Christina Montoya is an international Brazilian Zouk instructor based out of Los Angeles, CA. Dancing has always been a part of her life but she did not begin any training until she was 12 years old. Her passion for dance at a young age led her to experiment in different styles beginning with Hip-hop, Jazz, Competitive Cheerleading, and Tahitian prior to training in Latin styles like Salsa and Bachata. She has trained and performed in partner dancing since the age of 18 with various companies in Los Angeles.

Once Christina found Brazilian Zouk she dedicated her life to this dance. She began her training with Igor Fraga who partnered with her to compete at the US Zouk Open in 2015, where they received 1st place in the Semi-Pro division. Since then, she has trained with many international artists and sought to deepen her knowledge by taking several Brazilian Zouk Teachers Courses throughout the world. She holds 1st place in various BZDC Intermediate Jack & Jill competitions including Prague Zouk Congress 2016, Rio Zouk Congress 2018, and LA Zouk Festival 2018 and is the first person in North America to enter the Advanced division. She also holds the 1st place title with her partner Alisson Sandi for the "Mixed Latin Cabaret Couples Division" from the World Salsa Solo in 2018, where they also received the highest scores for the overall competition.

Christina is known for her franchise teams, "Zouk Babes", established in 2017, which emphasize the importance of follower's technique. Since then, Zouk Babes has teams and performers throughout the US and internationally with 50 current members. Zouk Babes was created with the intention to unite and empower followers through dance performances and training technique. Christina's goal is to spread her passion for Zouk to the dancer inside everyone.

Alisson Sandi began his dance career at the age of 15 in São Paulo, Brazil where he was born. Over the years he trained in Brazilian Dança de Salão, Street Latin and International Ballroom dancing under the methodology of Alex de Carvalho, Renata Peçanha, Jaime Arôxa, Rodrigo Delano, and other Masters.

In 2007, he moved to Perth (Australia) where he joined Juan Rando Dance Academy (JRDA) to start the Brazilian dance scene from scratch, and continued developing it for the following 10 years. He also trained multiple teachers/dancers who have become international artists, and others who have opened their own schools. During his time in Perth, he also met Audrey Isautier and together they became one of the top worldwide Brazilian Zouk Couples between 2010-16, travelling to over 41 countries to share their knowledge and passion.

In 2017, he decided to take up a challenge and moved to Melbourne to help grow and upgrade the local Brazilian dance scene there, with his fun classes and focused training courses. He also created ‘BraZouky’ - Worldwide Brazilian Dance Festival, which hosts over 300 people and is also a fundraising event which gives dance scholarships to disadvantaged teens and kids in underprivileged communities around the world.

In 2019, Alisson decided that it was time for another challenge and moved to Washington DC (USA) to join District Zouk and their passionate team. Having visited DC back in 2015, he fell in love with the community and when deciding which city to go to, he had District Zouk as his first pick. Alisson was super excited to join the DZ family and help the dance community grow healthier and stronger!

Alisson loves to push himself and currently holds the following titles:
- 2x Pro World Zouk Champion
- 3x Pro Australian Zouk/Latin Champion
- Winner/Finalist of various BZDC All Stars/Champions Jack and Jill Comps and Invitationals

Alisson has been an official head judge and an important member for the Brazilian Zouk Dance Council since its first competition event in 2014. He is also one of the founders and first choreographers of the International Zouk Flash Mob/International Zouk Day which has been running yearly since 2012.

In late 2018, Christina Montoya (USA) went to Australia to train with Alisson and together they won the Australian World Champion in the Mixed Latin Category with the highest partner couple score of the competition. Since then, they have had an exciting partnership and are looking forward to sharing their passion with the world.

In one of his latest adventures that has proven to be very successful is the start of the ‘ZoukNerds’ group on Facebook, which began mid-pandemic in 2020. His desire to learn, share and connect with the community has grown to over 5.7k active members, and is growing rapidly daily. In this group, Alisson hosts interviews and discussions with key members of the community and also facilitates deep and knowledgeable conversations via posts in the group where members feel heard, welcomed and safe to ask questions and share their experiences.

Alisson has a passion for teaching and is always striving for innovative ways in which to overcome technical and personal challenges. He is known for his attention to detail and effective instruction in dance techniques.

Brazilian Zouk Instructor

Igor Fraga, originally from Brazil, started his zouk journey in 2012 training with ZoukNY founder, Kim Rottier. For many years, he has been dedicating his work to residencies around the US, helping the communities grow and improve. He specializes in fundamentals work for beginners. He's also the director of a very successful beginner track program at the NYC Zouk Festival called Dare 2 Zouk, and has gathered many trophies from Jack and Jill competitions.

Brazilian Zouk DJ

DJ Fraga's career started in New York in 2013, where he quickly gained recognition thanks to his carefully crafted playlists and knowledge of the dance-floor. He is now the Zouk DJ with the longest running career still in activity in North America. With an eclectic library of music, he mixes his sets with an array of Pop music, RnB, Brazilian songs, Neozouk, and Kizomba. His goal on every set he plays is to create a smooth flow for the dance floor, with songs that the crowd can emotionally connect with.

Brazilian Zouk Instructor

Nelly Caldeira is originally from Rio de Janeiro. She is a passionate, fun, and energetic Brazilian Zouk Instructor, and a Transformation Teacher & Coach. She has been living and teaching in the Bay Area, California, since June 2018. Her dance journey started in 2014 when she fell in love with Zouk and with all the possibilities this dance brought into her life. With a philosophy background, Nelly is dedicated to creating and contributing to dance communities that value connection, authenticity, growth and transformation. Throughout her journey, she’s been mentored by Paloma Alves & William Teixeira and the Zouk Needs You team with Val Clemente & Vanessa Bonilha. Nelly has taught at various congresses and events in the USA, Brazil and Mexico. She’s placed in Jack & Jill competitions a few times and performed with Boneca Baddies, Zouk SF team and K&L followers team as well. Since 2020, she's been the director of the Zouk Babes Bay Area (Follower’s choreography team created by Christina Montoya from LA) and has been collaborating with other Zouk organizers in the Bay, with an intention to support the Brazilian Zouk community to grow and strengthen both in quantity and quality.

Neuro Linguistic Practitioner (NLP)

In addition to being a Zouk instructor, Nelly is also known for bringing dance, communication and self-development together via her NLP and coaching tools to support students in growing from the inside out, as well as outside in. Nelly has been invited to shared her NLP knowledge at various Zouk events ranging from Paris, to just last month at ZoukHeat.