I prefer social dancing over workshops and comps.
I know that TAP limits the number of participants to a relatively small level, perhaps 400? Normally, I avoid smaller events because social dancing tends to thin out around 2-3am. However there are very notable exceptions to that rule of thumb.
Is the floor still relatively packed with people at 4am on Friday and Saturday for example?
The idea I have is that some organization (like the WSDC?) would lead a youtube marketing campaign, showing ads with champions dancing to various songs, and people who don't know WCS can click through to find local ballrooms with WCS near them.
The obvious problem is how this campaign would be paid for. 1) Local ballrooms that have a weekly/monthly WCS social are likely not making that much profit anyway and may not be inclined to contribute. 2) The freeloading problem means that one ballroom can contribute, but another ballroom can chose not to contribute and yet still benefit from the campaign.
This simplest solution I can think of is to have the campaign be funded entirely by WCS dancers on a voluntary basis. The number/frequency of ads would be determined by how much money could be raised by the community.
Would you be willing to donate to such a marketing campaign?
If not, does anyone have an alternate idea on how to fund such a marketing campaign?
I used to record every group lesson / private lesson on my phone but realized one day that I never actually review the lessons on my phone, and they were taking up too much space, so I stopped making recordings.
It kind of pains me to think of all the patterns and concepts I have forgotten because I don't review these videos.
For those of you who consistently rewatch videos, do you have any kind of system? E.g. spend an hour a month going through old videos? How do you go through them all once you have over a hundred videos? Do you delete the videos you know you have learned by second nature to make space for those you have not?
Does spending time learning a second dance make you a better WCS dancer?
Having experience or learning two similar but different concepts generally leads to a better understanding of both concepts, as the mental exercise of comparing and contrasting tends to do this. Based on this general statement I would conclude that cross training of course would make you a better WCS dancer.
On the other hand, I would worry that you would pick up automatic habits in your second dance that are not appropriate for WCS. For example salsa hip movements might bleed over into your WCS. But perhaps your brain would be able to segment them and this would not be an issue.
Most people don't live in an area where they can do WCS 7 nights per week. For certain dance skills that are common across all/most dances, like stepping on time, frame, phrase changes, it would make sense that cross training in another dance on nights that you don't have WCS would provide a benefit in those areas.
But if you could theoretically dance WCS 7 nights per week, would it be best to dance WCS on all 7 nights if your goal was to maximize your WCS, or would cross training on 2-3 nights per week lead to a better understanding of WCS given the comparison/contrasting exercise that will be happening?
I have a spot that has been red and flaky for over a month now, despite the fact that I have stopped applying tret to it.
I have been inconsistent about applying moisturizer to that spot, which I should be doing a better job at.
For those of you who went through skin barrier damage, how did you repair it? Is there a standard procedure that is recommended to try?
I prefer the Western Half of the US but can do the full US.
I would like to do a full hotel event, where the ballroom and hotel are in the same venue. Even better if you don't have to change shoes to walk outdoors (like a resort style hotel).
Mixed events are ok as long as 1) there is a dedicated zouk room for social dancing, and 2) there are enough people in the Zouk room.
I see these on the zoukology website; I'm not sure if this is is comprehensive or not:
Hello! BSZK - California Brazilian Zouk World Championships - Arizona CALDAC Convetion - Colorado San Franciso SBK Congress - California Hawaii Zouk Wave - Hawaii (not sure if this counts as western US) Elevation Zouk Festival - Colorado LA Bachazouk Festival - California (unclear if this is a fusion event or not)
Which of these are can't miss, and which of these should be avoided?
Any others that are worth going to?
Any eastern us that I should definitely consider going despite the traveling time/cost?
I have been told two different things from two different teachers.
One said that in Zouk we should be using lots of bent knees, and that there is nothing wrong with having two bent knees at a time, and that the chick/chick steps should be performed using bent knees.
The other said that in Zouk we should NOT be using lots of bent knees. The chick/chick steps should be done with straight legs.
I used to sunbathe excessively with no sunscreen.
Can I smear globs of tret (or OTC retinoids) all over my body, especially my arms, legs, and breasts?
