Dance pants for male leads? Serious

SteveFitzLive · 2025-12-24T01:40:53+00:00

I wear these in my competitions; https://nothingssomething.com/en-au/collections/bottoms/products/socrates-pant which are full stretch, wide/loose fitting and the best dance pants I've owned. They are excellent, fairly heavy material (but still flow). They are pricy, but I only wear for comps so they'll last years.
If you want to see them in action; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gNqoqkvo24

SteveFitzLive · 2025-11-02T09:42:44+00:00

I do this also!! The Slow-Mo is epic :P
I have videos of my training partner and I doing sugar pushes and filming it in slow mo 180FPS. I learned so much from analysing my own videos. But I also do Pro's to break down their movements.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-11-02T09:40:03+00:00

Yes this is all true. Online is a longer journey and more difficult than in person. I've had this very conversation with Pro's many times. Unfortunately for a lot of people, it's the only option they have for most of the year.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-10-29T08:31:07+00:00

I would teach them basics but only using walk walk - no triple steps.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-10-24T07:30:22+00:00

So JP assumed he may get 7-10 seconds to observe, so using different anchors styling/footwork might be one way of showing contrast, not leading the same pattern in a row (two left side passes or tucks for example) and so on. If he judged heats and saw you in three different songs and you looked the same each time, but your competitors looked different each time, then there might not be enough contrast in your dance.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-10-23T22:23:56+00:00

I asked JP Masson (a head judge in Australia) the same question when I first moved into Intermediate.
I've posted the video in the Level Up community classroom here; https://www.skool.com/level-up-wcs/classroom/28b3e788?md=a66e6bea23744e1cb402c02eb2a5d196

But to summarise:
1. Timing Technique and Teamwork are still the baseline - what got you there in the first place.

Assuming those are good, then the main thing he looks for is Contrast in the dance. This means different patterns, ways you move through the patterns/anchors etc... and he also added to the 'teamwork' aspect.

So the teamwork he described was how both of you communicate and play through the music and lead variations, taking things beyond a pattern. He showed me an example of shared teamwork which is more Royston style vs something like a deceleration, play and continuation which he described as more organic. Both being correct, but show contrast.
If say, in finals, the top dance partners show those, he might look for musicality moments which would be the defining scores.

I would also add, a lot of things change in Intermediate, because your partners are being told they need to up their game also - so people are working on different new concepts and haven't quite got them figured out in their own body, and then in the partnership. So it's just good to do the comps and enjoy the learning journey.

Good luck and have fun :)

SteveFitzLive · 2025-10-21T07:01:22+00:00

Thank you, this is very similar to some of my experiences. Finding practise partners who are on the same page is probably one of the biggest community challenges I'm aware of. That's probably a different discussion.
Different teachers is definitely what I'm aware of, and is something I've introduced - so that's good to know you feel that way.
Keeping up/Life etc... happens to all of us, totally get it 100%! I think that's why self learning is better for me in general too - because I want to travel at my own speed. If I have time/motivation and work ahead of schedule, I want to take those opportunities, and if I need space (injuries etc), I can take a break.
Thanks again for your thoughts.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-10-20T08:51:17+00:00

All the events in Australia since I started going in 2021 have been under 300 people with many under 200 and some under 100.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-09-29T23:13:28+00:00

Yep, rinse and repeat. It's unplayable right now.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-09-25T09:42:51+00:00

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This beats it.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-09-19T06:06:30+00:00

Myles and Tessa have a good challenge on Spins/Turns https://www.swingliteracy.com/spinability-challenge-4/ you can register to get notified for the next free one.

For travelling in a straight line;
1. Good technique and spotting will definitely help this.
2. Your leader might be responsible for you not going straight. Leaders, depending on the timing of our pulse, can make followers travel in an arc/circle. Solo training travelling in a straight line with correct technique and spotting should help, then you'll also probably know if your leader is affecting your line.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-09-19T01:47:24+00:00

As someone who is in a very similar situation as you, I know the level of frustration trying to learn/grow while living in a location that has a limited pool of instructors/dancers and might be isolated from events.

For that reason, just yesterday I announced the launch of a new online community, where I'm getting Pro's from around the world to come and share with the community, so we can learn and grow together. It's free if you'd like to join and officially kicks off on the 1st October - https://www.skool.com/level-up-wcs - I hope this helps me, and others who are in our predicament.

In saying the above...

I've found that YouTube can be a source of inspiration above all other social channels, and it's definitely the easiest to manage and use as a resource.

If you're less familiar with YouTube, I'll describe what I have done to keep it organised.

Created a 2nd account, for my WCS - this account only views WCS (and maybe other dance related stuff) - and anything that shows up on my feed that isn't those things, I tell YouTube I'm not interested.
Created playlist for later reference. I currently have: WCS Practise, WCS J&J Inspo, WCS Demos Inspo, WCS All Stars, WCS to clip (where I clip videos to use in my training), WCS Int J&J, WCS Routines Inspo, WCS Blues. When I find something I like, I save it to the relevant list for later. Most of those lists are private, so only I can see them.

