About Zouk "N" Play

A Playground to Seek and Discover

Zouk N Play Festival, brought to you by Founders (Ryel Velandia and Leslie Evangelista Tietjen) of the successful NYC ZOUK FESTIVAL and creator/director of ZenZouk LLC is one of the FRESEHEST new summer events on the East Coast, situated on the beach and boardwalk of Atlantic City. This will be our Second Year and we can not be more excited!!

The mission of Zouk N Play is:

to bring people together to see movement as a conversation and celebration.
to provide new students a fresh new weekend to learn Brazilian Zouk Lambada, movement, and dance. The ZenZouk Fundamentals classes are designed for those looking to start Brazilian Zouk Lambada and understand connection, zouk, and body awareness. A syllabus will be provided and a playlist.
to provide various movement skills and unique structured intensives for Intermediate/Advanced students. Workshops will be focused on Yoga, Flow, Movement, and Brazilian Zouk Lambada, and will be structured in a unique style conducive to self-realization and improvement in movement and dance. This year Latin Classes will be added as an extra to the dance community at Zouk N Play!
to advance the Brazilian Zouk Lambada community by providing the ZenZouk Education Program featuring two levels: Fundamentals LVL 1 and Advanced Fundamentals LVL 1A for teachers or professional learners wanting to faciliate and build a community from scartch. See below more about the teacher or professional learner program:

ZENOUK EDUCATION PROGRAM

The curriculum/syllabus will focus on Level 1 ZenZouk Fundamentals and Level 1A ZenZouk Advanced Variations, and has been developed by Ryel Velandia, founder of ZenZouk, and home to a Brazilian Zouk Lambada School in NYC. A manual will be provided in addition to exercises and steps to begin your journey in Brazilian Zouk Lambada. THis year we have added an two tracks:

1) Teacher Training Track - Those wanting to teach

2) Professional Learner Track - Those who want to advanced their knowledge

The teacer training track will have labs and course work. After course work is completed, a certificate of completion will be mailed to you. Find out more here. Students who complete the training course will then have opportunities at a later date to either take LVL 2 Brazilian Zouk (traditional) or LVL 2 LambaZouk and higher advanced levels to complete the comprehensive training for Brazilian Zouk Lambada.

New To Brazilian Zouk Lambada

An unique & memorable experience

This festival was created in response to people wanting to learn Brazilian Zouk Lambada in a comfortable and consistent program. Taught solely by Ryel and Jessica (Unicorn), Ryel has developed a fundamentals curriculum through his company ZenZouk LLC. Our expectations during this festival is that you will fall in love with Brazilian Zouk Lambada by learning it in a clear and concise fashion. We are a unique festival because we will be providing tangible teaching material for you to take home with you in addition to progressive classes (fri/sat/sun) taught by consistent instructors. You will review the history of Brazilian Zouk Lambada, body movements, steps, combinations, etc. and receive consistent attention from both instructors so that you can begin dancing Brazilian Zouk Lambada and help shape your community. A syllabus and playlist are provided.

Intermediate/Advanced Students

Summer Intensives

We have some unique structured intensives, which inlude topics surrounding, counter balancing - when to enter and exit, soltinho variations, various and intricate turn patterns, proper alignment, weight shifting advice, head movement, safe and advanced combinations, and a wealth of practicas to make it one amazing summer weekend!

We are working with both instructors and students to shape these workshops and descriptions will be posted soon!

Teacher Training - Fundamentals LVL 1

Spread the love of Zouk

Prepare to start growing Brazilian Zouk Lambada communities in your area. ZenZouk Fundamentals course will prepare you to begin teaching Brazilian Zouk Lambada.

CONNECT | LEARN | BELONG

About Ry'el Velandia

It's our Playground - Let's Play

Ryel Velandia, a true Brazilian Zouk Evangelist, shares his passion teaching Zouk to students and is on a mission to provide others the gift of dance and movement. He is an international performer, choreographer, instructor, and dance coach, 2014-16 Bras Do Santos Brazouka’s dance captain / company member, 2013 International Zouk Flashmob choreography winner with his sister Clo Ferreria, 2013 World Salsa Summit champion, a member of the Cast for the famous TV show Mira Quien Baila 1st season (Look who is dancing, Univision) 2010. He performed as part of Cecilia Marta’s dance Company in NYC Summer stage at central park and DRA Gala (dancer responding to aids) and creator/director of ZenZouk, a method of teaching Brazilian Zouk Lambada and over all body movement through multiple exercises and philosophies based on the “elements”, including earth, water, fire, and air - as symbols for analyzing dance and personal movement.

Ryel’s main aim is to educate and cultivate the appreciation for each one of these different styles of Brazilian Zouk-Lambada, building a strong foundation of versatility by embracing evolution through the classics techniques found in the origins of our dance (Lambada).

More about Ryel Click Here.

See his work and artistry here:

Ryel developed his curriculum based on his experience teaching Zouk and movement, and traveling/teaching with internationally known Bras Dos Santos (pioneer of LambaZouk) and the cast of Brazouka. He holds many classes in New York City teaching both LambaZouk and Traditional Zouk, while using his ZenZouk methodology to create awareness in oneself to become a better dancer.

Zoul 'N' Play will focus on

- Movement Freedom in movement will provide students the ability to move with no inhibitions and thinking.

- Flow - Flow is defined as the action or fact of moving along in a steady, continuous stream. At Zouk 'N' Play we like to flow through the infinity thus creating more circular and cursive movements.

Connection - How we relate to others through movement is an important element of Zouk or any partner activity. At Zouk N Play we will help express connection elements to our students and how it plays an integral part of connection.