Communicating Intention

Communication is the most beautiful aspect of zouk. So far we’ve build a repertoire of concepts around movement. But how does the conversation happen?

How to communicate your intention

Using Frame

Frame is arguably not the most important concept when it comes to communicating intention, but it is likely the easiest to understand. So we’ll start with frame so we have some context to work with.

Frame is related to the energy you have in your arms, hands, and shoulders. You can think of frame not unlike the frame of a painting pinned in one spot. If you want to rotate the painting, just apply some force to the edge of the painting. For some styles of dancing, this is all that is needed to communicate with your partner. The lead can push the follow in a direction or rotate them. In this sense, for these styles of dances, the lead is placing their intentional through literal physical energy transmitted through the joints of the follow - steering them.

In zouk frame is a bit different (with some exceptions). Frame is not rigidity - it’s responsive structure. A good frame communicates direction, speed, and intention without force. I like think of zouk actually as primarily a mind-to-mind using the body as a medium of communication. This is emphasised moreso in the discussion around having a Dense BodyDense BodyThe follower's ability to maintain a connected, 'dense' upper body that responds predictably to the leader's input., which applies a similar idea to head movements. The basic premise is this: the lead suggests an idea to the follow, but it just so happens that the easiest way to suggest an idea is to apply force in such a way that if they were to simply go with the force, they would do that move. It’s a bit a mouthful, but it changes the whole dynamic.

In zouk, frame is seen as a mechanism to propose or invite the follow into a certain movement. Because there is no rigidity in the frame, the frame is something that the follow can be sensitive to feel a push, pull, or rotation in a certain direction, and then make a mental decision to do the movement. From the outside, it might look like the lead is physically moving the follow, but actually there is a mental conversation taking place.

Frame Rules

It is difficult to go into the many nuances of how the frame really works, but it would be beneficial to go over a few principles:

Leading displacement through lines

DisplacementDisplacementChanging the physical location on the dancefloor. Part of Stepping can be led through the frame by simply indicating with confidence and some energy the direction you would like the follow to travel. This can done through any kind of contact: back of the follow’s body, hands (using proper Hand HoldsHand Holds), etc. This is generally done during the PremovementPremovementExtending your foot out to a spot before shifting your weight to it. phase, as the lead can indicate the direction of the follow’s line.

LinesLinesThe structure of a particular dancer's path used as a reference allow the dancers to navigate movements and understand the intentions for displacement of the leads. The easiest way to think of this is at the beginning of a boom chick chick, right as PremovementPremovementExtending your foot out to a spot before shifting your weight to it. occurs but right before the Projection StepProjection StepA step that generates or continues momentum in a direction with energy on the ball of the foot. Part of Stepping, as the lead, you have the opportunity to use the frame of the follow to guide them into a certain direction, which becomes their new line. From the follow perspective, they are being given a direction, and therefore create energy from the grounding of their premovement in the direction of travel along this line. A beginner follow can help facilitate this by being “heavy”, or resisting the proposal, to ensure that the lead is exceptionally clear and confident in their direction.

It is important to realise this is only one concept of frame, and you would not realistically expect the follow to simply keep walking along that line indefinitely. This is where torsion and chest-seeking come into play, which we will get into shortly.

Another concept worth noting is that, as a lead, in general you do not want to force in the arms and hands to lead. Instead, by making the movement with your upper body (for example in LateralLateralA side-stepping movement that creates a lateral travelling pattern across the floor.), you can lead the follow much more easily. Imagine you are opening a curtain by swiping to the side. You can stand completely rigid and move your arms only to open it. Or you can put your arm out, and turn your entire upper body so that the hand opens the curtain. The latter is fundamental to zouk, and it allows for juicy contra-body movement, which feels and looks really cool.

Frame Collapse

Ideally, you want the frame to be engaged but relaxed. Being relaxed and sloppy are different. As a follow, you should still be responsive have some energy in your frame. This means you are not just letting your arms droop.

Imagine as a follow, if you both your hands connected to the lead, and you are walking past the lead on his side, but he is completely still yet with relaxed arms. If you keep your hands connected, one of your arms will be crunched against your chest, and the other one will fall behind putting uncomfortable strain on your shoulder. This means you are collapsing your frame.

