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Us vs Them: Bridging the Community Divide with Paloma Alves (S05 Ep81) · ZoukNerds • Learn | Build | Belong

0:00
I can see through the years how the diversity in our dance has
0:03
been growing. Any manifestation, any art
0:07
politics, there is always a conservative force and
0:10
progressive force. I think we have the tendency of
0:12
always thinking that before was better and now we are losing our
0:17
ways. I was there dancing, but
0:19
suffering so much, struggling, losing connection with myself.
0:23
And I keep pushing, pushing. Without those tools I was facing
0:27
perfectionism. I was facing lots of fear.
0:31
Fear to do mistake. Fear to not be accepted.
0:34
Fear to not receive validation. Over the years I came to realize
0:39
more and more and more that the artist mind doesn't only think
0:42
objectively. The artist mind.
0:44
I think more think subjectively. When you see someone do
0:47
something different, give yourself 5 seconds to breathe
0:51
before you react to that, because sometimes the first
0:55
reaction is just the impulse of resistance of something that is
0:59
new for you. How many times a Zook teacher
1:03
has told you to synchronize your breathing with a certain
1:07
movement, or to feel your grounding on the floor, to like
1:11
breathe into your belly, to ground yourself a little bit
1:14
more? You think this is Brazilian Zook
1:16
technique? I'm sorry to say I don't think
1:18
it is. Why is there so much as versus
1:24
them in the dance world lately? Whether it's choosing a quiet
1:29
retreat or a loud party or new moves over the traditional ones,
1:35
why do we feel the need to pick a side?
1:38
Is it possible that the thing you're resisting is actually
1:42
exactly what your dance needs? Well, let's find out.
1:48
Hello. Hello everyone, and welcome back
1:50
to Zook Nerds. In this episode, GI, Prada,
1:53
Paloma Alvarez, and I talk about judgement and the gaps in our
1:58
community. We chat about why it's so easy
2:02
to point fingers at different ways of dancing, the fear of
2:07
doing it wrong, and how to be kinder to each other when we
2:11
don't agree. Let's bring and keep our
2:14
community together even when we're all doing things a little
2:18
bit different. So let's go.
2:29
Hello, Hello everyone. My name is Alison Sanji and
2:33
let's welcome back our beautiful Co host, Gee Prada.
2:36
Hello, Gee. Hello, Alison.
2:38
Hello everybody, back to me back.
2:40
And if you're watching us in our video format, I think you can
2:44
already see that we have our beautiful Paloma Alvis back to
2:49
be back in with us. I need to say I'm happy to.
2:54
Be with us. Yeah, we're all back to the
2:56
back. So happy to be here.
2:58
Thank you. That's right everybody, we are
3:01
happy to have Paloma back with us once again.
3:06
Now that Key and Paloma are in their world tour, which please
3:11
make sure to check where they are, if they are near you and go
3:15
and attend their classes and get your transformation by learning
3:20
from these beautiful people. In today's episode, we're going
3:24
to be talking about the differences that exists between
3:29
people in the community, between groups in the community.
3:34
But it's kind of like in a Broadway.
3:37
It doesn't really just happen in the community.
3:41
For example, to understand the context here, some people like
3:45
to social dance early, some people like to social dance
3:48
late. Some people like to dance and
3:52
train a lot of technique and very cool moves.
3:57
Other people like to focus more on connection, on understanding
4:02
body mechanics and how to flow energy between the partners.
4:07
And some people, for example, when they're trying to improve
4:11
their confidence, we'll have a little drink before the party,
4:16
but other people will try to meditate, relax and center
4:20
themselves. Right?
4:21
We have all the different approaches to how we make our
4:26
dance better. And today we're going to be
4:28
talking about the lack of acceptance that there is in the
4:33
community when there are different approaches from
4:38
different groups, but only certain groups seem to receive
4:43
the negativity or the denial. Like, well, this is not part of
4:49
the dancing or this is not something that we do in
4:53
Brazilian Zook. It kind of like ties together
4:57
with the previous episodes that we've been doing, talking about
5:01
what is and what is not. Look, before we started
5:05
recording, we were discussing the topic like we always do.
5:09
And I was mentioning, you know, even in the progression of the
5:14
dance, right, as a dance got more modern and got other
5:20
influences from different styles, there were some people
5:24
that were more stuck to the roots and they were defending
5:28
and saying all of these new things that you guys are doing
5:31
are not part of the dance. And I'm saying dance because it
5:35
doesn't only happen in Brazilian Zook.
5:37
You can see that between bachata, Dominican and you can
5:41
see that between senso bachata and tango in all of the styles.
5:47
So that's what we're here to talk about today.
5:51
And let's start with you, Paloma, our beautiful Co host
5:56
and guest for today. What are the differences that
5:59
you see in the community that brings this sort of division and
6:05
disagreement that you think would be nice to bring to this
6:09
episode today? I got so many let's go so, so,
6:13
so many. Like let's start maybe sometimes
6:17
with a nostalgia. That's that.
