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Alisson Sandi
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  • Performing Arts
  • Updated Weekly

The Brazilian Zouk podcast for dancers who overthink the dance. We overthink it with you. I'm Alisson Sandi — 3x Pro World Champion, Head Judge for the Brazilian Zouk Dance Council (BZDC), and Resident Lecturer for the MAC Project. I'll be honest: I was never a natural. I had to fight for every piece of this dance, and that fight is the reason I can explain it. Every week, Gui Prada and I — plus the occasional guest — talk about what classes don't cover: stalled progress, disappearing leaders, what connection really feels like. New episodes weekly, in audio and video.

  1. 2h ago

    From Ballet and Math Class to Lambada Masters with Iago & Vanessa

    "I don't believe this person, they can really follow what this guy wants. I think they are guessing." That's Vanessa on why she started Brazilian Zouk, after fifteen years of ballet, jazz and contemporary. If you have a job you like and a dance you love, and you keep running the numbers at two in the morning, this one is for you. Iago was teaching mathematics in Campinas when Nina told him, "If you wanna be with me, you gotta dance." The pandemic shut his school, and when it reopened he said, "Well, good luck for you guys. I'm not coming back." I sat with both of them in person, and this half is about who they were before the stage. What we get into: → Vanessa doing continuous turns with Philip Miha and hearing "You are not following me." She found out years later he was right, because her ballet was supplying the momentum. → Nobody jumped without a net. Daniel Darbello gave Iago a room with no rent, and Vanessa's dad said "if you can't, you have a home." Mine was kebab shops. → My advice on going full time is six to twelve months of savings, or build the dance income on the side until it matches what you already earn. → Iago on living together 24/7: "it's a marriage." They were never dating, which he calls a golden rule, and I've done that once and I don't recommend it. The big takeaway: The time of life is the most precious thing we have to offer, so when someone chooses to dance with you, receive them with all the care you can. What did you give up to keep dancing? Tell us in the comments. Chapters: 00:00 Opening highlights 01:48 Meeting Vanessa Meirelles and Iago Hassuike 03:08 Why a ballet dancer didn't believe in following 05:42 From a math classroom to quitting the school 08:16 How the partnership actually started 11:16 The five-year plan that happened in two 13:04 The safety net that made going full time possible 16:14 Why a dance career is a whole different monster 19:34 The circles of information in a dance scene 21:53 Living together 24/7, and the golden rule 23:54 Travelling the world and still being alone 26:56 Why their partnership worked when others don't 29:48 Dance first or structure first: two ways to learn 32:08 The rule that settles every disagreement 34:03 The class that keeps a teacher awake at night 36:45 How to actually let a compliment land 38:43 The math student who came back crying 41:11 Their advice, and what's coming in part two Guests: Vanessa Meirelles and Iago Hassuike, Lambada and Brazilian Zouk artists from São Paulo. Hosted by Alisson Sandi. ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/ Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zouk.nerds/ Episode: S06 Ep20 | ZoukNerds Podcast

    From Ballet and Math Class to Lambada Masters with Iago & Vanessa

  2. Sep 2

    Yes, Dance Teachers Plateau Too!

    "Hell yes, hell yes." That's my answer every time someone in the group asks whether teachers hit plateaus too, and I teach Brazilian Zouk for a living. Ours just hides better. I can teach all week, feel completely fulfilled, and then meet Christina after three months apart and find that the things we could do together suddenly need thinking about again. Gui said it cleaner than I did. He'd been dancing mostly with his beginner students, having the time of his life, and then he went to do something explosive: "there was a wall. I couldn't do the thing." What we get into: → A student feels stuck and knows it. We feel great, right up until someone challenges us socially, and that's when I go "hang on, I have not been training that division of my dancing." → Gui's pizza chart. Almost every hour you teach goes into basics and everything vertical, so the sharp explosive layer gets a sliver of the pie and quietly rots. → Why I can't train with my own students. It's never their level, it's the hierarchy, and you hear it in the disclaimer: "I don't know, I'm probably wrong, but I feel like this." → What we actually do about it: the student seat at somebody else's weekender, a private lesson where you tell the teacher to hold nothing back, and cross-training in styles that have nothing to do with Zouk. The big takeaway: The plateau exists because we have a certain expectation, and the moment we remove that expectation, the plateau is not there anymore. When did you last catch yourself plateaued without noticing? Tell us in the comments.

    Yes, Dance Teachers Plateau Too!

