Is Brazilian Zouk an addiction? I think for a lot of us it is — and I say that as someone it nearly broke.

In this ZoukNerds episode my co-host Gui Prada and I talk about the body of the dancer. The strapped knee, the strapped shoulder, the wrist, the people massaging each other at every festival. That is the community telling on itself.

For 10 years I ate painkillers as if I was drinking water. I wasn't sleeping. Any lesson, any call, any hour — it was a yes. That burned me out, and in 2016 I quit dance for a whole year. What I came back understanding: it was never the dance. It was how I dealt with it.

So how do you know your love for the dance has tipped into addiction? Try the self-advisor test: if a friend told you everything they've been doing to their body, would you say "keep going, you're fine"? People freeze. We can't say it to a stranger, so we shouldn't say it to ourselves.

Then there's the gambling parallel. We keep feeding the machine for the dopamine hit of one great dance, losing and losing until we win. Pace yourself instead. Rest a few weeks, then go all-in on the one weekender that connects with your soul.

Gui says it best: "I cannot give more. What I received right now is enough." Understanding what is enough is the search for a whole life.

Dance is our tribe. It can't be our only tribe. Reach out to your Dancers Anonymous, and notice how big a slice of your life this really owns.

Listen, follow, and share this with the dancer who needs to hear it.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro

00:28 The body of the dancer: strapped knees, shoulders, wrists

01:45 The inability to stop

02:32 The self-advisor test

05:57 10 years, painkillers like water

07:16 I quit dance for a whole year

08:45 Why teachers can't say no

12:24 Dance as your only tool

16:03 It's a gambling addiction

16:13 Music FOMO, people FOMO, event FOMO

21:05 Falling asleep on the floor

24:48 "I cannot give more" — enoughness

26:42 The Michelin sushi spoiler

29:31 What does dance fulfill for you?

30:31 Healthy here, not struggling to be here

Co-host: Gui Prada

ZoukNerds: https://www.zouknerds.com/

Alisson Sandi: https://www.alissonsandi.com

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Episode: S06 Ep10 | ZoukNerds Podcast