organizing several of those smaller Zouk Festivals in Dresden up to twice a year.
3. Would you let us know about how you get to know each other with Daruis?
First time when we met it was at the Prague Zouk Congress 2012. He asked me for a dance. We realized that we had the same feeling for the flow and the music. We met more often at some other congresses and later I invited him to come to Dresden and give some workshops, especially for musicality and expression.
4. Do you have another passion apart from zouk? If you have, let us know more about it. May I ask what do you do for living?
Another passion of mine has always been traveling. I am a globetrotter and especially by travelling to the different Zouk events I got to know many different countries and cultures. Before I started to dance Zouk I have been to many Salsa festivals. But soon I have realized there is a big difference to the Zouk festivals. The zouk community is more open-minded and immediately welcomes every new face or beginner. I made many friends, which led to several invitations to and visits from all over the world. To share this common passion for dancing does really bring people closer to each other and makes the mind more open for something new. Without these positive experiences that I got from the Zouk events, I would not have discovered so many different and beautiful places in this world.I have studied pedagogy and founded our dancing school “Salsa-Sandana” together with my partner 11 years ago. After finishing my studies, I decided to rent my own dance studio and to make my passion and love for dancing my full-time job. We still teach mainly Salsa at the school, but also ballroom, huzzle and, of course, zouk.
5. What do you think future of zouk is going? Is there anything you would like to achieve or challenge near future?
I have to say that I do not favour a specific dance style. We are teaching different styles at the studio and I think that you can take something from every style of dance. And every style has its own advantages, so that in the end I decide according to my mood and the music which style I dance. I personally like to add different styles to my dancing, for instance contemporary, because the expression, the feeling and the connection to the partner and the music is very important for me. I therefore got a lot out of the workshop with Kwok. Learning Zouk techniques is also very important and I acquired a lot of knowledge from Freddy & Andressa and Olaya & Papagaio.I am very optimistic about the future of Zouk. The dance is not as famous as Salsa, but in my dance school one can see a positive trend. It is something new and fresh. Many students that have seen this dance for the first time became interested in learning it. There are many opportunities to dance differently and improvise. Also, especially the music (and the remixes) is very attractive to many newcomers to zouk. It is very diverse, and there is something for everyone. 6. Any particular messages or advice for zoukers?
Zoukers … please continue to be so open and friendly, so that many more people fall in love with this dance and the Zouk community the way I experienced it. Do not argue about the only true Zouk style or Zouk music, and open your mind to new and creative things in order to enrich this dance. 7. Please nominate a friend with an interesting profile as well as being a great zouker but from a different country to any zoukers who have featured in Zouk in the past please? ( UK, Holland, France, Brazil and Dubai, Spain) Tell us the reason why he or she deserves to be a special zouker?
I would like to nominate Olaya from Barcelona. She impressed me from the very beginning, because she does not only know what she is talking about, but she is one of the few women who came out on the top in a world full of male dancers. She encouraged me to believe that as a woman one can give great dance lessons.
Thank you so much for contributing to Kaouk, zouk connection worldwide, especially busiest time of the year, much appreciated it. Kazouk wish all the best of your future.