Home › Lessons › Musicality

TOCA STUDENT · Lesson 09 · Musicality

Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music

Let the music organise your body instead. Hear the pulse. Notice the accents. Respect the silence and the breath. Then choose what actually deserves a movement, because you do not need to show every sound.

Dawou Tarraxo, pioneer of Tarraxo. Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music

Here is a drill that changes people. Pick one instrument in the track and let only one part of your body answer it. Nothing else moves. Do it for one full song.

When listening becomes physical, your body becomes music.

This is the drill I use to teach musicality in every kizomba class.

Your body becomes music, step by step

  1. DO NOT DANCE ON TOP OF THE MUSIC.
  2. Let the music organise your body.
  3. Hear the pulse.
  4. Notice the accents.
  5. Respect the silence and the breath.
  6. Choose what deserves movement.
  7. You do not need to show every sound.
What instrument do you hear first?

The full carousel

Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music, slide 1 of 9 Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music, slide 2 of 9 Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music, slide 3 of 9 Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music, slide 4 of 9 Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music, slide 5 of 9 Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music, slide 6 of 9 Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music, slide 7 of 9 Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music, slide 8 of 9 Musicality in kizomba starts when you stop dancing on top of the music, slide 9 of 9

This lesson comes from the book

Page 177 of The student's book by Dawou Tarraxo, the TOCA Method page this lesson comes from
The student's book · page 177

The student’s book takes dancers from the first foundations to real feeling. The teacher’s guide gives instructors the structure to pass it on. Both in English, French and Spanish, on Amazon and Apple Books.

The student’s book The teacher’s guide

The method

T O C A

Two bodies. One connection.

TTouchThe connection with your partner. Feeling through contact, never through force.
OObservationListening to your partner’s body, energy and tempo.
CControlMastery of your own movement. Precision without tension.
AAwarenessFull presence: with yourself, your partner and the music.