Zouk Power, community.

Zouk power may appear to be who dances close to the DJ booth, who stands in the tightest knit circles outside the social, who gets invited to teach at the biggest congresses, who wins the jack n jill's. But Zouk power is even more personal and stratified than that, and we all have the power to build community and ruin our nights, or find a sweet spot.

As a skilled lead or follow of at least an intermediate level, you have the ability to change someone's night. It is easily observable to notice a relative 2:1 follow to lead ratio at most socials. As Zouk dances tend to be long 3+ songs, some people just never end up getting to dance for a while. This can be out of pride (followers, not wanting to ask leads to dance), or a myriad of other reasons (leads not asking followers because of age, appearance, skill level).

Herein lies the power, the ability to change someone's night for the better. It's an amazing feeling to see someone sitting for a while.. who looks sad, but clearly came to dance and to ask them to dance. Then observe the after effects of their gratitude and happiness, as they continue to radiate on the dance floor long after you dance. It is perhaps this act of generosity, or pity (depending on how cynical you are) that results in community building.

The people that usually aren't dancing that much aren't very good. They feel heavy, often cause pain when leading, and can be an unpleasant experience. Sometimes even they know this, and this insecurity can lead to a lesser experience. But if you are a truly "good lead" you can actually manage this, and still turn a doomed dance into a lovely experience.

This experience is so lovely, the dance itself is like a drug, where they want to be close to you, learn from/train with you, or worse, expect to dance with you at every dance. Given zouk dance expectations are 3+ songs it feels like over time you are providing a charity, with a dance roster of many beginners you feel a duty to dance with. Then there begins to be a feeling of loss for the enjoyment of going to a dance. Where then lies the balance of personal enjoyment and community development?

If you are a teacher, providing a lovely experience seems a great recruitment tool for new clients. The better the community, the better the dances, everyone wins.

But is it always the better dancers job to ask the lesser dancer to dance at the risk of their own pleasure (self loathing sacrifice)? What if there are only a few that do this, while others choose to only dance with those they like (cliques)?

For me, I love dancing with beginners, it is great training for me as I am still a novice and I want to be an advanced Jack n Jill Dancer. But it is still work, and I draw my line on when the beginner expects to dance with me all the time, but puts in ZERO effort to train outside of socials. Because the reality is I love Zouk and I take this seriously, none of this was free and cost me time, money, and a lot of effort. Therein lies a trade off of respect for the art. If I don't feel that appreciation or gratitude, or at least earnest effort to grow, I think at the end of the day, some people aren't made to learn zouk.

Zouk is hard. There are levels. You can't just speed run it (believe me I'm trying). The more I learn, the more I realize I have to learn. You need to take classes, you need to train, you need to learn, and train more. Then you really start to get deeper appreciation, an appreciation that is best shared with other more advanced dancers.

So really, I think it's a two way street, the advanced dancers to help the community flourish by donating their time, but ALSO the beginner dancers responsibility to study Zouk, understand that it is unlike the other more casual dances (forro, cumbia, bachata) where attention to details isn't as important to enjoy and the dance expectations are only 1 dance.

I mention 1 dance as it makes the hidden transaction cost of asking someone who is potentially bad to dance far less. If I can say "thanks" after one dance, dancing with a beginner isn't so bad, but if I may be on the hook for 10 minutes 3 songs, suddenly I feel the need to avert eye contact when I walk to go buy a water / use the bathroom, and this makes for an unwelcoming feeling community.

So what I'm really saying is; quit complaining, take classes.