6:19
I hear people say like, oh, I prefer 1 was like this many
6:24
years ago was just about dancing and connection, but today it's
6:31
so much more about performance and Jake and you.
6:34
And when I look back, was always there the element of performance
6:38
and the element of connection. It really depends for me of your
6:43
perspective, the way you look at the reality in front of you.
6:48
So sometimes I feel a little bit like naive because actually I
6:53
see more positive than negative. I can see through the years how
6:58
the diversity in our dance has been growing, Like we have so
7:02
much more different types of events.
7:05
For example, we have events that they highlight technique, Jack
7:11
and Jill, and we have events nowadays as retreats, inversions
7:15
that highlights techniques and tools for connection for people
7:20
have more body awareness and integration with themselves.
7:26
So it's pretty much about where you choose to be, what feels
7:32
more aligned with you. And then I see more complaints
7:36
like should not do that or this is not this.
7:40
And like why we don't accept that exists different that even
7:46
that we like the same thing. We're probably going to explore
7:49
the same thing in a different ways.
7:52
And we have containers. We have different containers.
7:56
So as you said before, has people that like to dance late
8:00
night and has people nowadays that like to dance during the
8:05
day. I was this person, the first
8:07
social in the afternoon for me was very weird.
8:11
Like, no, I don't like that has no atmosphere here.
8:15
Like what is the vibe? You know, until the moment that
8:19
like, you know what, let me try, Let me fully try.
8:22
Let me put aside my resistance to really check if I don't like
8:27
that. I'm not saying that we are
8:29
obligated to like the same things, but I'm using my example
8:35
to say like at some point I was like, wow, that's very cool.
8:38
That's different, is a different atmosphere is a different pipe
8:43
and I'm also enjoy that. So nowadays I like both and I
8:47
even say like I start to really to prefer more parties that are
8:52
earlier and not so late because I'm changing my routine, you
8:56
know. And I'm not to say that the
8:59
people that still like to dance until late night, they are
9:02
wrong. Oh my gosh, they are doing
9:04
something very bad for their health.
9:06
And for me that is the point when we starts to change.
9:09
We want people sometimes change together with us instead of
9:12
allow them to have their own path and their own pace.
9:17
Yeah, When we talk about this topic now, the tools that we use
9:21
in the different ways, people get ready, people prepare,
9:23
people experience the dance, it comes back to mind.
9:27
Something that I observe in my studies of human nature, of
9:31
human being humans, is that everywhere there is a
9:35
conservative force and there is like a progressive force.
9:38
Any manifestation, any art, politics.
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Yeah, we don't even need to talk about politics because it's all
9:45
about politics. But there is always a
9:48
conservative force and a progressive force, and I think
9:52
all of us at some point we switch back and forth between
9:56
wanting to keep stuff the way it is and wanting to change stuff
10:00
to a new thing. So sometimes when people are
10:02
more in a conservative vibe and wanting to maintain things the
10:06
way they are, they see the people who bring something new
10:10
to change and the first reaction is resistance.
10:14
And the people who are bringing these things, look at those who
10:17
are trying to keep stuff and say, oh, you are outdated.
10:20
You are staying behind. This is not what it is today.
10:23
We need to keep going. And then at some point, the
10:26
progressive ones get old. You know, hey, they want
10:31
convenience. They settle into their ways.
10:33
And then they become the new people who are trying to keep
10:36
things as they are, forgetting sometimes that they were the
10:41
spearheads of a change back and then when they started or
10:46
something, or something like that.
10:47
And we just watched them very recently.
10:50
The old video about wear sunscreen, I don't know if you
10:54
guys remember this one. Wear Sunscreen was 2004, seven,
10:58
very old. And one of the moments of the
11:03
speech, the guy says things will get expensive and politicians
11:10
will do their thing. Now politicians will be
11:12
politicians, but then when we get old, we're always going to
11:16
say that things were cheaper and the politicians were more honest
11:21
or something like that. So we, I think we have the
11:24
tendency of always thinking that before was better and now we are
11:30
losing our ways. And there's a part of me that
11:34
agrees with one point in what comes to Brazilianism, because I
11:37
started teaching 2000 and 1718 and I started teaching about
11:42
embrace, about this includes your partner.
11:45
And that was the hype at the moment.
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So it was very easy to go to a social and people were holding
11:51
each other more. The songs were slower.
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I even remember one time that I went to a social and I asked DJ,
11:57
please, can you play some traditional music, the law of
12:01
the gods. And then when the DJ said, yeah,
12:04
OK, I'm going to play a traditional song.
12:05
And then he played a remix from Kaka.
12:07
That was his understanding. All traditional music, you know.
