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Jane was a late starter to dancing; having begun at the age of 35 (2012) when she was dragged along to a salsa class that was cancelled. Funnily enough, the backup plan of copying a youtube video has echoed through her dance journey and now she has her own youtube channel helping and supporting Brazilian Zouk Followers through Solo Training.
Living in the Whitsundays may sound idyllic but it challenged her to be able to learn and improve her zouk in a small town with no existing zouk scene and literally one or two leaders. Her first teacher, Luke Jorgensen, lived 2 hours drive away, but when he moved to Brisbane, it meant that she had to take her and the local community’s zouk into her own hands
Jane not only travelled to events but brought instructors such as Carlos & Fernanda, Layssa & Arthur, Alisson Sandi, Kylie & Jimmy, Ifty & Sandrina and Eglantine to her hometown to teach the local zouk team and give her many private lessons. She also organised the Whitsunday Latin Festival for 4 years, helping to expose Zouk to more latin dancers, but also with the ulterior motive of wanting to dance with lots of new people in her home town!
Jane is a great believer in taking things into your own hands in order to make them happen. She is a “do-er” and this is reflected in her current project “No Leader No Excuses: Follow Along Zouk Technique for Followers”. Jane’s YouTube videos are a detailed explanation of technique, continuously referencing the instructors from which the knowledge was gained as well as explaining what works for her. Each video ends with practice to music so that followers from all around the world, who may be isolated from a zouk scene, can still practice and get that ‘in class’ feel.
She is super excited to teach at Brisbane Zouk Festival and is looking forward to giving a “live” YouTube experience during her workshop for ladies at the festival in November.
She hopes to help followers to refine their technique and to arm them with some strategies to be able to take their improvement into their own hands, whether they have a leader to dance and practice with or not.