  3. Aug 26

    The Pickiness Curve Every Dancer Climbs

    For years the DJ would put on traditional old school Brazilian Zouk and I'd walk off the floor. "Ah, I don't like that type of music, I'm gonna take a break." That was a lie. I didn't have the skills to enjoy it yet, and the day I learned them I loved it. So when Gui tells me he got so picky only two or three followers could give him a good dance, down to where their head sat against his, I know that feeling. He worked it out on the bus home from a social in Rio, where he realised he'd danced all night without being present once, because he spent the whole thing hunting those two or three people. And whose fault was it, right? What we get into: → Gui trained slow songs for years, then walked into a real Forró where Xote is five percent of the night. "Lack of exposure, for sure lack of exposure." → You start in flip-flops, any song, anyone. Years later it's two kinds of socks in your backpack and one follower who "knows how to dance with me." → "Because Gui is a gelato snob." "I am such a bitch. I'm such a gelato snob, yes. And without shame." → The unpaid dance escort. Friday nights in Rio, one friend, met at the door, forty five minutes, nobody else, home. → "But Alisson, I'm a customer. I'm paying to be here." Yeah, I don't argue with that. It still doesn't make your taste the DJ's problem. The big takeaway: I'll be picky as long as it doesn't affect other people, and if it may affect other people, I'm going to find a way to reduce that effect. Chapters: 00:00 Opening highlights 1:22 What the pickiness curve is 3:03 "I don't like this music" is usually a skill gap 4:46 Gui's Xote and Bolero problem 6:58 How pickiness climbs: shoes, floors, partners 8:47 Ignorance is bliss, and the gelato snob 10:35 When your checklist gets too long 12:18 The bus ride home, and what he asked next 17:21 Preferences versus pickiness 21:16 The unpaid dance escort 22:32 Reading your social battery in one night 25:43 "I'm a paying customer", and where the line is 29:47 Pandemic pods and the people who stopped coming 34:12 The teacher's pickiness curve 37:06 Your dance teacher is a business owner 40:44 Knowing your preferences without being picky 45:20 Festivals, and growing the community Co-host: Gui Prada ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/ Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zouk.nerds/ Episode: S06 Ep18 | ZoukNerds Podcast

    The Pickiness Curve Every Dancer Climbs

  4. Aug 22

    Are You Wasting Your Private Dance Lessons?

    "I know, I've done this already." Every Brazilian Zouk teacher hears that in privates, and I ask the same thing back. "Okay, you've done it. But do you know it?" "Oh no, yeah, I know." "Do you know? Because if you knew, we wouldn't be correcting this." Then Gui told me the one that stuck. Hours of privates on Lambada, learned so much, never practised any of it. "Couple months went by, it's almost like I didn't do the private lesson at all. I forgot everything." What we get into: → Don't book me to buy a move. Someone points at a video and Gui usually just says, "this is a Ioiô," you already know it. → Three missed classes at District Zouk is four and a half hours, warm-ups, rotations, everybody's input. Gui asks it straight, "you wanna substitute that for one hour?" → My students book me like a physio, "Alisson, I need a health checkup." Once a month is my floor, and weekly only works if we're integrating. → "I wanna get better." Better how? Gui asks that every time, and it turns a drifting hour into a working one. → A follower came to him losing her balance, told her ankles were weak. It was never her ankles, she was moving her weight forward too fast. This one I keep chewing on, because I've done it as a student. Gui says people ask for what they think you want to hear, not what they actually want. Nowhere to hide in there, you know? The big takeaway: we know everything that we know, but we don't know what we don't know, and you are the one who can tell us. Chapters: 00:00 Opening highlights 01:14 Intro: what a private lesson is actually for 03:44 When someone asks you to teach a move 10:11 The Q&A before the first dance 12:54 Why the problem is rarely mechanical 15:09 I forgot everything I learned 20:34 How often to book: the health checkup 23:19 One hour can't replace three missed classes 26:40 "In Salsa we do it like this" 28:28 What to keep from your old dance style 31:19 Empty cup or full cup 36:05 "Tell me what only you do" 40:21 When a private goes wrong, say something 44:04 What does better mean to you? 47:14 It wasn't her weak ankles 50:04 Choosing the teacher who fits you Co-host: Gui Prada ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/ Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zouk.nerds/ Episode: S06 Ep17 | ZoukNerds Podcast

    Are You Wasting Your Private Dance Lessons?

