Los Angeles Zouk Festival 2019

September 13, 2018 in Zouk Festival

We were first introduced to Brazilian Zouk and Kizomba at the 2015 LA Zouk Festival. Our world has never been the same since. Hosted by Shani Mayer and Christian Whitecloud - the LA Zouk Festival is conveniently located at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. This is the premier festival that brings hundreds of dancers together from all over the US and Canada. It’s truly a dance reunion like no other.

Get your 2019 passes HERE!

See what we filmed at the 2017 Los Angeles Zouk Festival

Check out a few of the demos that we filmed on Friday at the 2018 LA Zouk Festival.

Pros and Cons of Viral Dance Videos

September 09, 2018 in Bachata Festival, Kizomba Festival, Salsa Festival, Zouk Festival

The first thing we do when we wake up and the last thing we do before we go to sleep is check our phones. It's 2018 and we live in world where it seems like everyone wants their dance video to go viral. Why do we want videos to go viral? What are the benefits of a video going viral? What are the downsides of a video going viral?

Pros:

Exposure - Millions of viewers around the world will see your video. Viewers will be exposed to the dance genre, your name, the festival's name, etc.
Affordability - You can shoot a viral video with your cell phone and upload it within minutes
Entertainment - People are consuming videos more than ever. Watching your video is fun, interesting, and engaging.

Cons:

Conversion - If your video had 8 million views, how many people liked your page or bought your product/service? Are you monetizing the video? What's the goal?
Content - Sure, you can shoot the video with your cell phone but what's the quality and editing like? Does the video portray you as a dancer in the best way possible? Is this the image you want?
Ego - Does it seem like the person is only doing it for likes and shares? Do they live and breathe getting attention and having only low-quality viral videos?

It's pretty easy to create a viral video in today's world. Search #kizomba or #bachatasensual on Instagram and you'll find many videos that have gone "viral." Unfortunately, these videos don't represent the dance in the best way possible. Many people view or like the video because it's shot in a way that sexualizes the dance. It's obvious to spot the videos, Instagram accounts, and artists are just there for the likes and attention.

Before creating any video, we always ask ourselves - "what is the objective or goal of this video?" If the goal is to focus on your butt and get 9 million views, that's not conducive to dance community in any way. It's not something that we support or would ever film.

We focus on quality and creating a professional online presence. If the video goes viral, that's great! Most of our videos aren't optimized or shot to go viral. We've had two videos go viral since starting SBKZ Media. The first was a salsa demo that we filmed at the Montreal Salsa Convention, and the second was a recent video of a Brazilian Zouk Performance in Mexico at Zouk MX.

Most of our videos get thousands of views, likes, and shares. Every video we post has a goal and a purpose. If a video of ours has 157 views, something is wrong (this rarely happens). Most of our videos are shot with the goal of inspiring people to dance more, creating a great online presence for the artist and promoter, and pushing the dance genre in the right direction to promote healthy competition and a growing, vibrant dance scene.

2018 DC Zouk Festival

June 26, 2018 in Zouk Festival

It's not often that I get to travel for pleasure, but this weekend was the exception. As an avid bachata, kizomba, and brazilian zouk dancer- I was really looking forward to dancing all three dances throughout the weekend.

Most festivals that specialize in one dance have a variety of rooms for specific sub-genres of music. For example: A Kizomba festival will have a Kizomba room and an Urban Kiz Room. A Zouk festival will have a Neo Zouk room and a Lamba Zouk room.

Typically, festivals that try to cater to all styles of dance usually end up with one or two rooms being full/packed(usually salsa and bachata), and the remaining rooms(kizomba/brazilian zouk) are usually empty and have very few people dancing.

The DC Zouk Festival is the only festival that I've attended where all three rooms were full/somewhat full and had decent energy. I was able to dance all three styles and feel good in each room. Some people came just for one specific style of dance, others like myself came for two or three different styles.

I'm not one to take workshops, participate in jack and jills, or watch shows- I strictly social dance. Therefore, I can't comment on the quality of the workshops or shows at this festival. From a social dance perspective, this festival was exactly what I was looking for. Sure, the rooms could've been a bit bigger with more dance floor and AC. However, the sound systems and DJs were good and provided a comfortable environment where I could dance kizomba, bachata, and brazilian zouk.

DJ Emerzive and DJ Soltrix played some banger sets with high-energy tracks. I really enjoyed the bachata room more so than the other rooms. The zouk room was too crowded and hot. The kizomba room had it's moments throughout the weekend and the DJs were also laying down some solid sets.

Here's almost 20 minutes from DJ Emerzive's set on Saturday:

Cheers to Sami for a great festival!

2018 Los Angeles Zouk Festival

April 10, 2018 in Zouk Festival

Hosted by Shani Mayer and Christian Whitecloud, the 2018 Los Angeles Zouk Festival is right around the corner! Located at the beautiful Queen Mary in Long Beach, California - this is one of the longest running Brazilian Zouk festivals in the US.

This year's edition includes a "LambaZouk Track" option that allows dancers to take intensive courses from some of the world's best Lamba Zouk instructors. Instructors include Adriana, Lena Thieme, Ry'El & Jessica, Gilson, Felipe & Patricia, and the one and only - Master Braz! Master Braz recently obtained a unique Visa that will allow him to work in the US and teach Lamba Zouk.

This year will include a teacher's course taught by Jaime Arôxa, Leo & Becky, and Gilson Damasco. These amazing artists will be teaching history, technique, musicality, and different types of teaching methods.

The Jack & Jill is always a fun and hectic competition. Expect to see new faces this year as Brazilian Zouk has seen tremendous growth this past year.

Other highlights this year include Rodrigo and Karina from Sao Paulo, Brazil! They are an amazing couple and one of the biggest influencers in the Sao Paulo zouk scene. Check out a video that we filmed of them when we in Brazil in 2017. DJ Kakah will be blessing us with amazing music as well.

Brazilian Zouk festivals are always fun, busy, and exciting. For us, the deck parties definitely stand out from any other event. These parties allow us to dance outdoors and enjoy the Southern California breeze. They have afternoon parties on the deck along with after-parties that usually last until sunrise.

See you on the dance floor!

If you're interested in attending this year's event, you can purchase tickets here.

EnVy Lounge - March 6th, 2018

March 28, 2018 in Zouk Festival

Snapped these bad boys with a good ol' disposable camera. A couple weeks later (thanks for lagging Walmart) and some LR filters, and viola - we got some cool snaps! If you want the originals, shoot me an email and I'll bring them to Envy.

Upcoming DJ sets: EnVy Lounge April 3rd, 2018. Come out for some banger tunes. Anything and everything zoukable from old school hip hop to indie electronica. 4/4 beats from 65 to 105 BPMs all night longggg! Monday at Energia on April 9th and then San Diego on April 13th for Yuan's social. I'll be bringing along some disposables to every event!

GOOD SOUND SYSTEM, GOOD TRACK SELECTION, GOOD TRANSITIONS = EVERYTHING.