Part of the concept of frame as a means of communication is to not allow your frame to collapse. Since you can’t allow it to collapse, and you shouldn’t resist the lead (unless it’s important for your safety), the only option is to compensate with TorsionTorsionHow the twist of the body communicates movement in Zouk.. This is what leads to for example the movement of the LateralLateralA side-stepping movement that creates a lateral travelling pattern across the floor.. Because continuing the movement would collapse your frame, you compensate by turning your upper body and chest in such a way that the frame stays engaged. Because now there is a different between the direction of your upper body and hips, this creates TorsionTorsionHow the twist of the body communicates movement in Zouk.. Then the torsion naturally unwinds in your lower body (assuming the timing was correct for the torsion to land on your control foot).

This creates a Compass StepCompass StepThe fundamental footwork mechanic of stepping and pivoting on the ball of the foot to change direction. in the complete opposite direction! See how it’s all coming together now? Pretty cool I’d say.

There is an advantage to this way of leading and following as well in that it adds a small delay. The time it takes for the lead to invite a follow to rotate, the energy has to start at the top and propagate down. This means the lead leads turns a little bit in advance, and gives time for the follow to understand more clearly what they are being proposed to do. This coincides with one of the fundamental pillars of zouk where the follow has a bit more agency. It is not a last minute snap decision that the follow has no control over.

Note for salseros: When you lead turns in salsa, you usually indicate by doing a small lead to the opposite direction first before turning them in the desired direction. This is not the case in zouk. In zouk, you are giving torsion early on so that the follow has time to use that torsion to make the turn. There is no opposite pre-indication. You don’t need it. You only indicate what you plan to actually do.

Hand Height Meaning

The height that your hand is at is meaningful. This is important because zouk allows for off-axis turns and head movements. So a big part of the frame is reserved for that. This is discussed in more detail in Frame TheoryFrame TheoryFrame theory is a way of communicating with the follow how both the inclination change and the axis change, but is a pretty advanced concept. For the sake of sticking to fundamentals for now, it should suffice to know that generally speaking for turns, it is wise to keep the hand hold at around shoulder height.

Rigid Frames

Despite it’s soft nature, there is room in zouk for rigid frames. This happens in movements where it is necessary for the lead to give physical energy directly to the follow. These pertain mostly to more advanced moves. Examples include PlanadaPlanada or counterbalance-type movements. In general, for beginners, you want to learn to relax your frame but still keep it engaged. Most beginners will have a lot of trouble relaxing their frame, especially when coming from dances like bachata.

The Zouky Way of Communicating

There is so much more to zouk communication than just frame.

Besides the fact that zouk has a soft frame compared to many other dances, and has more meaning associated with different positions (e.g. Frame TheoryFrame TheoryFrame theory is a way of communicating with the follow how both the inclination change and the axis change), the way we communicate in zouk is also different.

In my opinion, frame should be regarded as a secondary way to communicate. The primary way is through movements of the torso.

Imagine being in Close EmbraceClose EmbraceBody-to-body contact with chest and hip connection Part of Different Holds & Embraces. Frame - or the energy in your shoulders, arms, and hands - is not needed. Yet, much of zouk can still be led. Because there is direct contact, the lead can actually let go completely of their arms and hands, keeping the frontal contact, and use their chest to lead movements. Obviously there is a limit to this - for example you can’t fully turn the follow in this kind of position and keep in contact at the same time or else it becomes contact improv (which, technically, is allowed).

If you can take this idea of leading from close embrace with just your torso rather than arms and hands, then you can extrapolate that idea to WiFiWiFiNo connection points Part of Different Holds & Embraces. In this case, the follow is visually looking at the chest of the lead to understand what the lead’s intention for the follow is. The lead can indicate similarly to how they would in close embrace. For example, leading an opening of the chest to one side with the chest can indicate for the follow to turn. This becomes more and more natural as you dance in close embrace and learn to use Contra-Body MovementContra-Body MovementThe natural opposition between upper and lower body - how twisting through the torso creates fluidity in movement..

Seeking Chest Connection

One loose rule that follows can rely on is this idea of seeking chest connection. This concept plays out in many ways, for example when the lead does SoltinhoSoltinhoAlternating lead turning and follow turning., the follow tries to seek out the lead’s chest with every turn. In Wifi LateralLateralA side-stepping movement that creates a lateral travelling pattern across the floor., the follow torsions their body to face the lead. In BonusBonusA weight transfer that creates a pause in the basic, used as a foundation for many exits and variations., the follow does Patinha because in order to get to the chest of the lead, they have to stop the backward motion and start the forward one. If this is your first time learning zouk, then come back to this after learning lateral, soltinho, and/or bonus to understand how it fits into seeking chest connection. You’ll see the concept play out in many ways.