CLOUD9
ZOUK CHAMPIONSHIP

Cloud9 Zouk is excited to bring in a new idea to our Mid Year Ball weekend, which is designed with the intention of helping to take our scene to the next level, in an exciting and fun & encouraging way. ✨🥳💃🕺🔝

ABOUT

We recognise that we already have so many committed dancers, who just keep growing and evolving in their dance from year to year, and this is just another way to incentivise and encourage more of the dancers in our beautiful Zouk scene to keep growing, to practice more, to focus on their technique and creativity, and just to maybe get that little bit extra motivated to push beyond their comfort zones into showcasing their efforts to their fellow dancers in a positive and encouraging environment.

We would like to introduce this to our wonderful scene here in Aus & NZ as a dual format, including a Strictly/Freestyle Competition segment as well as a Choreography segment. We have been inspired by this idea by talking with some of our international artists and hearing about how it can be so beneficial to grow our wonderful scene further.
So, we are currently working hard to design something that is suitable for our dance community and that helps our dancers to take their Zouk to the next level!✨

Read about our 1st Championship and results here

Our aim and inspiration

Our aim in introducing this Strictly competitions to our event is to create a positive & encouraging environment that inspires dancers from different levels to partner up and work on their dance skills, Zouk movements & techniques that they have been learning in regular dance classes or festivals.

Positive environment means that we are working on our own skills and abilities to be better than before (in other words, you compare yourself to your ‘old self’ rather than against others).

It means we are super supportive of other competitors and our friends and are happy to see their improvements and achievements.

C9Z COMPETITION RULES & GUIDELINES

There will be judges from the community who will then score you based on many elements such as, musicality, technique, partnership, execution ... etc. More info to come

DOWNLOAD THE PDF FOR SCORING

🎚️DIVISIONS & LEVELS

For 2023, and our first year of running with this idea, we will have 2 x Strictly'' competition formats as below.

COMPETITION DIVISIONS/FORMATS:
🕺💃 Freestyle Only & Freestyle/Showcase Championship

1. Freestyle Only, with 2 levels:

> Novice category: Dancers with less than 3 years Brazilian Zouk classroom learning and dancing experience
> Open category (not including Professionals): Any dancers from all levels, particularly those with more than 3 years Brazilian Zouk classroom learning and dancing experience

2. Showcase + Freestyle Championship (including Professionals) - 1 level/category

> Open category: aimed at Upper levels dancers, including Professionals, to showcase a duet Choreography (of between 2-3 minutes duration), plus there will be a Freestyle dance component also required.

* Competitors will only be able to participate in one of the divisionsformats, not in both. So will need to choose whether they compete in the Freestyle Only competition, or for more experienced and advanced level dancers, to train and showcase a duet Choreography along with their Freestyle..
Competitors also may not compete more than once, nor with different partners, so will need to choose 1 partner only to compete with in 1 division.

💰COMPETITION ENTRY & FEES

💰Novice Freestyle Only … $50 per Couple online Early bird, $60 on the day (Must have full event pass)
💰Open Freestyle Only (not including Professional) … $50 per Couple online Early Bird, $60 on the day (Must have full event pass)
💰Open Showcase & Freestyle Championship (including Advanced/Professional)… $80 per Couple (registrations closing date TBC), Must have full event pass

🏆PRIZES (details TBC)

🎁Novice Freestyle Only (those learning in Zouk classes for up to 3 years):
1st Place … Trophy & 2 Festival Passes to Cloud9 Mid Year Ball 2024
2nd Place …. Medallion plus Gift
3rd Place .... Medallion plus Gift

🎁Open Freestyle Only (not including Professionals):
1st Place … Trophy & 2 Festival Passes to Casa do Zouk 2023
2nd Place …. Medallion plus 2 Festival Passes to Brisbane Zouk Festival 2023
3rd Place …. Medallion plus Gift

🎁 Championship - Open Showcase + Freestyle (including Professionals):
1st Place …. $500 cash Plus 1hr share private with Nina & Matheus + Trophy
2nd Place … $200 cash Plus 1hr share private with Nina & Matheus + Trophy
3rd Place … Medallion plus Gift

Remember, your competition result/placement is NOT what MATTERS, it is your hard work, having a go & putting yourself out there, and the positive mindset that you put in that matters. You will ALL be the winners! 🥳👏🏆

Requirements for the competitions to go ahead:

We need a minimum number of competitors to proceed.
> Novice Freestyle Only : 10 Couples min requirement
> Open Freestyle Only (not including Professionals): 10 Couples min requirement
> Open (Advanced & Professional) Freestyle & Championship: 10 Couples min requirement

Stay tuned for more information & registration.

Warmest hugs,
Behrouz & Sibell from Cloud 9 Zouk

CLOUD9 ZOUK CHAMPIONSHIP