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