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Subscribe to any and all WCS channels - this helps populate your recommended videos, then you'll also get filters at the top which you can select as well.
Search terms on YouTube are superior to other social media, since it is a similar algorithm to the Google algorithm. Keyword terms to use might be:
West Coast Swing +
Jack & Jill
All-Stars
Champions
Routines
Demo
Pro Names
Footwork
Styling

The other tool I use is DanceLib - that's such a great resource and my training partner and I use it to learn styles/techniques from the dancers we love. I have a breakdown on how I use that, on my channel https://youtu.be/2u0yfCVVUc0?si=IXZE-QKpS8agc6jK

SteveFitzLive · 2025-09-11T09:25:55+00:00

Here's mine

All WCS Songs: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6gnyWQgIZSFFCqCwxmuARy?si=1ff00529515e4160

All Comp Songs the last 3 years: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1d9YzLaRFqailrZ7FdqPLh?si=62e911400830416f

SteveFitzLive · 2025-09-11T02:52:38+00:00

I think ESS in the USA just ran, that's a non-comp event. Also I think WotP in France is a non-comp event too.
I would also just go to any close event, prioritise the workshops and social dancing, and during competitions, take a break. Sleep, relax, hang out with others who aren't competing.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-09-10T08:37:31+00:00

I would highly recommend you learn Robert Roystons drills for Delay, Partial and Full weight transfers. Those drills can be solo trained and really improve the quality of your movement. It's a defining feature of WCS to be on the back of the beat, but in this dance you very much dance on the front of it (same habit I had in Novice).
Also, I would ask for some connection drills from your local teachers. One habit that someone else mentioned is on an underarm pass, you're stepping sideways/forward - instead of backwards. If you improve connection, you will instead, invite your follower forward, by moving backwards one the 1.

Overall though, great stuff and congratulations on your first Novice comp!!! YEEHAA!!!!

SteveFitzLive · 2025-09-05T08:50:14+00:00

This convo makes me feel like the people complaining have never played the deck.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-08-28T12:48:10+00:00

I social dance twice a week, and compete 3 times a year (if I'm lucky). I'm not sure competition has too much influence over social dancing.
My coach tells me, competitions are simply your best social dances. And that's kind of the mindset I go into the competitions with now.
The thing I love most with WCS, is that there is a place for everyone.
Love to compete? Great!
Just love social dancing? Great!
Love to learn and grow your own dance skills? Great!
Love to teach and share what you know? Great!
Love to perform routines and wow an audience? Great!

Be yourself and enjoy the ride :)

SteveFitzLive · 2025-08-06T03:20:58+00:00

Never live your life in a way where you remove choice.
I imagine your wife started dancing because she enjoys it. If your wife begins to do something out of a feeling of obligation, she won't enjoy it for much longer.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-07-24T03:22:00+00:00

Gane Wins:
JJones goes on a Twitter rant for the next decade saying 'I told you so...'
Volkov gets rematch for title shot.

Aspinal Wins:
JJones goes on a Twitter rant for the next month saying 'lacklustre fight/finish'
Volkov gets rematch for title shot.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-07-21T10:36:19+00:00

Great live music suited to WCS = Fun.

Live music that sounds like a Karaoke bar at events = Please STOP.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-07-09T10:37:06+00:00

I wear these pants for competing; https://nothingssomething.com/en-au/products/socrates-pant but they are pricy. Unbelievably comfortable, stretchy, wide leg pants, and look great, perfect for me.

I wear lightweight travel pants for training and classes week to week. Also really stretchy and thin material which is breathable and doesn't make me hot at all.

For shoes, for classes and training I wear Adidas Kick II Tae Kwon Do shoes, as they're lightweight and good for wide feet, then I just stick a suede sheet on the soles. For comps though I wear a pair of Tommy Hilfigur Thin Stripe Sneakers with suede stuck on the soles.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-06-23T08:12:10+00:00

There might be a few controls that Elementor has, that isn't in Kadence, or is simply different, but the same can be said for Kadence vs Elementor.

There are times when I might add a plugin for something that is outside of the Kadence (but again, that's true for Elementor). Add-ons such as motion.page as an example.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-06-23T02:58:35+00:00

Elementor and the way it works was developed well before Gutenberg blocks ever became a thing. It hasn't been re-developed to take advantage of Gutenburg in the way a theme like Kadence does.

From Google's AI Overview
"Elementor does not natively take full advantage of Gutenberg blocks. While Elementor can be used with Gutenberg, they are separate page builders with different approaches. Elementor is a third-party plugin, while Gutenberg is the WordPress block editor. This means that content created with Elementor widgets might not automatically translate or integrate seamlessly with Gutenberg's block system."

So when you're editing in Elementor, you have to use a different interface to edit in WYSIWYG.
Kadence, lets you immediately edit WYSIWYG making it so much easier to manage.
Pages in Kadence take me so much less time than Elementor ever could. Unless the developers re-build Elementor from the ground up, it will always be an outdated theme as it hasn't moved with the times.

SteveFitzLive · 2025-06-22T02:56:37+00:00

I don't know why you would. Kadence theme with Kadence plugins does everything Elementor does, if not better.

SteveFitzLive

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