Is your Jack and Jill placement actually telling you how good you are at Brazilian Zouk? I don't think it is. And I judge these competitions.

Gui Prada, Adayl Iost and I pull apart two things people treat as one dance: social dancing on the floor, and dancing in a Jack and Jill. They are not the same.

I'll put my hands up here. For my first six or seven years of Jack and Jill, I competed like it was a show. World Champion on stage the night before, then dancing like a novice on the Jack and Jill. It took me years to break that.

Why your placement is not a measure of your dancing:

→ From the judge's chair, I know where you are from your first basic step, not your craziest move. Quality, context, and recovery score. Crazy moves mostly don't.

→ Adayl calls Jack and Jill "150% luck": the song you draw, your partner's state, your nerves, the judges' mood that day. None of that is your dance level.

→ Gui asked three judges why a simple, connected dance wasn't enough. Their answer, in writing: "good to watch, but not to win."

So I treat Jack and Jill as a fitness test, not a verdict. I train my mindset every social, then walk in like it's just another dance and let the rest go.

The big takeaway: Jack and Jill measures what a judge sees in 90 seconds. It does not measure how the dance felt to your partner. So stop using your placement to decide where you are.

Chapters:

00:00 Opening highlights

00:37 Intro

00:45 Continuing the social dancing conversation

02:51 Practicing for Jack and Jill during socials

08:41 A judge's perspective on competition dances

17:23 The real difference between competitions and socials

23:38 Detaching your competition placement from your growth

34:35 Asking judges for feedback after a competition

40:39 How to actually assess social dancing skill

46:45 Treating competitions as a dance fitness test

Co-hosts: Gui Prada and Adayl Iost

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

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

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Episode: S05 Ep02 | ZoukNerds Podcast