  5. Aug 12

    Why Do You Dance Like You're Competing? (S06 Ep16)

    Why do you dance like you're competing? Because Brazilian Zouk is one dance living as five: the social dance, the performance, the competition, the after-class demo, and the teaching dance. In this ZoukNerds episode, Gui Prada and I name all five, and what happens when you train one while wanting another. Gui saw it in a private lesson in Australia. A follower past 65 told him, "I am dancing not to go crazy. I do this as a mental health tool." Her balance diagnosis from other teachers: engage your core, point your feet. Competition tools. The real fix was weight distribution. She almost got emotional, because she thought something was wrong with her. I put my hands up here too. In my Australia years, everybody trained for Jack and Jill. My classes taught the cleanest, most precise execution, and we called it social dancing. What manifestation of the dance are you training? → The body: when I competed, my body was ready for a show any minute. A relaxed embrace? My body could not process it. → The feed: we don't have social media anymore. We have attention media. It decides which version of the dance looks like THE dance. → The diet: people want comfort, but 99% of their training and Instagram watching is Jack and Jill. I wanna be healthy, but I go to McDonald's every day. If you ever left a social feeling like your partner was performing at you, this is why. The order is improvised. The execution is not. That's choreography. The big takeaway: training for Jack and Jill is not the bad thing. It's how you're training for Jack and Jill. Know which dance you're training, and change the chip between them. Chapters: 00:00 Intro: one dance, three dances 05:41 "I am dancing not to go crazy" 07:00 Weight distribution fixed her balance 12:55 My competition body couldn't relax 15:14 The 99% Jack and Jill diet 17:45 Train a concept and a feeling 19:36 João Lambadeiro: stage moves went social 21:00 My Australia confession 26:27 Attention media, not social media 29:26 How Brazil studios kept paths separate 36:44 Improvised order, not improvised execution 37:29 The fifth manifestation: the teaching dance 39:36 Change the chip 42:55 Don't let others create your reality Co-host: Gui Prada ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/ Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zouk.nerds/ Episode: S06 Ep16 | ZoukNerds Podcast

    Why Do You Dance Like You're Competing? (S06 Ep16)

  6. Aug 5

    Most Dance Teachers Are on Autopilot (S06 Ep15)

    Why did you leave that amazing Brazilian Zouk class confused? Because the teacher was serving three meals at once. Every dance class teaches one of three things: mechanics, concepts, or feeling. When nobody names the main one, you learn a nice move and walk out not knowing what the class was about. In this ZoukNerds episode, Gui Prada and I talk about how teachers build classes, why most of us default to mechanics, and how to decode what your class is actually teaching you. People ask me, "Can you teach spins? We have one hour on the Friday." Nope. Do you want them to feel like a spinner? Okay, I need three hours. There are things that need time. You cannot cheat that. What your class is teaching you: → Mechanics: how to execute. The Bônus = traveling turn, rock step, Patinha. → Concept: what it is for. The same Bônus becomes dancing on a track, or a circle. → Feeling: what it is like. The turning, the momentum. This one needs time and a reference point. Gui's line is, "it's almost like a ladder. You study the mechanic and you get the concept and then you have the feeling." The part most teachers skip: naming it. If you ever left a workshop thinking "I suck at this", that was probably a class built to show you what you don't know yet. That class exists. Somebody just forgot to tell you. The big takeaway: The move is just a move. What you learn through the move is the class. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:58 Mechanics, concepts, or feeling 06:06 The students choose how I teach 11:45 Gui's confession: all mechanics 13:36 Why I refuse one-hour spin workshops 17:16 The ladder 20:59 The teaching autopilot hot take 23:03 The move is just a move 26:16 One move, three classes: the Bônus 28:36 Two kinds of classes 33:50 What one hour of spins buys 35:52 How to watch a demo 38:10 Feelings need a reference point Co-hosts: Gui Prada ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/ Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zouk.nerds/ Episode: S06 Ep15 | ZoukNerds Podcast

    Most Dance Teachers Are on Autopilot (S06 Ep15)

  7. Jul 29

    How Dance Becomes Your Safe Space (S06 Ep14)

