Zouk Nation - "Zouk is the dance of the 21st Century"

A dear friend of mine took me out for dinner for my birthday the other night. As is often the case when you put two zouk dancers together, we invariably ended up discussing zouk and the reason we were both so passionate about it. Over the course of the conversation we tossed around the familiar ideas which dancers often go on about, the sensuality of the music, the fluidity of the dance, the connection you have with your partner -one which I personally feel is lacking in other couple’s dances. And yet, while each idea touched upon was certainly valid, I still couldn’t help but feel we were missing something. A crucial element that, while difficult to articulate, plays an important role in explaining zouk’s overall appeal.

Later that night, when I was lying in bed unable to sleep, it suddenly struck me that it has to do with flow. Not flow in the sense of zouk- flow, the style that was originated by Arkahn’jo in Brazil, but in relation to the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I have no doubt a large number of you reading this will have no idea of whom I’m referring to. That being the case, allow me to digress a bit.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high-ee) is a Hungarian born psychologist and educator, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 22 and who has been described as the world’s leading researcher on positive psychology. The greater part of his career he has spent studying the much neglected topics of creativity and happiness. I say neglected because when you compare how much time in the entire history of psychology has been devoted to what ails the human mind, it’s surprising how little of that time has been spent on what causes the human mind to flourish. One would think what makes us happy would be regarded as having equal importance to what makes us depressed, but unfortunately, that is not the case. It was through the course of years of research that Csikszentmihalyi’s originated the concept known as flow, a rare state of consciousness which he describes as “a sensation of optimal experience.” He theorizes, it is when human beings experience flow that they are most happy and their lives are filled with meaning and purpose.

Surprisingly, flow is something most often experienced at work. This is not to say that we prefer work, but that there are a set of conditions inherent in a job that can contribute to creating a state of flow. As it turns out, flow is rarely ever found in passive, leisure activities, such as lying on the couch and watching TV. Television’s greatest virtue would seem to be that it occupies the mind while demanding very little of us. Which is not to say that flow can’t occur in a leisurely activity, but in order for it to do so the activity must be something which challenges us both mentally and physically. Tasks that are too easy, we get bored by. Tasks that are too difficult, we become frustrated by and eventually give up. But tasks that push us just enough, they test the limits of our skills and cause us to grow. Whatever the given activity, flow requires both a purpose and a goal enabling us to measure our progress and provide us with a sense of achievement when completed. During the duration of the activity, the level of concentration should be to such a degree that it results in a narrowing of focus, to where we lose track of time and forget ourselves as we become lost in the activity at hand.

In the dozen of books and articles Csikszentmihalyi has written on the topic, he emphasizes the fact that were it possible to find a way to increase the number of times one experiences flow on a daily basis the human race, as a whole, would be much happier. It is probably for this reason that his work would seem to be demonstrating a widening appeal. Both President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair have counted themselves among his admirers. In recent years, the business community, forever looking for new ways to increase employee productivity, have begun to embrace his ideas, while government officials have ordered studies of how to translate flow into public policy.

By now, you’re probably saying to yourself, well that’s all fine and good, but what does any of this have to do with zouk? In which case, let me ask you something. When you dance zouk, do you set goals for yourself? Of course you do. Would you say that zouk demands a high degree of concentration and focus? Of course it does. Does it challenge you both mentally and physically? Absolutely. When you’re out on the dance floor, have you ever been so caught up in the dance that the rest of the world falls away, to where all that exist is just you and the dance, while time loses all meaning? Definitely. In which case, it would appear that zouk is happiness. Now how cool is that?

For further reading:  Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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