12:11
And then I went around giving the DJs, some DJs in the West,
12:15
my old folders of traditional music because they didn't know.
12:19
So they were playing different kind of music, which therefore
12:23
creates a different kind of dance and hearing and going to
12:28
the socials where because of the music that is being played most
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of the time, the nature of the dance changes naturally.
12:34
I don't think that's normal. Our dance precedence became what
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it is because there was a change in the music that was being
12:41
played in the social. But in the end of the day, I
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think it's good for us to observe in each moment of our
12:48
journey, where are we right now? Are we in the conservative train
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or are we in the progressive training, right?
12:55
Are we in this moment of our journey wanting to keep things a
12:58
certain way or are we wanting to take it to a different place,
13:03
Take it to, you know, to a different level of understanding
13:07
or awareness. And sometimes this taking to a
13:10
different place can bring back something or add something to
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it. I think.
13:16
So for my own observations of my own experience of this dance,
13:21
both as a teacher, as a facilitator, as organizer, as a
13:25
community leader, and as a hardcore social dancer.
13:30
I try to be aware of my own biases and understanding.
13:35
Do I want to keep something or do I want to change something?
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And most of the time, I feel inclined to change something
13:43
because I think there is something that we can improve
13:46
every time. And that doesn't mean that we
13:48
are moving away from what the dance is, that we are stripping
13:53
away the characteristics of what makes President Zook, President
13:57
Zook in terms of dance, the art itself or how we practice it,
14:02
like the social dancing and the teaching of it.
14:05
Let's talk about some specifics here.
14:08
What elements, techniques or practices that you would like to
14:13
see or to bring into the dance and would hope that people would
14:19
be more accepting? .0 like so many, for example, I
14:24
know that sometimes we have a short time, one hour for
14:28
example, in a course or one hour in a regular class.
14:33
And that for me as a teacher is is still a challenge to give
14:38
ideas. Yeah, I just said yesterday for
14:42
another teacher that I feel comfortable sometimes in the
14:45
container that I teach immersions or retreats, that I
14:48
feel that I can go deeper with the students in those elements.
14:53
Like I can start the class giving exercise for body
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awareness. I can start the class with
14:59
exercise for breathing or somatic dynamics that for me
15:04
help us to be out of their mind and be more in the body.
15:09
So and then people are already feel more, let's say,
15:12
comfortable with themselves, not so much in their heads like I'm
15:17
doing this right. I'm enough like I will be able,
15:21
I will be capable, you know, So I love those tools because helps
15:28
and thinks that as a dancer, I struggle so much and for so many
15:34
years, like I was there dancing, training, but suffering so much
15:38
inside of my head, struggling few block, losing my creativity,
15:43
losing connection with myself, with others.
15:47
And I keep pushing, pushing without those tools.
15:51
So those tools appear into my life more since pandemic, and it
15:55
was out of the scene of dance because I was studying by myself
16:00
about some things and why I started to do those.
16:04
I started to meet people that were doing things similar and I
16:08
was like, wow, that's amazing. But in then when I'm gold dance
16:13
with everyone or like in a different containers, I see
16:18
people still struggling with that.
16:21
So for me as a part of this community, if I'm always asking
16:27
myself like, how can I give more ideas?
16:29
How can I promote more those things?
16:34
And as you said before, it feels a little bit of the resistance
16:37
or this is not, look, I prefer to keep learning these or to
16:41
keep learning that for me, it's totally OK.
16:44
Like it's part of your integrity if you are doing exactly what
16:49
makes sense for you at this moment, you know, But in my
16:54
dreams, like we will find more ways to bring more those
17:01
elements. I don't know.
17:02
It starts a Congress, for example, instead of a class,
17:06
maybe people sit, they talk about some topics, or maybe they
17:12
have a consentment class, or maybe they have a full somatic
17:17
dynamic for them arrive at this space or then feel already like
17:23
welcome that they look to each other and say like, oh heck,
17:27
thank you so much for being here.
17:29
It's because you are here that we are able to lead this
17:32
experience. But it's so many, you know,
17:35
like, and when I'm saying those things, I'm not saying that the
17:39
other containers are doing something wrong.
17:42
You know, that's just me believing that as he said,
17:48
things will keep changing. We have this rule in our
17:53
dimension here that is impermanent exists.
17:57
Every day we change a little bit.
18:00
So I don't believe we can hold things as they are.
18:04
Sometimes it is part of our nature to man things, things in
18:09
the way we know. So they unknown can be very
18:12
scary and I respect that. I respect each person that say
18:16
oh, but I'm afraid of these, I'm afraid of that.
18:19
But after the fear, what we can see, it's better to stay here,
18:24
stopped, freeze and one face just because of fear or with
18:31
love and kindness, we can find a ways to grow together to accept.
18:36
Because what I see is each person can bring a different
18:39
idea and let's check. But sometimes we lose so much
18:44
time just trying to be right. No, that's best.
