We caught up with Paulo and Luiza recently as they are now living in the USA and one of their students is helping them raise money to keep them here (work visa fees). They are very talented and we hope our readers will also support! We’re providing a link below and also we interviewed them so we can learn more about them.

GoFundMe Link:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/work-visa-for-paulo-and-luiza

On Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pauloandluiza/

How did you meet?

(Paulo replied) We met in 2014 at a house of various Brazilian dance rhythms in Brazil. Luisa had already seen me at some socials and I already knew her face from somewhere too. It was at this social that she came with a friend and invited me to dance a samba. We danced a samba, we really enjoyed each other’s dance a lot and then we danced with others. I will never forget that first hug, it was a perfect fit. That was when I got an eye on her potential as a partner and we danced a Zouk.

I was without a partner at the time and asked if we could partner and she replied that she was out of time, as she had 3 partners (One for salsa, Samba and tango). I asked if she had a zouk partner, she thought, and replied that she didn’t, but she told me she was out of time. That’s when I suggested if we could just practice when she was free. And this was the first “YES” I received from her. A while later she was dancing just with me. 😉

How was your career formed?

(Luisa replied) We loved to dance with each other, but we had a big problem. Both had totally different visions of dance and I understood that for a better evolution he would have to participate in the same dance company that I already participated in (Cia Okan). In this CIA I started doing ballet again and Paulo started to like it (at first he didn’t like it haha). After 4 years of ballet classes regularly, and with CIA OKAN doing choreographies of thematic ballroom dances and mixing other dances such as: Jazz Funk, Contemporary, Flamenco, among others. Then, he started to understand my world better and I also understood his world better, the world of Zouk, because Paulo had already won 2 important Zouk championships in 2012. Since then, we studied daily to evolve the technical and artistic level of our Zouk.

What are Paulo and Luisa’s strengths?

(Paulo replied) I believe that our performance draws people’s attention a lot. Sometimes we go to salsa and bachata events and our first class has a normal number of students, but after the performance the class is usually full. They are delighted. This makes us very happy, bringing new people to the zouk scene.

We hear a lot from people that we have creativity and a high choreographic level. That we are a harmonious couple with joy and energy. We really liked the possibilities of dancing different styles of Zouk.

What is your process for practicing high level choreography and competition?

(Luisa replied) We learned this in Brazil, we had an artistic director, trainer, physiotherapist and physical trainer. It was a delight to work with these professionals. We learned that discipline is the key to business. Here in the United States we did our rehearsal routine, we trained our choreography with a coach, we did our physical training and we tried our best to eat well and rest, we tried to keep what we learned from our masters in Brazil. It is very difficult to keep everything up to date, because with Zouk’s events and socials we sometimes sleep little and we are unable to eat properly or take care of our bodies, but everything is a matter of discipline and priority. When we are on tour we try to rehearse our choreography at the events, inside hotels, in the space we find, we do it in the moments we have free. We have our goals written on the wall, and this is very strong for us to stay focused and every time we look at these goals we encourage ourselves to work harder.

What dreams do you still want to achieve?

(Luisa replied) We would like to show Zouk more to the world, participate in some events and competitions and that have people who do not know zouk and present our rhythm, how beautiful and engaging it is. We have events already programmed in our mind, just being patient. We really want to help grow zouk.

What were the highlights of your career?

(Paulo and Luisa replied) I believe that we have 3 remarkable points in our partner that made us think and evolve.

The first was when we decided to start competing. It was a very drastic change from our day to day. We started to rehearse every day and we had to start thinking about choreographing differently. Study how to choreograph and dance improvisation geared to competition. Therefore, winning the Brasil Latin Open was very significant for us.

The second was when we decided to participate in The Open, it is a very renowned West Coast competition in the United States and we managed to place Zouk in second place in the category “Cabaret”.

And the third, with the pandemic, we had to make a decision, return to Brazil or stay in the United States. We decided to stay in the United States, face new difficulties, study better ways to give classes online and evolve our partnership as a company, to equip ourselves differently, because until then, we only thought about dancing, being choreographers and teaching.

What does Zouk mean to you as a couple

(Paulo and Luisa replied) Zouk today is our company, our livelihood, through zouk we can show our potential as dancers and express our feelings as artists, with zouk we can talk to people without saying anything and access people with it. We work very carefully so that the affection for dance always prevails at work, because the feeling that zouk gives, comforts us. Zouk makes us evolve as dancers and as a person, zouk brought the best partner he could have, and zouk is also our cupid of these 5 years of partnership and relationship.