Gui Prada and the Masters of Social Dancing (MoSD)

A collaborative, RPG-inspired, and ever-evolving Brazilian Zouk training that shows you where you really are in your dance — not by how it looks, but by how it feels to your partners.

What is MoSD?

MoSD is an immersive Brazilian Zouk training that blends technique, collaboration, and playful RPG-style structure.

Instead of focusing on “how good you look,” MoSD helps you gain insight into:

  • how you think your dance resonates with other dancers,

  • how your dance actually resonates with other dancers,

  • and how solid your foundations really are.

You train in small groups, explore specific qualities of social dancing (we call them Traits), and receive valuable insight from other dancers. By the end, you’ll have a clear map of where you are in your dance and where you can grow next.

The essential Traits of a social dancer

In MoSD, we don’t measure dancers by levels. We look at Traits — the qualities that make social dancing feel amazing.

The Traits are the fundamental qualities that, when harmoniously integrated, transform a dance from mere movement and execution of a technique into a present, fun, and engaging experience.

MoSD's training is centered around and aims to develop the 7 essential Traits of a social dancer. Technique is divided into two: Footwork and Body Movements.

Here they are - in summary:

- COMFORT - How physically and emotionally safe the dance feels. The culmination of the development of the foundations and the increase in body awareness. It works the same for leaders and followers.

- ADAPTABILITY - Perhaps the most important of Traits. How fluidly the dancer adjusts to their partners.

- FLOORCRAFT - How well the dancer navigates and shares space with others. Refers to the overall use of the space available to dance, resulting on either traveling or staying.

- MUSICALITY & VERSATILITY - How well the dancer expresses, embodies, and adapts movement to various musical styles, rhythms, tempos, and dynamics. There are differences between leader and follower.

- TECHNIQUE: FOOTWORK - reflects how reliably the dancer executes foundational patterns, adjusts to changes in tempo, spacing, their partner, and integrates variations while maintaining balance and flow.

- TECHNIQUE: BODY MOVEMENTS - The coordination and intentional use of undulations, isolations, torsions, and inclinations to support, enhance, and express movement beyond and with stepping and weight transfers.

- PRESENCE & PLAYFULNESS - How engaged, alive, and co-creative the dance feels. Refers to the dancer's engagement with their partner through eye contact, smiles, play and other forms of recognizing their partner while dancing.

- SMELL - How personal hygiene and scent influence the dance.

It’s important to keep in mind - the Traits are not rigid standards. They’re dynamic aspects of the dance that invite continuous exploration and growth.

Detailed explanation of all Traits will be available in the Dancer's Guide. The Guide will be available initially for those who sign up for the training.

Different Chapters of MoSD focus on different combinations of these Traits, always linking them back to concrete Foundations and Skills you can practice.

How the Training Goes

MoSD's training has 4 distinct moments, exploring a wide range of learning experiences.

Chapters & Intensives

MoSD is taught in Chapters or Intensives.

  • Each Chapter* focuses on a specific set of Traits, Foundations, and Skills.

  • In an Intensive format, each day is dedicated to one Trait and its related Foundations and Skills.

  • The experience is designed as a whole training — you join from start to finish, rather than dropping into isolated classes.

*The different Chapters in MoSD follow a similar level of difficulty and are not prerequisites to one another. For example, Chapter 3 is not harder than Chapter 2, and someone can take Chapter 3 without having taken 1 or 2.

The 4 moments of our training

Although every Chapter has its own theme, the daily rhythm usually includes:

- Group Training - Join a Training Party - During MoSD, you'll join a Training Party of 3-5 couples - the cohort of people you'll train with throughout the entire training. Partner rotations will happen only within the Training Parties. The Parties will be organized based on participants' requests and level of experience, in this order.

After all the Training Parties are formed, the training begins. Each day of training focuses on one or more Traits, and each workshop covers the Foundations, Movements, and/or Skills related to developing the day's Trait. All Training Parties move together, learning the same content, at the same time and pace.

- Training Party Recap - During the last 15 - 30 minutes of each workshop, the Training Parties will be invited to recap what they've learned and retained. We won't have many recaps during MoSD, so this is a crucial moment of the training.

This will be a time for deepening the work, building self-awareness, and growing together. This moment can take different forms, from dance practice to a reflective conversation.

- Play the Skill & Foundation Games - Prepare to be challenged - During the training, you’ll take on the Skill & Foundation Games. These drills and sequences are designed to test your understanding of each learned Skill or Foundation.

Each Title lists required Skills or Foundations, so success in the Games is crucial to earning Titles. Learn more about it in the Titles section below.

- The Trial of Traits - Our Peer-Insight System -At the end of most training days, we'll have a Trial of Traits. 

Here is where we discover how the training is reflected in your dance and resonates with those you dance with. 

Each Chapter and Intensive has 3 Trials of Traits. In each Trial, you'll dance with 3 people. At the end of all Trials, you'll learn how your Traits resonated with 9 different dancers, and based on that resonance, combined with the results of the games, you can be awarded our coveted Titles.

More on the Trial of Traits and the Titles can be found in the dedicated sections below.

MoSD's Peer Insight System

The Trials of Traits & The Resonance Scale

One of the most unique parts of MoSD is our Peer Insight System.