18:48
No, that, no, this is the way we came here to be different and we
18:54
have in common the love for Zook, but we're going to
18:58
experience this in a different way.
19:00
Even in the room, each person we're going to receive the same
19:04
technique is slightly different or in a huge different way.
19:09
So I saw I felt a huge impact on my dance, on my mindset when I
19:17
start to apply somatic dynamics meditation.
19:22
And because it's part of my source of motivation as a
19:28
teacher to give what makes difference in my journey that I
19:32
wanted to bring more of those tools to the students.
19:37
I wanted to give some help about things that I didn't received in
19:43
my journey for make them feel more safe and confident and the
19:48
moment they are like and not just oh, I need to learn all of
19:52
those movements for I can be accept I need to does in a
19:56
certain way for I can belong. No, I really want to make them
20:01
believe that they belong now. And our dance has so much
20:06
diversity. And that's the beauty of Zook
20:10
Inc. In many aspects, music, as you
20:13
guys said, so many different types of music and so many
20:18
different ways nowadays, so many techniques and that I got you.
20:23
We have been growing so much. If you put the teachers side by
20:29
side, all of them, we're going to explore the same movements in
20:33
a different way. Our dance allowed us to have
20:37
identity. We don't really need to do
20:40
exactly the same thing. So, yeah, so many impacts from
20:45
those things. And one of those was to realize
20:48
that, yes, at the beginning in my dance journey, I went to my
20:52
class and I was out of my mind. I was so, like, hypnotized by my
20:58
feature, doing things that I want to reproduce and do in the
21:01
same way. But the more I was growing, more
21:04
I was studying, become professional, I was so much more
21:08
in my head, so much pressure, so much expectation.
21:11
I was facing perfectionism, I was facing lots of fear.
21:17
Fear to do mistake, fear to not be accepted, fear to not receive
21:23
validation, you know, so and then when I start to do somatic
21:27
dynamics, and we're going to give one example, one of them is
21:31
to do a strong way of breathing like collie breath that you're
21:37
breathing. You put your thumb out and you
21:40
keep doing cycles of this breathing for one minutes, 2
21:44
minutes, 3 minutes, and you open your chest and you keep doing
21:48
that in the first class one hour, doing this in a different
21:52
positions. I start to cry and I'm like,
21:55
why? I'm crying, what I'm holding
21:58
here inside of my body. So I sit with that and many
22:02
insides comes and I remember I was in Bali when I was doing
22:07
this class. So I did this class maybe 4-4
22:11
weeks in a row and I remember that I went to the social and I
22:16
was feeling so different. My body was feeling so much more
22:21
released. I was less pants, I was feeling
22:23
more present because yes, even being a teacher, even being
22:28
dancing for 18 years, when I embrace someone, sometimes I'm
22:32
like, OK, what's going to happen?
22:35
But, and slowly I was feeling that impact of this practice
22:40
that I didn't understand what was doing with me, what was
22:43
really the purpose. Later on I start to study more
22:47
about Kriya Yoga. So this practice comes from
22:50
Kriya yoga. I even did the course, the first
22:54
model to teach and I was like, oh, now I get it.
23:00
So this type of dynamics, it's so far away from the
23:05
understanding. It's so much more than just
23:08
feeling the body move, the body breathe and let whatever comes
23:13
be welcome, whatever emotion, because our body has the
23:17
capacity to register many emotions for us to keep going,
23:22
to not deal with them. When we are dancing, we register
23:27
emotions to sometimes we feel fear, joy, pleasure, discomfort,
23:32
comfort. So I saw that outside of the
23:37
dance, something that can improve my dance.
23:40
And I believe, and I keep believing this so much more,
23:45
that all the aspects in my personal life can affect my
23:50
dance. The aspects in my dance can
23:53
affect my personal life. We cannot separate those things.
23:57
And that's my belief. And I was like, yes, we have
24:01
amazing techniques and if we drink more, it can be better.
24:07
And that's my perception. That is from my own experience.
24:11
And this is not new and that I think it's something easy to
24:15
forget. It's not new.
24:17
Over the years I came to realize more and more and more that the
24:20
artist mind doesn't only think objectively.
24:25
The artist mind, I think more, think subjectively.
24:28
All doesn't think. There is a level of embodiment.
24:32
There is a level of being guided by your senses, being guided by
24:36
your instincts, being guided by something that you cannot put a
24:40
word to it. And that guide is, you know,
24:44
brings you to creation. It's something that I think it
24:47
needs to be awakened. It needs to be pulled out of
24:51
your soul because everybody is artists, everybody has that
24:55
potential. The main problem, the main issue
24:59
in our society is that we are a lot in our heads.