Everyone online always talks about tret in terms of the face alone, so I assume that maybe this is not a smart idea.
Has anyone tried this and had any success, or horror, stories?
The proprietary AI song generators are getting pretty good. I was wondering if there was an opensource stablediffusion analogue for AI songs that anyone here has messed around with and would recommend.
Three part question:
First, Zouk dances can last longer than other styles I am familiar with. At what point do you determine that you are done dancing with this particular person and end the dance? I'm a beginner so I end the dance after it begins to feel repetitive when I am leading. When I'm following I just wait for the leader to end the dance.
Second, when a leader wants to end the dance, it is straight forward: the leader can just come to a stop at a phrase change or song change. But how does a follower end the dance? For example I was thinking on a release like a soltinho that happened to fall on a phrase change, the follower could strike a pose and then thank the leader for the dance.
Third, if you are leading and would like to continue the dance, but are unsure whether your follower would like to continue, is there a way to give the follower some kind of opportunity to end the dance, without verbally asking them?
During social dances, I keep being asked if I come from ballroom. I have never done ballroom.
At first I thought this was a complement, for example having good posture, but then I took a private lesson where I was told my upper body is too stiff, which is good for ballroom but bad for WCS where the torso needs more pulse/fluidity. I believe I had added more pulse into my torso, but I still receive this question as to whether I have ballroom experience.
Are there any tells that someone is coming from ballroom when they are dancing WCS?
I have never done BMX. I was curious about learning motorcross or FMX. I don't know anyone who has done this, so I cannot recruit a friend to teach me.
I assume most people learn this as teenagers and have friends/families that are into it.
Is it realistic for an adult to learn on their own?
If so, how would one go about it? Are there businesses that cater to teaching people?
I'm a main follower but have been leading a lot in the past few years.
In Bachata at least there are certain movements where you lead with hip rotation. I.e. you rotate your hip one way while leaving your torso relatively straight, which causes a rotation in the follower.
Of course your torso goes with your hip, but the point is that 1) your hip rotates more than your torso and 2) your hip rotation is the cause of your torso rotation, not the other way around.
Beginners will often make two mistakes 1) rotating their torso and not their hip, or 2) rotating both their torso and their hip equally.
Does WCS have any movements where the leader uses hip rotation to perform a lead?
The only one I can think of, potentially, is on the redirect of a whip. I personally do not use hip rotation here, I'm using torso rotation, but I wonder if that is wrong.
Marathons have social dancing for ~18 hours per day, but each hour is not as equally good as all other hours, right?
Is there a general time that most people tend to be out, like 12am to 5am?
I noticed that zouk dances tend to last longer compared to other dances I've done. At least for me, I tend to need to sit down and cool off before dancing again.
If you see someone sit down after a dance, is there a general recommendation of how long you should wait before asking them to dance?
I've been trying to wait about a minute, but then other people step in and ask them to dance before I get a chance. On the other hand I've asked people immediately to dance and they usually chug some water first, so I think I should give them some time first.
How is a leader supposed to invite a follower into closed embrace, and how is a follower supposed to indicate an acceptance or refusal of the invitation?
I.e. how does a leader ask to connect in closed embrace, in such a way that the follower can refuse, and then how does the follower clearly communicate that she either does, or does not, want to do closed embrace?
(Inspire by a post in /r/bachata)
At least in my local bachata scene, everyone seems to hug after every song for every partner.
In WCS I hug every partner after every song (as I've developed this habit from bachata) but some modest proportion of partners will try to go for a high five.
For example should you only lead head rolls for 8 beats and then pause another 8 beats before resuming?
I'm having some trouble finding a good YouTube Channel that has a playlist for Zouk patterns. Most of the Zouk channels seem to have a mix of social dances and patterns.
Any recommendations?
I have been resisting vibe coding for a while because I don't like change, but we now have a mandate at my company which they are enforcing through metrics.
I attempted to use Agent mode to do some boilerplate REST API and UI stuff. I was not totally satisfied with the results and had to go back and forth with it, and ended up doing a lot of manual work.
I am tempted to just not use it because of this experience, but I wonder if it is a skill issue.
Should I read through the documentation; is that a good use of time, or will I pick this up simply by using it over time?