Kadu and Larissa are Brazilian dance professionals who spend up to 46 weekends each year teaching, performing, choreographing and judging at the world’s most important dance events. They are dance partners since 2005. Some of their biggest achievements was to choreograph for So You Think You Can Dance Australia. They are the founders of Casa do Zouk event and Brazilian Zouk Council.
Learn from world renowned Brazilian dancers Kadu and Larissa. K&L classes explain technique, timing, connection on a series of movements and drills. More than 100 classes offered at sign up. Ask questions on the videos and have them answered by Kadu and Larissa. Join K&L’s monthly LIVE Q&A’s. Subscribe for as little as $27.99 USD per month and take your dance to the next level!
Casa Do Zouk is an exciting event dedicated to Brazilian Zouk lovers, being held at Mantra on View Hotel in Gold Coast – Australia on July 27 to 31st, 2023. More than 35 Brazilian zouk workshops and 4 nights of parties.
Brazilian Zouk World Championships – more than 40 hours of workshops with international and national dance teachers, 4 nights of parties, Phoenix, USA. August 17th to 21st, 2023
The gift every dancer wants! Choose the package most convenient for you you.
Subscribe for unlimited access to our Brazilian Zouk, Samba de Gafieira and Dance Conditioning classes.
Receive more than 100 classes at sign up. Enjoy your membership by clicking on the plan that suits you best.
Gold membership – USD39.99 per month
Zouk Dance definition by the Brazilian Zouk Dance Council.
Brazilian Zouk is a Latin dance which began in Brazil during the early 1990s. It originated from a Brazilian dance called Lambada with influences from Samba de Gafieira, Brazilian Bolero and Forró.
In the 80’s Lambada was a very popular dance in Brazil, especially in the night clubs in Rio de Janeiro. Over time, Lambada gained worldwide notoriety through films and it’s music.
What caused Lambada to lose its popularity?
In mid 90’s Brazilians discovered the rhythm Zouk from French Caribbean, which had many similarities with Lambada music. The Lambada lovers saw an opportunity to continue dancing their beloved dance style. Soon the Lambada dance style started to adapt to the Zouk music. However, Zouk music was slower than Lambada, so it was necessary to make alterations to the dance including to its basic steps.
This transformation happened in many states in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, Jaime Aroxa, Renata Peçanha and Adilio Porto at Jaime Aroxa Dance School realised that in class it was difficult to teach the Lambada basics on the spot. With the influence of other Brazilian dance styles such as Samba de Gafieira, they included a new basic travelling forward and backwards. The linear Salsa also influenced them to create linear movements like “Lateral” and “Bonus”, because the Lambada movements were all circular. These changes started to help students learn the dance faster. Following that, other movements were created such as “Raul”, “Soltinho” and “Bonus”, which gave origin to our popular basic kit.
Many of the teachers and students at Jaime Aroxa Dance School helped contribute to the spread of this new teaching methodology, which spread to other schools and other cities around the world.
In other states such as Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais, the transformation of Lambada to Brazilian Zouk Dance originated in different ways creating different styles of Brazilian Zouk.
Even though this dance gets its name from a French style of music, it is still considerate a Brazilian dance, based on its direct ties to Lambada and being created in Brazil by Brazilian dancers.
“I found the K&L Dance online classes to be extremely helpful. I love the simplicity and format you have for the online videos and I was able to learn a lot from it. Thanks for offering the online classes specially for dancers like me that don’t have the opportunity to learn from you on weekly basis.”
“Guys, you are amazing! Your workshops are so interesting and clear to understand that even the wooden man will start to dance! Your performance is the best Brazilian zouk show I’ve ever seen! Thank you once again for the job you have been doing in promotion of Brazilian zouk around the world!”
“K&L bring a special energy to every class that ensures everyone involved feels enthusiastic and happy about dance. Both teachers are able to give so many tips about both leading and following, styling and technique, which is always a bonus. When you join the classes at K&L Dance you really do feel like you are part of a close family of friends.”
“Estou aproveitando muito o modulo online classes for samba de gafieira. Acho que da forma que voces estruturaram as aulas online ficou muito bom, facil para aprender, com explicacoes bem construtivas e as dicas que voces dao me ajudam bastante. Obrigado Kadu e Larissa!”
“Kadu and Larissa represent the new flavour of Latin dance in Brazil, with more and more people throughout the world loving their new style. Superior technique, creativity and professionalism are their brand. Keep up the exceptional job, guys!”
“Kadu and Larissa are without a doubt two of the world’s best and most highly regarded Brazilian zouk and samba de gafieira dancers. I am proud to say, they are part of my dancing inspiration today. Go K&L!”
“I am new to Brazilian zouk and I really enjoyed the classes Kadu and Larissa taught at the first ever Dubai zouk congress I was part of. I was able to follow their instruction even though I have never had any dance training. Thanks for sharing. I’m taking my first trip to Brazil and hope to put my new skills to good use.”
I have been dancing Brazilian zouk for over two years now and I love taking the K&L classes at K&L Dance. Learning with Kadu and Larissa is truly inspirational, the classes are always amazing, the music is perfect and the moves that we learn are beautiful. I feel really privileged to be taught by two of the most outstanding zouk instructors in the world.”
I have done Larissa’s classes for more than 6 month and I have use the content to compliment my conditioning to improve my flexibility and strength in my whole body. I would fully recommend having Larissa as coach to develop your dancers body!
“I have been with Kadu and Larissa since they arrived in Australia and have loved them and their teaching techniques from day one. I always look forward to my classes because not only am I learning great Latin moves but because we always have fun too. If you are overseas check their instructional DVDs or online classes.”
“I really enjoyed the online classes and I think these classes were sometimes a little clearer than the instruction videos in terms of explaining the timing. The difficulty grade was also spot on. I also enjoyed the little jokes. Made me smile every time I watched the videos.”