25:02
There is this very famous Ted talk that the guy says
25:05
humorously that our body is just something that take our heads
25:10
from one meeting to the other and we don't get you connected
25:14
with our bodies. So partner dancing Brazilians
25:16
look is one way to connect with our bodies by understanding this
25:20
language where we learn that if we do this, it's called lateral.
25:24
If we do that, it's called Virajin and we can go a whole
25:29
journey doing lateral Virajin, a bond simple turn to without
25:35
feeling those movements in our bodies beyond the objectiveness
25:40
of a good and clear execution. So in my training days in Rio,
25:48
we had ballet, we had Jess, we had contacting Prof we had
25:53
stretching, we had theater from time to time and we had crazy
25:58
shit that I cannot. There isn't a name for it.
26:01
You know, the teacher would just go lower the lights, go do stuff
26:06
and in no point they explain how that relates to the dance.
26:11
This thing here, you can use your dance like this.
26:14
In no point there was such an explanation because the whole
26:17
idea was to work the artist, work the body deep in
26:20
environment, working our touch. So we were left with our own
26:25
devices to figure out how that applies to dance and not even
26:28
figuring out. It's a silent process of
26:31
developing awareness that by default helps with your dance.
26:36
And then my name pad peeve these days as a teacher and as a
26:40
speaker is something that we talked about in our episode that
26:44
we called defensive teaching, right?
26:46
Even here when we're talking in the podcast, we do a little bit
26:49
of defensive speaking because we say something and next thing we
26:53
say, what do you say, guys? I'm not saying da, da, da, da.
26:57
I don't mean we need to explain what we are not saying so we
27:02
can't be understood in what we are saying because we are scared
27:05
of what people are going to understand that we are not
27:07
saying. We do this a lot in our lives.
27:10
We do this here. It's all about the cancer
27:12
culture, right? So much, so much.
27:16
And then when we are teaching a class that has a Cali breath,
27:20
when we are teaching a class that has ruling on each other,
27:24
we're teaching a class terrorists for the 1st 10
27:26
minutes, we're just teaching and talking.
27:28
There is this. Pool.
27:30
For us to explain, OK, in the dance, this is here, this is
27:34
here in the dance, this thing that we just did is here and
27:36
here in the dance. So then we can convince people
27:39
that what we are doing is important.
27:42
You know, and I think here I would like to invite everybody
27:46
to see everything as something that can improve your dance
27:49
because improves your awareness as a human being of your body.
27:53
So yesterday we were watching a new show, Netflix super cool
27:56
called The Philosopher's Kitchen.
27:58
That is a docu series that follows that nun, that Buddhist
28:03
nun in Korea who is very famous about temple cuisine.
28:08
And she at certain points or I get goosebumps because she had
28:12
certain points. She talks about using your hands
28:14
to cook and she talks about the importance of touching the food.
28:18
And then she makes the Super philosophy, touching the food
28:21
connects with nature, connects with the texture, connects with
28:24
the temperature. You put your energy on the food.
28:28
You know all. We will talk like all the hippie
28:31
talk, a Buddhist nun. And then three star Michelin
28:35
chefs travel. People travel to see her doing
28:40
her pickling technique, to see her doing her thing because her
28:43
food has something different about it.
28:47
And then when she speaks about it, you're like, man, she's a
28:50
hippie. She's a hardcore hippie.
28:53
No, but she's a Buddhist monk. And when I'm watching anything
29:01
about cooking, about dancing, about art in any shape or form,
29:05
comedy, painting, writing, I can make an immediate association
29:10
with my own art, with dance. This was something that was
29:13
developed and an acceptance that came over time that I don't need
29:19
to know every single time how that will improve my dance.
29:24
I know it will because I'm aware of my breath a little bit more.
29:29
That improves my dance. I'm aware of my touch a little
29:31
bit more. That definitely improves my
29:33
dance, you know, so any activity my people that you are invited
29:38
to do, although you might not know exactly right away the
29:42
reason for it and how that will improve your dance.
29:44
That will improve your dance because it is improving your
29:49
soul, your body to be more aware, to be more connected.
29:53
This if you're open in the experience, if you are receiving
29:57
the experience with openness and not just saying why are we doing
30:00
this? Because I think that's the issue
30:03
that we have sometimes with the disagreements that people see an
30:07
event or a class that doesn't have dancing all the time, where
30:11
people are not doing the configurations of Brazilian
30:14
Zook, but they are doing something else.
30:17
This is not the dance. This is not for the Brazilian
30:21
Zook environment, you know. And it is because in the end and
30:26
embraces the concept of multidisciplines.
30:29
The multidisciplinary student. We are all multidisciplinary
30:33
people. We all learn geography, math,
30:36
history, we all learn all the disciplines and some point we
30:40
choose one and we went to university for those of us went
30:44
to university and we dive deep. And then after years of and
30:48
years working, no, that's not what I want, and move and change
30:52
to the next thing. And also, yeah, we are
30:55
multidisciplinary creatures. Brazilian Zook is a
30:58
multidisciplinary dance. He has the body, he has boleri,
31:01
he has sun, he has Zook. It has the whole thing.
