I’ve heard about zouk for awhile and have always wanted to try it. I knew of Jean’s reputation of producing good zouk dancers,hence I decided to join her class. Jean’s passion for zouk shines through whenever she teaches. She is a great technical teacher who will push you to be the best dancer you can be. I would definitely recommend going to Jean if you want to be a great zouk dancer.

Back to student testimonials.

After dwelling for some time on taking Zouk classes, I finally decided to take Jean’s class after some friends wanted to take Zouk classes too.

We decided on taking Jean’s class because she emphasizes the fundamentals and ensures that we have the basics right, so that it becomes a habit. With the right fundamentals, we can have a lot more fun on the dance floor.

While Jean’s classes focuses on one or two moves per class, we’re able to practice a lot on these moves, and we can make a lot of different patterns just from these moves. With an hour of body movement & another hour of pattern movement, that’s a lot of dancing for 2 hours. This brings me to my next point – free refreshers. You can always come back for more. With free refreshers, a lot of senior dancers are always back at Jean’s class to improve their dance. That’s why I would recommend anyone to take Zouk’s classes with Jean. While correcting your skills in class, you can always practice it during their weekly Pure Zouk socials.

Back to student testimonials.

I have found that Brazilian Zouk allows me to enjoy every single beat and melody in the music that I am dancing to. It is a universal language that allows me to connect and communicate with both dance friends and people I have just met. Really fun!!

Jean is one of the most passionate and dedicated instructors in the world. She is thinking about Brazilian Zouk 24/7 and she keeps upgrading and adapting her style of teaching, so that students are able to grasp the fundamentals to build a strong foundation. Jean tells what is right or wrong clearly for students to improve their technique. She is honest in her critique and gives valuable feedback which is key to a student’s learning process. Her teaching style is ideal for dancers looking to build strong fundamentals, and also those looking to improve and take their dance to the next level. Brazilian Zouk is not an easy dance and Jean makes sure that her students start on the right foot 🙂 with the correct technique during beginner classes. I feel very lucky to be in Singapore to take classes with Jean. I like the Zouk Dance Academy community where everyone is warm, friendly and fun.

Back to student testimonials.

I first learnt about zouk quite a few years ago, a few months after I started learning salsa. It was at a school social, where they played music with a distinctive beat that was neither salsa, bachata or chacha. Curious, I asked an old-timer and was told that it was “Zouk”. The beat stuck in my head, and I got even more interested when I saw the flowy movements–it was a style that appealed to me. But it was only a couple of years after that, in 2014, that I finally got down to taking lessons from Jean.

Much as I love movement and dance and yearn to look good doing so, I’m not the most naturally coordinated or bodily aware person so learning about techniques and fundamentals and getting personally corrected on them matter a lot to me. Jean’s one of the really rare teachers who has the patience and puts in the effort to explain concepts to you and makes sure you get it–even if you have five right arms, two left feet and are blur like a sotong. She’s strict and precise, but in an encouraging, motivating way. And she never fails to share insights about zouk and dancing, which makes you love it all the more.

I especially like how we spend the start of the class warming up (and getting reminded of) fundamentals, before we move on to the move of the day, in which we have to apply those fundamentals. You get a really strong foundation, which is very important for any dance.

I came to Jean when I’d already had experience learning other dances as an adult, such as ballet, Argentine tango and contemporary dance. What really struck me was how she’d get us to feel for ourselves concepts like engaging your core muscles, which I’d come to realize were really important in any form of dance, and, since zouk is a social dance, about properly leading/following. These are concepts that a lot of teachers take for granted that their students already know–which is not always the case. I took a long journey before I found out, I’m glad that students who start their dance journey with Jean will find out sooner than I did!