On this week’s episode we talk about the Spotify boycott and why we are participating. ICE recruitment ads aren’t the only reason to stop giving them your hard earned money. We talk about how hard the decision is to divest from such an accessible staple and resource for dance teachers and what other options exist out there that aren’t evil fascists stealing from musicians. Seattle, the birthplace of Degender Dance, is one of the bigger cities that launched this boycott with many local musicians opting out and removing their music. Hell yea! Oh also when you cancel, there’s hilarious/desperate surprise waiting for you. Tune in to hear us chop it up!Indivisible Boycott:https://indivisible.org/cancel-spotifySeattle Musicians Boycott:https://www.knkx.org/jazz/2025-09-05/seattle-musicians-boycott-spotify-ai-ghost-musicians-ceo-daniel-ek-defense-investmentsOur screenshots from canceling:https://drive.google.com/open?id=1g3RMrHWmRMylYN5gtaUnT7NrfloNeEee&usp=drive_fs

Creating the Dance Floor You Want to See with Yasmeen Zahar:This week, we are so excited to share an interview with Seattle-based Latin dancer and teacher, Yasmeen Zahar! We dig into Bachata: its roots, its current politics, and why Sensual and Traditional are not the same dance. She talks about noticing what’s missing in a community and choosing to build something that’s deeply needed, and how she’s doing exactly that with Traditional Bachata in Seattle. Yasmeen brings culture, accessibility, and queer-forward care to Seattle’s Latin dance spaces through Traditional Bachata, creating classes where dancers feel joy, representation, and ease instead of self-critique. We’re pumped for you to hear our chat with Yasmeen and the ways they’re weaving community care and Dominican cultural roots into every part of their teaching. Tune in!

White supremacy is interwoven into every aspect of our culture in many ways that are easy to name, and other times in patterns so normalized we barely notice them. In this Part 1 episode, we look at how those quieter, less-obvious and normalized dynamics shape our relationships and our dance spaces.We spend time with Tema Okun’s list of characteristics of white supremacy culture: a framework Lou first encountered through Shahem “5hahem” McLaurin’s 2021 Is It White Supremacy? series. Lou shares a bit about the origins of Okun’s work and why it continues to resonate. We touch on how we personally see these cultural habits show up in partner dance communities and along the way, we talk antidotes and possibilities for building dance spaces that feel more grounded, more collaborative and healthier for everyone. This conversation is just the tip of the iceberg with a Part 2 coming soon!

References & Links

• Shahem “5hahem” McLaurin: https://www.5hahem.com/
• Tema Okun’s website: https://www.dismantlingracism.org/
• Short video of Okun speaking: https://youtu.be/kJg2LJihb64?si=sZgDDGTIyX4jtqEt
• Easy-to-read Printable list https://overcomingracism.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/HANDOUT-SHARED-Characteristics-of-White-Supremacy-Culture-original-1.pdf
• Original list from Okun https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture.pdf

In this episode...well, less of an episode and more of an announcement: we’re taking a little time off. One of the core tenets of capitalism and yt supremacy is that you push no matter what. At Degender Dance, we value slowing down, listening to our bodies, and being in flow instead of chasing productivity. Tune in to hear us regale you with our anticapitalist voices until we are back on November 25th, 2025!5, 6, 7, 8!

In this episode, we talk with Hazel Weakly, a deaf transfemme Lindy Hopper and tech whiz with serious groove and even more serious swivels, about what it’s like to move through dance and disability. Hazel shares how she learned to hear the music through feeling and tension, becoming known as a musical switch dancer, and opens up about coming out as trans, plus what a pair of 4-inch heels can do for leads! Lou and I also chat about our own limitations and disabilities: the funny, messy, and sometimes frustrating ways being visibly disabled changes how people treat you, and the myth of the “normal” body. 5, 6, 7, 8!

In this episode, we kick back and shoot the sh*t about the music that made us who we are. From musical theater favorites to top 40 hits, from Jelly Roll Morton to that chest-pounding movie score mega-hit no millennial can go without, we wander through the soundtracks of our lives. Music is both inexplicably personal and a mirror of where we come from — shaped by heritage, cultural waves, and the things we soaked in as kids without even knowing it.As we follow these threads through memory and meaning, we find ourselves tracing the path to how we fell in love with partner dance — and why Salsa and Jazz still hold us in their rhythm. This episode is part nostalgia trip, part love letter to the songs that shaped us, and a reminder that the music we carry is never just sound — it’s story. 5678!

Hey dancers! This episode is a call to action: follows are not passive passengers, social dancing isn’t a one-way street and toxic masculinity is tiring AF. From the old dance tropes of “dance dummies,” and the idea of “don’t think, just follow,” the dance world has a lot to unpack. Treating follows like props is just the tip of the iceberg—and it fosters the darker, more psychologically and physically unsafe elements of dance spaces for some, especially women. We dig into how follows co-create the dance, why so many leads default to control of female bodies, and what true collaboration can feel like when both partners bring their full artistry to the dance. Lou gets into the Euro roots of partner dance, how patriarchy shaped the roles we inherited, and what’s shifting as dance communities face their own #MeToo movements. More and more people are speaking out—including our hero, Frankie Martinez (mentioned in this episode), one of the few men in the scene calling for change. This conversation is for everyone who cares about social dance—and we hope it inspires more men to start listening and speaking up too. Let’s go!

5, 6, 7, 8!

Hey dancers! In this episode we dive into what it really feels like to social dance as a genderqueer or queer person — the joy, the tension, the resistance, and the magic. We unpack how traditional partner dancing often reinforces binary roles, and what it means to disrupt that system just by showing up in our full, fluid selves. From the awkwardness of being miscast into “leader” or “follower” roles to the liberation of queering the dance floor, we explore how queerness can expand, reimagine, and even heal dance spaces. We also talk about how to create intentional, affirming environments where all bodies, all expressions, and all identities can move freely. Because queerness doesn’t just fit into dance — it transforms it. Let’s get into it.5, 6, 7, 8!