31:03
Fusion. It's a fusion.
31:05
So the multidisciplines, they not only involve disciplines of
31:09
movements, but they can also involve disciplines of
31:12
breathing, disciplines of attunement that are also related
31:17
to the body. But they can be really far from
31:20
what we understand as a Brazilian partner dance.
31:24
And that's OK if everything is done with awareness, with
31:28
consent, with knowing what we are doing and knowing what we
31:32
are going for. Yeah.
31:33
Because if I play devil's advocate to the thing that I'm
31:37
saying, I'd say that people sometimes go for the event
31:40
expecting something and then they get something else.
31:43
So that's on us. That didn't get you guys.
31:46
You're going to experience different things here.
31:48
Yeah. There's different things you
31:50
might not see right away. The reason why you might not see
31:52
why we're doing these things. So are you game?
31:56
Are you well for it? You know, it can be soft.
31:59
It can be intense and also it's like it's up to us to provide
32:03
the clarity in what people are coming to experience.
32:07
Yeah. But in the end of the day, I
32:09
think embracing the multi disciplines without necessarily
32:12
knowing how that's going to help immediately our dance can be
32:17
extremely beneficial for us, for the individual that dances, for
32:22
the community. Yeah, because I think it'll be
32:24
more curiosity, there'll be more acceptance, and we will enjoy
32:30
this dance differently because there is a big chance that we
32:34
might connect with not only the movements, but the quality of
32:39
the movements, the texture of the movements, the feeling of
32:43
the movements. Then you're going to find out
32:44
that your favorite movement is bonus because how it makes you
32:48
feel as you turn, or that your favorite movement is Balon
32:52
Pagada. Because when your head is back
32:54
and your chest is open, like, Oh my God, I'm receiving the gifts
32:58
of the gods, you know, you start to find your preferences in
33:02
terms of movement because how they make you feel while you do
33:06
it, you know, and that is somatic.
33:09
And that's it. Sit.
33:12
I'm done. I think it's all about
33:13
perspective, right? I remember reading a book that
33:19
really, really changed me because it was talking about how
33:23
to learn things. And interestingly enough, one
33:27
thing that the book kept telling me or telling the reader to do
33:33
is to try not to learn everything in the book.
33:37
So it was very, very confusing because I've always had this
33:44
idea that if I'm not learning everything, I have to go back
33:48
and I cannot go forward until I've learned that one thing
33:51
before. Like everything has to be
33:54
checked, all the T's have to be crossed, all the I's have to be
33:58
dot. I cannot miss one thing.
34:01
That was how I was learning before that book.
34:06
And that book pretty much was always saying that you're going
34:10
to learn what you're ready to learn in this moment.
34:14
Don't try to read each page 10 times.
34:18
Just keep reading, keep moving, keep going, because you're going
34:22
to absorb different things at different times.
34:25
In two months or maybe next week, come back and read the
34:29
book again, or come back and read the chapter again.
34:32
Every time you read the book or every time you read the chapter,
34:36
you're going to learn something different because that's what
34:39
your body and your mind is ready to learn in that moment.
34:42
So that to me connects a lot with how we deal with learning
34:47
in every aspect of life, but especially in Dense when we say
34:52
that this is not something that I'm learning anything from.
34:57
So I go to a class and I'm like, ah, no, these teachers, they
35:01
were doing this weird thing and I didn't learn anything from it.
35:05
To me, that's the fault of the student, not the fault of the
35:09
teacher. Because the teacher had a full
35:13
banquet of food, a full table of food day, offering a little bit
35:19
of everything, the whole class. But the person looked at the
35:23
table and said there's nothing here for me.
35:26
It wasn't that the teacher didn't have anything to offer,
35:30
but they denied. They didn't even give the
35:33
teacher the chance. Because to me, when you go to a
35:37
class and you're open, you're really open, you're going to try
35:42
a little bit of everything, but you may be in the class and not
35:47
even try. So just attending the class to
35:51
me is not enough. Sometimes it may be a little
35:55
uncomfortable because it's the first time you're experiencing
35:58
it. And I think a little bit of
36:00
discomfort, it's OK, you know, if it gets a little too heavy or
36:05
start shifting things in you in a way that is not pleasant,
36:09
maybe take a step to the side and talk to somebody or
36:12
something like that. But I think that when I don't
36:15
learn something in the class, I question like what way was I
36:20
denying the information or what is something that I need to
36:24
improve to be able to learn that information Because I am sure
36:31
there's a lot of value there. I just cannot understand and I
36:36
cannot absorb that right now. For example, these kind of
36:40
things that you guys are talking about, if you talk to me 10-15
36:43
years ago, I'll just go like, yeah, OK, whatever next because
36:47
I wasn't even interested in being open to it.