Instead of a teacher telling you how good you are or look, you get structured reflections from other dancers through two tools: The Trials of Traits & The Resonance Scale.

The Trials of Traits

The Trial of Traits is one of the most meaningful parts of MoSD — a chance to reflect, connect, and offer and receive insight into how dancing feels within the 8 Traits.

There will be 3 Trials of Traits over the course of a Chapter or Intensive. During the Intensive, we will hold Mock Trials.

During each Trial:

1. you'll step outside your Training Party and join a small group of three couples. In each Trial, you join a new group of 3 couples, so at the end, you'll have danced with 9 people;

2. within this new group, you'll dance for 6 minute-long sets with each partner in the opposite role - we'll lower the lights and make it feel like a social;

3. after each 6-minute dance, you'll offer feedback using the Resonance Scale (1–7) and give written insight using our MoSD Platform.

The Trials of Traits are not about aptitude or evaluating how good a dancer is - it's about resonance and discovering how your dance resonates with others and how others resonate with you. It's a fascinating process of discovery!

The Resonance Scale

The Resonance Scale is a simple 1–7 scale that describes how strongly a Trait was felt and resonated in a specific dance. It’s about the experience, not the performance.

The Resonance Scale is not a measure of aptitude or talent. It describes how the Traits land in that moment with that partner.

Each Trait has its own Resonance Scale, and you can find all details in our Dancer's Guide. At a glance:

1–2 – Barely There - The Trait was mostly absent or only appeared in brief moments. It was hard to notice or feel clearly. Lower resonance.

3–4 – Present & Consistent - The Trait is there and resonated well. At 3, it shows up but wobbles; at 4, it feels clear, stable, and reliably present throughout the dance — a big milestone in MoSD.

5–6 – Strong & Vibrant - The Trait doesn’t just work; it adds flavor. It feels expressive, nuanced, and leaves an impression after the dance. Higher resonance that lingers after the dance is over.

7 – Masterful - The Trait feels fully embodied and transformative — the kind of experience you remember for a long time. Highest level of resonance.

Your Self-Resonance

At the beginning of the Chapter or Intensive, you'll be invited to reflect Trait by Trait on how you think your dance will resonate with others using the Resonance Scale. 

By the end of a Chapter or Intensive...

you’ll have:

- your self-perception of each of your Traits,

- your partners’ Resonance scores for each Trait across all Trials,

- and a clear picture of where your dance already resonates — and where a bit of attention can unlock a huge shift.

This is one of the most addictive parts of MoSD: people leave excited to see “where they are on the Resonance Scale” and how it compares to what they thought they were.

The Titles

Our Tokens of Recognition

Inside the MoSD universe, recognition is expressed through Titles - our dance avatars.

Each Title reflects a particular set of strengths, combining Traits, Skills, and Foundations.

How you earn a Title

Titles are earned, not given at random. To unlock a Title, you need to:

1. Complete a Chapter or Intensive – fully participate from start to finish, taking all 3 Trials of Traits and taking part in the Skill & Foundation Games

2. Develop the Related Traits – To earn a Title, the dancer must reach specific thresholds in the Resonance Scale for each Trait.

For example:

Floor Traveler 

  • Floorcraft: 5+
  • Footwork: 4.5+
  • Adaptability: 4+
  • Other traits: No less than 3

Final Resonance Scores are calculated after all 3 Trials are complete. Details about how final Resonance Scores are calculated can be found in the Dancer's Guide.

3. Pass the Skill & Foundation Games - each Title is connected to one or more Skills and/or Foundations. 

For example: Floor Traveler - Travel Skill; Basics Bender - Direction Change Skill.

During the MoSD, we'll have challenges that will test such Skills and/or Foundations in the form of the Skill & Foundation Games. 

The Games are challenges in the form of a sequence or drill that will be presented to all Training Parties. After the challenge is presented, the Parties will have time to practice. When ready, the Training Party will have 3 chances to beat the challenge.  

What You’ll Get Out of MoSD

You leave with three deep insights

1. How You See Your Dance

You will:

  • be invited to reflect on how you perceive your own Traits and how they resonate with others,

  • have a better sense of what you value in your dancing,

  • and have a clearer idea of how you want to feel when you dance.

2. How Others Experience Your Dance

Through the Trial of Traits and Resonance Scale, you’ll know:

  • which of your Traits already shine for others,

  • where there might be a mismatch between what you thought it was and what actually is,

  • and what small shifts could change how your dance lands.

3. How Solid Your Foundations Really Are

You’ll understand:

  • how grounded your basics and technique are,

  • how your Skills support (or block) the feeling you want to create,

  • and what to practice next to make your dance feel better for more people.

In short:

MoSD gives you a map of your dance — not based on how it looks from the outside, but on how it truly feels to you and your partners.

Who is MoSD for?

MoSD is for Brazilian Zouk dancers who:

  • already know the basics of Brazilian Zouk - at least 6 months of experience with the dance - and want to go deeper,

  • care about how their partners feel and want to find out how it feels to dance with them,

  • enjoy structured learning, curiosity and teamwork,

  • want to have the opportunity to train and grow with other dancers at a similar level of experience, and

  • want to understand their strengths and growth areas with more clarity.