MEET THE TEACHERS

Patrícia

Patrícia Géa is a Brazilian dancer, choreographer and dance instructor from Minas Gerais. She specializes in Brazilian Zouk and Samba with a focus on body expression and musical interpretation.

As a former member of Mimulus Cia de Dança and creator of the Projeto Lobas for female empowerment, Pat has been working as a performer and dance teacher for more than ten years.

She has taught at numerous Brazilian and international events, workshops and congresses.

China

Claudio Dias, known as China, developed SoulZouk in Rio de Janeiro in the late 90s and has been influencing Brazilian Zouk with his ideas ever since.

His trademarks: Soft leading; using biomechanics & body leading to make well-known moves more intuitive and comfortable; and a greater emphasis on connection, creativity and co-creation than in traditional Zouk.

Psst, leaders: Trying to figure out how to get happier followers that keep coming back? This is the place to go.

Simone

Simone Becker is a dance teacher based in Bonn, Germany. After two decades as a competitive Contemporary dancer with a background in Modern, Ballet, R’n’B, Salsa and Tango Argentino, she has been teaching Zouk internationally for almost a decade.

For her, the key to enjoying dance lies in getting intimately familiar with our own bodies, guiding her students to work with the unique characteristics of their bodies rather than against them. Her classes emphasize body awareness, connected presence, quality of touch, and finding ease and lightness in even the most challenging of moves.

Michel

Michel Mens is a dance teacher, certified SoulZouk instructor, and DJ from Amsterdam. With a background in breakdance, he also trained in Neozouk and worked extensively with Ruanita Santos for years.

Known for his smooth, follower-centric style of dancing that makes him an exceptionally popular social dancer, Michel specializes in fluid, precise, and comfortable leading methods which use biomechanics, improved connection, and body leading as a main source of communication between leader and follower.

He also runs Soulzouk-nl, the go-to spot for regular SoulZouk classes in the Netherlands.

Rebekah

Rebekah Maher is a movement teacher and somatic practitioner based in London and Lanzarote.

She sees dance and movement as a full-body experience that integrates the physical, the emotional, the mental, and the spiritual. In her classes, Rebekah draws from her background in movement meditation, qigong, Pilates & eutony to create a holistic approach to movement.

Martin

Martin Konrad, based in Bonn, has been a SoulZouk teacher since 2019.

Integrating his experiences from other partner dances and Contact Improvisation, Martin puts a special focus on the idea of co-creation in dance: His classes center around empathic connection, self-expression, and building a basis for a creative and connected dance that's created equally by both partners. He is a specialist in leading techniques that emphasize a smooth experience for the follower.

Together with Simone and Holger, he runs Zoukernatural Bonn.

Klaudia

Meet Klaudia Potoniec, a Brazilian Zouk dancer and instructor from Poland. She teaches Zouk regularly to her local community in Cracow and gives workshops internationally.

When teaching, Klaudia focuses on technical aspects of the movement and body posture, combined with self-expression, feeling and flow. Her goal as a teacher: helping students to find pleasure in every moment and focusing on presence, connection and trust in your partner.

Kris

After training with China in Brazil for multiple years, Kris Leczek brought SoulZouk from Rio to Europe. As the first European SoulZouk teacher, he’s been teaching it for well over a decade.

Known for always bringing his full presence into the dance, Kris is an expert on soft and comfortable leading methods such as skin leading that are based around the follower's movements as well as the abilities and limitations of the follower’s body.

Holger

Holger Weber is a German Zouk teacher and DJ also known as DJ Phonon. Trained and certified in a wide range of Zouk styles, Holger draws from an unusually broad knowledge of contemporary Zouk, including Neozouk, MZouk, and SoulZouk.

As a life-long martial arts practitioner with a black belt in Kung Fu who also trains in Capoeira and Baguazhang, Holger is an expert in human physiology and body mechanics. He uses this knowledge to make even complex movements accessible to his students and help them carry out well-known moves in more effective and enjoyable ways.

He also runs Zoukernatural in Bonn alongside Simone and Martin.

Sandrine

Meet Sandrine from Toulouse, France! Building on a background in modern-jazz, contemporary, and contact improvisation, Sandrine has been teaching couple dances for more than 25 years.

Drawn to SoulZouk for its approach that prioritizes connection, kindness & feeling over looks, her classes center around creativity and respect for the individuality of each dancer.

François

François de Vieilleville is a French dancer and dance teacher from Toulouse.

A Latin dancer since 2013, François has been focusing on Brazilian Zouk exclusively since 2020.

Trained extensively in Rio Style and gifted with an analytical, down-to-earth teaching style, he loves to combine a connection-based approach with strong, solid foundations and clean technique.

Maria Pantc

Maria Pantc is Hungarian-Russian professional dancer and graduate from Moscow state academy of Classical choreography and folk dance. She worked as a principal dancer in a theatre, in Switzerland, and in UAE as a performer and choreographer, and has additional certifications for street jazz and contemporary.

Maria, who has been dancing Brazilian Zouk since 2009, has been teaching Zouk since 2011 and encountered SoulZouk in 2016.

Currently, she runs the dance school “SoulBeats” together with her partner Oleg.