36:51
But like you've also experienced as time moved on, you started
36:55
seeing how things are connected in ways that it's always been
36:59
there. We just didn't allow ourselves
37:02
to go like, oh, OK, let me dive deep into it, guys.
37:06
We're dancers here. How many times a Zook teacher
37:11
has told you to synchronize your breathing with a certain
37:16
movement, or to feel your grounding on the floor, to like
37:21
breathe into your belly, to ground yourself a little bit
37:24
more? You think this is Brazilian Zook
37:27
technique? I'm sorry to say I don't think
37:30
it is. I think it's some technique that
37:33
we learned from other practices that we're like, hey, you know,
37:38
this is very useful for what we do.
37:40
But are we labeling this as like some somatic techniques or some
37:46
woo woo techniques? No, we're just saying this is
37:48
Zook technique. But it's, I mean, it became Zook
37:52
technique in my opinion, or it became part of the dance
37:56
overtime. But really it comes from things
38:00
way before this dance was born. So that's how I try to look at
38:05
how I learn things. Be open to everything, be open
38:10
to experience whatever is there and trust that the facilitator
38:15
has a point that may not be clear to you today.
38:20
And maybe it's going to click in the future.
38:23
But you can also be a little bit proactive in that approach of
38:28
going like, OK, how did I not open myself?
38:32
And so then you can do better next time instead of just, you
38:35
know, I'm not worrying about it until it comes to you.
38:39
I was like to add what you said about the class.
38:42
It's for life, and it's for life inside of the community.
38:47
When you see someone do something different, when you
38:50
see someone expressing a different opinion, give yourself
38:55
5 seconds to breathe before you react to that.
39:00
Because sometimes the first reaction is just the impulse of
39:04
resistance of something that is new for you.
39:08
First, you always can trust your intuition, your inside guidance
39:14
to say like this is for me this is not yes, totally.
39:18
But before you decided give yourself 510 seconds to like
39:25
just contemplate, observe, then check with yourself.
39:28
This makes sense. Maybe not for now, maybe in the
39:31
future. Like give yourself time and also
39:35
give is space for others to do things that is different then
39:41
what you like then what is common for you.
39:45
You know, because by giving a space for others to do different
39:49
things, you can have different aspects around you.
39:54
East and of avoiding it stand off like point the finger.
39:59
I believe when we open ourselves, not just for new
40:04
techniques, we start to be open to have more acceptance and this
40:10
for me helps the community to be more a healthy container for
40:15
everyone, feel welcome. That's.
40:19
To think that I want to stay to ascend.
40:22
Yeah, because at some point we all congregate in the same
40:24
place. Some people start to dance in a
40:28
regular class container coming to their level ones, their basic
40:32
ones. Some people start to dance.
40:35
I've had several experiences in which the Weekender, there were
40:39
a couple of people who that was their very first Zook
40:43
experience, residence experience was during the weekend, their
40:46
boot camps. And we also have experienced
40:48
people starting their journey in the dance in a retreat so many
40:53
times. There was one case, the guy was
40:55
at the airport about to board to Bali and somehow he found the
41:00
retreat sign up at the airports and got you no idea I was going
41:06
on. And then the same person
41:08
realized, Oh my God, this is the whole thing, and then hired the
41:11
local teacher for private lessons.
41:13
So we had the class happening downstairs and then in the
41:15
breaks he was upstairs private lessons catching up.
41:19
And this happened a couple times.
41:21
At some points though, we all congregate in the same space.
41:25
So I think every avenue, every pathway into the dance, every
41:31
pipeline we have into the dance is beneficial for the growth of
41:35
the dance because at some point these people will come together
41:40
somewhere. You know, I have seen people
41:42
that started the experience of dancing in retreats and then
41:46
move into the festivals. And then there they are in
41:49
Griggle season in Brazil going really crazy in the training.
41:52
And then I have seen people that started over here and then move
41:56
to the retreats. So there is like this back and
41:59
forth flow of people and the congregation that happens time
42:03
to time. Just realizing that men, all the
42:07
channels are open and people are going through all of them.
42:11
And our exercise of understanding, of looking at it
42:15
is really hard not to criticize our bias.
42:18
They are really strong. And even if we try not to
42:21
criticize, sometimes we do criticize.
42:24
I criticize from time to time certain aspects and then come
42:28
into realization. Then Allison, like you were
42:31
saying 15 years ago will be like, OK, pass next readiness
42:36
for it. It was not there yet.
42:39
And then realizing sometimes that in my own bias there is
42:44
just my preferences being expressed, things that I like
42:47
right now, things that I don't like right now.
