Houston Zouk Presents: Devon Near-Hill!

Join us for 2.5 hours of Brazilian Zouk solo dance training with Devon Near-Hill! Date: Saturday, June 26th Time: 12pm to 2:30pm Location: Vdanse Academy (formerly Sonia's World of Dance) Cost: $45 per person Payment options: - Cash at the event - PayPal: @BenjaminTritt - Venmo: @BenjaminTritt Please reach out via DM to Ben, Elena or George if you have questions about the event! ** Note: Devon will also be available for private lessons during her visit (24-26 June), contact her directly for availability and rates. Devon Near-Hill is thrilled to bring you 2.5 hrs of outdoor, socially distanced learning that addresses solo, partner, lead and follow technique, all socially distant! Seem contradictory? Keep reading… Advanced dancers know that competency in sending and receiving physical information depends on an individual’s mastery of weight transfer, timing, and intention. Leading head movement, for example, requires an awareness of torso inclination and position of the chest relative to the feet. Using drills and exploratory games, this workshop will impart the tools to access freedom and ease of movement within the Brazilian zouk structure. Part 1: Solo Training Instead of focusing on the end result of a pattern, the first half of class will cover necessary solo dance technique for leads and for follows. Weight Transfer Did you know, that head movement starts in the feet?! There are at least 4 parts to a weight transfer and understanding them is a secret to leading and following with accuracy. Head Movement Dive into drills that foster healthy spinal movements. Our warm up for this section will be reviewing four main head movement positions as detailed in the Efficient Follow curriculum. We will then play with different ways to combine rotation and revolutions of the head while maintaining classic foot patterns. Balanco This iconic lambada step is often overlooked in Brazilian Zouk but is FUNDAMENTAL in many movements, especially preparations and exits for head movement. Part Two: TOUCH WITHOUT TOUCHING Remember that ultra comfortable embrace you had at 3am on the dance floor? Let’s dissect it! Squish Squish is the deceleration, the soft pillow, the bed of flowers that is (or with practice will be) your embrace. Squish is a word that Devon and Jerry use to refer to the way Brazilian zouk dancers send and absorb kinetic energy in their frame- a quality that differentiates it from from other social dances. Sequential Movement The degree to which you sequence your movements can determine the weight your partner feels from you and aesthetically, how flowy you look. This concept is especially useful when adapting to different styles or partners. Using sequencing in your head movement is imperative! Quality of Touch Using the golden rule - do unto others as they would have them do to you - we will explore different elements of touch on our own bodies. Learn what kind of tension is optimal for connecting and the ways in which we can block communication flow. We will then apply these concepts to the head movement patterns we discovered in the first so that you walk away with the tools to lead and follow head movement with increased awareness and flow!