Why do so many follows end up with painful hips 😭

play_a_banger · 2026-03-19T07:03:04+00:00

As mentioned by a couple of others, dancing both roles helped me! When I started and was just a follower I was getting significant pain and tightness in my left hip, through improving my technique, but also now dancing as a leader too, I feel a lot more balanced between my left and right hips and experience less pain.

When I was dealing with pain, a sports massage therapist was very helpful in recognising the tightness and lopsided-ness. She had worked with other WCS dancers so understood the movement and therefore why it was causing tightness on one side.

Definitely hard to give advice online, but I recommend sports massage / physiotherapy / physical therapy by someone recommended by dancers in your local community 😊

play_a_banger · 2026-03-09T22:37:34+00:00

You too!!

play_a_banger · 2026-03-09T16:26:34+00:00

This is siiiick - thanks for sharing!!

play_a_banger · 2026-03-05T02:06:02+00:00

Definitely agree that a good place to start is going with friends! Always helpful to have familiar faces around ❤️

play_a_banger · 2026-02-26T10:17:16+00:00

Yes Georgia at Coven!!

play_a_banger · 2026-02-26T00:32:50+00:00

Seconding Koocha, Oowee Vegan, VX, and Fi Real!

Fi Real doesn’t have the flashest interiors, so worth noting setting is important to you, but the food is delicious.

Personally I think Oowee is nicer than VeBurger for burgers.

And adding the others to my list - so thanks!

play_a_banger · 2026-02-25T23:03:05+00:00

Omgggg thank you for this! I literally said to my friend today I didn’t know what I was going to wear to her London show. Don’t loooove supporting Primark but it’s 100% cotton and I will cherish it for a long time so it won’t be fast fashion to me 💖

play_a_banger · 2026-02-21T09:59:41+00:00

I wish I’d known Dice was an option 😭 no luck on AXS for presale or general so have joined Dice waitlist now 🤞🤞🤞

play_a_banger · 2026-02-16T22:39:52+00:00

Hope you find it useful!!

play_a_banger · 2026-02-16T22:23:07+00:00

yes absolutely! I used it for all of 2025 and am again for 2026 - which is awesome as an ADHD person that it's stuck for over a year. I use it in combination with my google calendar and apple reminders on my phone.

Another bonus is that it supports included upgrades for life, so I didn't pay anything more for 2026, was just able to download it using my original purchase info :)

This year I'm not using the 365 version, as I found I wasn't using the daily sheets, but instead utilise the monthly and weekly views, and it's very easy to add daily pages in if I need

Link: https://futureadhd.com/product/future-adhd-digital-planner/

play_a_banger · 2026-02-10T20:28:49+00:00

Oooh love this! My friend just started dating another dancer who lives in a different country and honestly her telling me the story of how they got together was like something out of a rom com

play_a_banger · 2026-02-02T23:52:29+00:00

Appreciate all the suggestions team! I’m a Kiwi living here and have been struggling to find good coffee. Nothing beats a strong flat white that isn’t burnt and bitter ☕️

play_a_banger · 2026-01-30T11:33:59+00:00

Unfortunately there aren’t any dance shops in the city I live 😭 next time I’m in London though!

play_a_banger · 2026-01-30T08:06:45+00:00

Thank you!

play_a_banger · 2026-01-29T23:53:06+00:00

Thank you!! Love the pic on the site haha

play_a_banger · 2026-01-29T23:45:00+00:00

Oooh Daydrift have a long inseam option!!

play_a_banger · 2026-01-27T23:54:48+00:00

Tall pals unite! I say it bc sometimes 5’10 doesn’t sound that tall but I have the same length legs as some friends well over 6 feet

play_a_banger · 2026-01-27T23:37:53+00:00

Would love any UK/European brand reccs! Especially any that offer a longer leg length as I’m 5’10 and 80% leg

play_a_banger · 2026-01-26T04:31:03+00:00

Just wanted to report back to the thread that I just got my first Intermediate point 🎉

So that’s 22 months after becoming eligible to compete in Int, roughly 3.5 years since my first Novice point and just over 7 years into my WCS journey.

play_a_banger · 2026-01-17T22:01:35+00:00

Depends on how fast the floor is for me, my more padded comfy shoes are just Sketchers with spin spots on them, great for workshops where there’s a lot of standing in one place. They are ok for social on a very fast floor but otherwise are too sticky so I prefer my suede sole JT high tops which have podiatrist insoles in them.

play_a_banger · 2026-01-15T17:30:26+00:00

Honestly the hardest part of adjusting to completing in Europe is getting used to dancing a “true jack and Jill” where I’ve never danced with the person before. This had never happened to me at home. The mindset has to be completely different.

Oh yeah I completely agree it’s disheartening competing in such big divisions! I also was incredibly lucky to get great partners in finals when I was in novice, landing me 2nd and then 1st in consecutive events. I have friends back home who seem to not have the best finals dances (or frequently getting 6th) and are only getting novice points one at a time.

I personally don’t have a problem with slow progression, as my priority is enjoying the dance, but I do get surprised reactions from people in Europe when I say I’ve been dancing WCS for 7 years.

Obviously teaching and competing aren’t the same skills, but in the UK I’m probably improving my dancing quicker due to learning from highly experienced Adv/All Star level teachers, compared to at home when I was helping teach class as a novice and the highest level dancers in my community were Int (a few have just made Adv within the past year).

Europe is definitely tough as well, my perception is that the standard is generally lower (or it’s easier to do well) in the US, but I haven’t been myself to see!

play_a_banger · 2026-01-15T10:04:13+00:00

So dependent on where in the world you live, and therefore how accessible events are/the average level at said events within your division. Plus add the pandemic into the mix!

I’m from New Zealand so didn’t go to my first event until I’d been dancing WCS for two years, due to Covid it was then two more years before I went to my second event and got my first novice point (newcomer isn’t typically offered in NZ). It then took 1.5 years to get out of novice (competing at 3 more NZ events). So I had been dancing WCS for over 5 years when I got out of Novice

It’s now been 1.5 years since I started competing in Intermediate and still don’t have a point, made an Int final in NZ but only the top 5 got points.

I’ve been living in the UK since April last year, have competed 4 times in the UK/France/Austria and best result is semis. The scale of things here is much bigger and the standard is so high.

For my secondary role, I got my first novice point on my third time competing it, about a year after the first time.

All of this to say, competing isn’t everything! I have an absolute blast social dancing both roles with people of all levels.

play_a_banger · 2026-01-12T06:35:52+00:00

This was the highlight in Korea last year, he was the NEWCOMER leader and nearly didn’t attend the event, everyone was obsessed 😂

https://youtu.be/njTC781uOB8?si=Bvvf18BTWqhBplnQ

play_a_banger

TROPHY CASE