​Common Questions

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• What do I wear? Wear any clothes you are comfortable moving in. It is helpful as a teacher if I can see the general shape of your body to give corrections.

• What shoes do I need? At a beginner level shoes do not matter very much, but shoes without a lot of grip are better and ones with flexible soles. I recommend flat shoes to start as Kizomba required quite a bit of balance. But heels can work as well if you are comfortable with them. Leather or suede soled shoes are a good option if you have them. But many people wear something like Keds.

• Do I need a partner? You don't need a partner, we rotate partners in the class and it's better to get use to different partners. I can't however guarantee that there will be perfect lead to follow ratio in classes.

• Am I too old/young, out of shape...? We welcome everyone in class. Ive had people as young as 13 and as old at 80 in my classes and too many nationalities to name. What brings us together and gives us over time the feeling of community is our shared passion for the dance. All you need is an open mind and a desire to learn. And basic hygiene helps a ton.

• Can I start with Urban Kiz? Patterns? Tarraxo? Can I skip the Intro classes if I have experience in other dances? I'm a big believer in the need to start with a good foundation to become a good social dancer. But also to understand the dance and be able to look and feel like a kizomba dancer. There is a saying in Kizomba: "Kizomba is not about the steps" this means that by only learning steps you will never really become a kizomba dancer. There is a specific way to walk, hold yourself and lead/follow that is very specific to Kizomba and that allows for the flow, connection and creativity that Kizomba is known for... and that comes with starting from the basics. Another saying in Kizomba is: "the first thing you learn is how to walk, but it's also the last thing you master" So, even professional Kizomba dancers are still working on their walk, which means that even with an extensive dance background, you can work on your walk in a beginner class, you might just get better at it sooner than the average student, but I promise you will be challenged. My Part 1 & 2: Intro to Kizomba really give you all the tools to become a good Kizomba dancer. at the intermediate level we just learn how to use, vary, be creative with the foundation and also how to break the rules. (but it's always recommended to know the rules before you break them)

• How long should I wait before going out to a social? I recommend going out to socials right away, you will progress much faster if you do as just seeing other dancers will help you to understand the dance better and most dancers are nice enough to give you a couple of dances and help you out a bit, just be aware that you may be sitting out for part of the night at the beginning.

• What is the difference between a Practice and a Social? And why should I go to a Practice? A Social is a social event aimed at going out dancing and having fun. A practice is a place you go to to practice and improve movements you are working on and get feedback. It's great to couple taking classes with attending Practices. They really help you level up faster, and you can start attending them right away as you start learning Kizomba, there will be people there from all levels practicing.

• When will I be good enough to call myself a kizomba dancer? The Angolan's criteria for giving someone the title of Kizomba dancer is having the knowledge of the foundation until the Shuffle and Saidas are learned, their reason behind this is those are 2 of the steps that are used the most frequently in Kizomba, but both are not very intuitive, which means they are hard to learn on the fly at a social. most people need to learn them with proper instruction and practice for a few weeks before they can really execute the moves consistently. There are so many things you can still learn after that. But once you know Saidas and shuffles and are able to do them socially consistently, to can give anyone a good dance. With my teaching method, this happens to most students at about the 3 month mark. Which is really not that long. However I do find that for most students the 6 month mark is when they really start to be able to have fun and have enough variety in their dancing that they feel good about their dances. Now of course all I can do is show you one way to get there. I canèt listen attentively for you with an open mind, or practice. Your sucess will depend on your own dedication. Also, everyone will learn at a different speed and have different strenghts and weaknesses. Including some students coming in with quite an extensive background in other dances. Don't compare yourself to other, just focus on your own progress and journey.

• How much should I practice? I do recommend if you can to go over the moves you learn each week a few minutes a day when possible. A big part of becoming a good dancer is to get the movements engrained in your body, which is mostly done by repetition. Once you finish the first level I do recommend if you can that coupled with taking the second level that you also take the first level again, this will help you get more out of the teachings (you will have missed many details the first time around) and it will help you get the movements in your body more. I organize practices twice a month and let people who repeat levels drop-in for $5 to encourage this. With the right attitude, not so much of learning new things but of perfecting them, you can attend any level of classes and still get a lot out of it. 15 years later I still take complete beginner classes with good teachers when I travel to train in dance, I almost always learn a little something new, look at something differently or reinforce ideas I had.

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What classes can you attend?

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• Complete beginners can attend: Friday intro class and Thursday Isolation class (all other classes will require you to have some Kizomba skills already)

• Beginners with closed frame training can attend: Wednesday class (which is their current level), Friday class (for review and extra practice) and Thursday classes between 6:30 and 8pm: Isolation, Tarraxo and Intro to styles class (for speeding up your learning, a little more of a challenge and getting exposed to other styles which will improve your ability to social dance)

• Intermediate dancers can attend: All classes (the 8 to 9pm Thursday class is inly open to intermediate dancers and will explor intermediate concepts and patterns. The rest of the Thursday classes have been designed with the needs of the community in mind, I would like to see the community gain more understanding in the different styles as well as Tarraxo and Isolations. The Wednesday and Friday classes are also a great way to get extra practice and refine what you know to improve your foundation from the ground up. With the right attitude , even a beginner class can be challenging if you give yourself things to work on... and we all know we can keep improving our walk. )

 

To register or for more information please contact me at: aucoinbr@gmail.com or 901-471-6154