The Pickiness Curve Every Dancer Climbs

For years the DJ would put on traditional old school Brazilian Zouk and I'd walk off the floor. "Ah, I don't like that type of music, I'm gonna take a break." That was a lie. I didn't have the skills to enjoy it yet, and the day I learned them I loved it. So when Gui tells me he got so picky only two or three followers could give him a good dance, down to where their head sat against his, I know that feeling. He worked it out on the bus home from a social in Rio, where he realised he'd danced all night without being present once, because he spent the whole thing hunting those two or three people. And whose fault was it, right? What we get into: → Gui trained slow songs for years, then walked into a real Forró where Xote is five percent of the night. "Lack of exposure, for sure lack of exposure." → You start in flip-flops, any song, anyone. Years later it's two kinds of socks in your backpack and one follower who "knows how to dance with me." → "Because Gui is a gelato snob." "I am such a bitch. I'm such a gelato snob, yes. And without shame." → The unpaid dance escort. Friday nights in Rio, one friend, met at the door, forty five minutes, nobody else, home. → "But Alisson, I'm a customer. I'm paying to be here." Yeah, I don't argue with that. It still doesn't make your taste the DJ's problem. The big takeaway: I'll be picky as long as it doesn't affect other people, and if it may affect other people, I'm going to find a way to reduce that effect. Chapters: 00:00 Opening highlights 1:22 What the pickiness curve is 3:03 "I don't like this music" is usually a skill gap 4:46 Gui's Xote and Bolero problem 6:58 How pickiness climbs: shoes, floors, partners 8:47 Ignorance is bliss, and the gelato snob 10:35 When your checklist gets too long 12:18 The bus ride home, and what he asked next 17:21 Preferences versus pickiness 21:16 The unpaid dance escort 22:32 Reading your social battery in one night 25:43 "I'm a paying customer", and where the line is 29:47 Pandemic pods and the people who stopped coming 34:12 The teacher's pickiness curve 37:06 Your dance teacher is a business owner 40:44 Knowing your preferences without being picky 45:20 Festivals, and growing the community Co-host: Gui Prada ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/ Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zouk.nerds/ Episode: S06 Ep18 | ZoukNerds Podcast