3 Techniques to Improve Your Brazilian Zouk (Leader)

Being a good leader in Zouk means your dancing feels nicer, it's easier to follow, and especially in Zouk where you'd dance at least 5 songs with the same person, you want your lead to feel nice and comfortable.

These are 3 things that you can improve now to make your leading feel nicer and smoother.

1. Grounding
One of the biggest switches from a beginner to the next level is the ability to use your hands less and your frame more.

One of the ways to improve your frame is by using the ground, it means be clear with your ups and downs. Most movements are initiated by going down first and then going up with your whole frame. So rather than using your hands or even worse, fingers more strongly, use the up and down of your body. It feels nicer and it will look better. 

Pro tip: Most beginners think they use this up and down but in reality, it's barely felt. So practice with bigger movements and then adjust by doing it smaller and smaller, the smallest possible it takes to lead the move.

2. Clearer Weight Shift
The difference in Brazillian Zouk with Bachata is that Zouk is much more fluid and the direction is a lot more dynamic. Meaning Bachata is mostly side to side or some kind of back and forth but Zouk travels in many different directions. This means, you need to be very clear with your weight transfer. Whether you need to be in the left foot, right foot, back, front, or even centered. The clearer you are in your own weight transfer, the easier it is for your follower to read and therefore you can lead more complicated movements more successfully.
3. Body Direction

One of the most common mistakes that we're not aware of is also the direction of our body. For example, when leading a traveling boneka, we get so caught up in what our hands need to do that we don't remember to move our body and letting the movement come from the whole frame rather than just your hands which will feel like your crushing the girl with your bare hands. No go.