42:49
And it's not a problem of the thing, it's just my resonance
42:53
with The thing is lower and allowing myself, when there is
42:58
space for it, to give a chance to that thing to see maybe we
43:01
can resonate together. And I have had good experiences
43:04
in this way. Got to the place, it resonated,
43:07
it was amazing. And got experience in which got
43:10
to the place. Yeah, really doesn't.
43:13
But I was there. I experienced that.
43:15
Felt in my skin in other situations too, realizing I
43:20
didn't like it initially, but maybe what happens if I go
43:23
again, because at that point is what's happening that was
43:26
happening. So there are other circumstances
43:29
that was not only the event or the workshop or the practices
43:33
that were keeping us away. I remember there was a practice
43:36
in Bali they called the Gibberish meditation, where
43:39
people walk around as religious, just gibberishing.
43:43
And Paulo and I always set out. We were like, no, no, no.
43:47
I think for now this is not now. This is too much for me.
43:51
But as I was sitting out of the practice, I was thinking, why am
43:56
I out? Why is this discomfort that I'm
43:59
feeling and analyzing the discomfort instead of, oh, this
44:04
is a silly practice, you know, why are we doing this?
44:08
So I feel at least satisfied with the fact that I didn't
44:13
judge the practice. I just judge myself.
44:18
Like why? I'm sitting out where everybody
44:21
else is in there. So it's just invitations that I
44:25
think Paloma said there. So the thing that you don't
44:28
agree that you don't like, that you don't think it's the thing,
44:31
just give it a couple seconds. Just breathe in, breathe out and
44:36
see maybe maybe some people are finding the dance over there.
44:40
Maybe some people are really enjoying their experience over
44:42
there. The dance is still there.
44:45
I think the dance is still preserved.
44:47
It's more the manifestation of it that changes from time to
44:52
time. And I really think we are in a
44:54
position of privilege in be able to experience all these
44:59
different manifestations. We wore a Brazooki with Alison.
45:03
Is a festival, a Congress? Then we went to a Weekender in a
45:07
smaller scene. Then we are in a weekend in a
45:10
big scene. Our Class 2 days ago, yesterday,
45:13
I don't know so many people. And then we are moving into
45:18
another festival that has intensives and then we are going
45:21
to other weekenders and then we are moving to a residency.
45:24
You know, so we experiencing the dancing, all these different
45:28
manifestations and there is beauty in all of them.
45:30
And I think sometimes we reject something because just because
45:35
we don't know. And the invitation is how much
45:40
space do I have to get to know? And if I don't have space to get
45:44
to know, I want to sit in my own wonderings of why trying really
45:49
hard not to attack the thing that I don't have the space to
45:53
get to know. And that's hard.
45:56
It's really much easier said than done.
45:58
But will you hear the invitation?
46:01
So something that you said reminds me something that I saw
46:06
at Tony Robbins in Russian that we did online that he says about
46:12
seasons. And if I look back, I was in my
46:16
summer at the beginning when I was like exciting and obsessed
46:21
to learn how to do spins. Like I was fully obsessed with
46:26
that. Just one second, guys, real
46:28
quick. And the seasons of life that
46:30
Tony Robbins says. So you have your winter, your
46:33
spring, your summer, and your fall.
46:36
And the seasons are aligned to your age.
46:39
But in this case, this season can also be aligned to your
46:42
journey in general. Yeah, like I was, as I say,
46:47
everything that I saw in my life can be an emotion about self
46:50
growth, can be a book I combine with my dance journey.
46:55
So when I look back, I see that I was a different source of
46:59
motivation, you know, and during my dance journey, it changed.
47:03
So my invitations for you to sit with yourself and check what is
47:09
aligned with me right now, I'm missing something where I can
47:13
search for instead of looking in front of you and say, oh, I
47:16
don't have this. I don't have that really check
47:19
because our community, this spreads in so many different
47:25
elements, as he said, in so many ways of manifestation.
47:30
So we have different types of songs, we have different types
47:33
of teaching, different types of containers, different events,
47:38
socials. We have like, oh, a huge
47:43
umbrella of elements. So sit with yourself and check
47:48
because you always have the answer of what you truly want at
47:53
this moment and what is maybe that too.
47:57
They're going to help you to express more your art that lives
48:02
inside of you. Search more inside instead of
48:06
like looking outside and judging the outside.
48:10
That's my invitation. That's so beautiful guys.
48:14
Well, thank you for this amazing episode.
48:18
Another one with both of you. Always the best, and I hope that
48:23
this has clarified to people what these practices can bring
48:28
to their dance and hopefully to their life as well.
48:32
The idea here is to open doors, not to divide groups.
48:38
So if you liked it, please help us grow this community by
48:42
liking, subscribing, following, sharing this with your friends.
48:46
And we are excited to have Paloma back with us again and
48:50
we'll see you on the next episode.
48:53
So thank you. Thank you, everybody.
48:55
Patience, patience, Abrasus and Ciao everyone.
49:00
Bye bye.