    How does a dance school become your safe space? Before Brazilian Zouk, before teaching, Gui Prada and I were two shy kids who found one safe room. In this ZoukNerds episode, we thank the first teachers who built us, and I tell a story nobody has ever heard. Not even my family. Brazil, 1999. I was around 10. A community center near my house had dance classes, and my parents couldn't afford them. "Look, I'm sorry. We cannot afford that." So I would hide before class, join when the warm-up started, and run before it finished. For months. One day the teachers came to me: "Hey, before you go, can we have a chat?" I never went back. Years later it hit me: they were probably offering me my first Bolsista position. What did our first teachers actually give us? → The ethos: Dan and Lily ran my first school on one rule. Make people happy, everybody has fun, you're doing a great job. The rest comes with time. → The standard: Gui trained at Jaime Arôxa in Rio. Jaime had this thing in class: "Normal person, special person." Two postures, two people. The older ladies and widows walked out special again. → The seeing: Val gave me my first chance to assist when nobody else would. "You have something that they don't, and I see it." We didn't dance because we were dancers. It was shyness: cold sweats, hiding in corners. Dance was the only room where we could connect without talking. Keep the body moving. Don't speak. The big takeaway: a dance school is a permission space, the place where you become someone who connects. I slept at mine between the Saturday 4 AM party and the Sunday 8 AM training. That school raised me. Chapters: 00:00 Intro: thank you, first teachers 02:05 "Make people happy": the ethos 04:59 "What is Jaime Arôxa?" 07:44 Elegance with an edge of arrogance 11:40 Val: the teacher who saw me 16:00 The story I never told anyone 23:13 Too shy to talk, so I danced 25:02 Normal person, special person 26:55 I never left the dance school 31:55 Paulinho, the Chacha man Co-host: Gui Prada ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/ Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zouk.nerds/ Episode: S06 Ep14 | ZoukNerds Podcast

    How Dance Becomes Your Safe Space (S06 Ep14)

  8. Jul 22

    Zouk Retreat vs Festival: Two Opposite Worlds (S06 Ep13)

    What's the difference between a Brazilian Zouk retreat and a Zouk festival? In this ZoukNerds episode, Gui Prada and I go down memory lane to the events that marked us, and they could not be more opposite. Gui's first Brazilian Zouk event ever was Xandy Liberato's first retreat, in Valencia, 2016. Invitation only. On arrival day, the exercise was simple: look your partner in the eye, one touch on the shoulder, one on the arm. Gui started sobbing in front of a stranger. The stranger cried too. Eight months later he flew to the Warsaw Zouk Festival and danced with four people in four days. My version: Brazil Central in Brisbane, an old museum building, all the masters from Brazil. That event is the reason I made a rule when I created BraZouky: "This event will never be in a ballroom or in a community center that has no personality." Why did the same dance feel like two opposite worlds? → The retreat: everything organic, everything subtle, fire day, water day, air day. Solid basics in the room, so "the only way were to go deeper." → The festival: a vodka stand, a club room, songs Gui had never heard. He sent a friend an audio message: "Look what they're listening to. How do I dance to that?" → The etiquette: in Australia it was one song, high-five, change partners. Third song is a marriage. If your first big festival disappointed you, Gui found the answer years later. The retreat was a very specific container. A very intentional container. The festival was never trying to be one. The big takeaway: a festival is not a broken retreat. They are different kinds of events, and intention is what made one of them feel like another world. Chapters: 00:00 Intro: the events that stay in our heart 01:06 Gui's first: the Valencia retreat (2016) 05:09 Brazil Central: an arts festival, not a ballroom 07:36 Prague: the social that never stopped 12:00 Day zero: the sobbing exercise 15:18 Time, immersion, and the able body 18:03 All styles, all good 21:00 Third song is a marriage 23:27 Studio socials vs the fish market 28:38 Let's spill the tea: Warsaw 30:12 Four days, four dances 32:40 A very intentional container 36:10 Like going to the opera 37:24 What's new is what we remember Co-host: Gui Prada ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/ Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zouk.nerds/ Episode: S06 Ep13 | ZoukNerds Podcast

    Zouk Retreat vs Festival: Two Opposite Worlds (S06 Ep13)
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About

The Brazilian Zouk podcast for dancers who overthink the dance. We overthink it with you. I'm Alisson Sandi — 3x Pro World Champion, Head Judge for the Brazilian Zouk Dance Council (BZDC), and Resident Lecturer for the MAC Project. I'll be honest: I was never a natural. I had to fight for every piece of this dance, and that fight is the reason I can explain it. Every week, Gui Prada and I — plus the occasional guest — talk about what classes don't cover: stalled progress, disappearing leaders, what connection really feels like. New episodes weekly, in audio and video.

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