Degender Dance

Hey Dancers! Its time for our November check in. Here we let the cat out of the bag and talk about having Daniella Mestyanek Young on as a guest on the podcast this month. We also touch on the collective conversation of power, control, and the resurgence of the #metoo movement where that shows up in the dance world.

In this episode, Lou + Kate get into whisper networks and open secrets. What do we do when the open secrets of the world fall on deaf ears? We whisper network. Sometimes, the only way women and marginalized people in the dance world (and the rest of the world, too) can protect themselves and each other is through a good old-fashioned gossip: sharing experiences, passing along warnings, and trying...

Wait…people still dance Cha-Cha-Chá? HELL YES THEY DO. This week, Kate teaches Lou about one of their favorite dances, the Cha-Cha! Where did it come from? Why did it become a massive dance craze? How does it fit into the history of Cuban and Latin partner dance? And why might you see a dance floor thin out when a Cha-Cha comes on today? We talk about the history, the Cuban craze of the 1950s, the...

Hey Dancers! We are shaking things up, and starting a monthly check in EP. Join us for our other EPs this month: Whatever Happened to Cha-Cha-Chá?, and Whisper Networking and Open Secrets. Both coming out later this month. Catch us on-line at DegenderDance.com See you on the dance floor!

In this week’s episode, Kate and Lou share a short and sweet conversation on why partner dance is so damn good for queers and why partner dance needs queers running shit! For queer and trans people, embodiment and unadulterated authenticity is a powerful part of discovering, inhabiting, and expressing who we are. Dance gives us a container for that experience: a place to play with gender, energy,...

This week we’re joined by Jason Hsu (he/him), Lindy Hop dancer, educator, researcher, tour guide, and founder of Switch Taipei - a dance school for Queer equality and identity in Swing in Taipei Taiwan! With a background in theatre, language education, and cross-cultural pedagogy, Jason teaches and performs Lindy Hop but also bridges dance practice and academia. After completing a master’s degree...

What happens when we stop making men and their whims, ideas, and impulses the center of everything? In this episode, we’re talking about a pattern that shows up everywhere: from small dance communities to the highest levels of power. Men are often given the benefit of the doubt, the spotlight, the leadership, and the attention, while women, femmes, and queer people are conditioned to provide the c...

OMG Y’all! This week we're joined by Kyla Hallums (kylahallums.com), a movement coach, somatic practitioner, and Bachata and Salsa teacher from Nashville, Tennessee, whose work blends social dance, somatics, and embodiment in ways that might change how you think about partner dance. So, what if becoming a better dancer has less to do with nailing the steps and more to do with trusting yourself...

Check out our new site www.degenderdance.com⁠ !!!  Big title, we know. But stick with us. Last episode we talked about our complicated relationship with dance and how joyful, connective, and freeing it is... also weirdly still full of colonial bs. This time, we're asking: if dance is supposed to be about freedom, why is it still carrying around so much nonsense? From rigid gender roles and maj...

We're back for Season 2! In this kickoff episode, we sit down to unpack our complicated relationship with partner dance. From the intoxicating magic of a truly great connection to the patriarchal overtones woven through modern partner dance scenes, nothing is off the table. We talk about what drew us to build Degender Dance in the first place, what keeps us passionate about it, what we'd l...

That’s a wrap on our first season here at The Degender Dance Podcast! Thank you so much to everyone for joining us in our first year of podcasting- we love our listeners💕🫶🏼 Tune in to check out what’s next and get excited about all the stuff we’ve cooked up for you in season 2 and much more! Season 2 starts with a bang 💥 on June 9th, 2026

How accessible is your dance scene? Is dance ableist? What can disability advocacy do for partner dance? What on earth is going to happen to your dance life when you become older or disabled? If the whole world had access to dance, would it be a better place? In this week’s episode we sit down with Madeline Webster-Perry (she/her), a Queer Lindy Hop dancer from St. Louis, Missouri, and get into it...

This week on The Degender Dance Podcast, we’re hanging out with Adrián (he/him), founder of Queerchata and the force behind one of the fastest-growing Queer partner dance movements in North America. In Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Chicago, Queerchata is all about creating spaces for dance without judgement with the help of his teachers, or as he calls them: The Queer...

In this episode, Lou introduces Kate to Contra Dancing for the very first time, starting with a crash course on what it is and its roots of Renaissance country dances to its uniquely American evolution. Lou shares some of the layered history of contra, including how live calling became central to the form. Then we head to Lake City Contra to experience it in real life. We enjoy the sounds of the h...

This week we have the pleasure of talking to Rassamy, a West Coast Swing dancer, DJ, teacher, woman of color, cultural educator and ex Meta user in the greater Seattle area. We dive into her DEI work in West Coast Swing, and what it means to build accessible and justice-centered dance spaces. We hear all about her move away from social media, specifically Meta, as a political and personal choice,...

This week we’re getting into the basics. Why rushing into flashy patterns can strip away the soul of a dance. Why groove > quantity. And why the “basic” step and other foundational groove and technique is actually the skeleton of the dance and every flashy move too. The basics aren’t working? Neither will the advanced move. We also get into teaching beginners, retaking classes in the opposite r...

This week we’re talking with Anne Gaskins (she/ her): a therapist, Salsa teacher and a performer with Latin Fusion company BGC, here in Seattle, WA. Anne works as a therapist specializing in eating disorders and body image and is passionate about making dance accessible and fun for all bodies. Anne schools us with her pearls of wisdom about being a therapist and dancer and how these worlds collide...

In this episode Lou and Kate talk about one of the topics that sparked The Degender Dance Podcast to begin with: why learning to both lead and follow, even a little, makes you a better and safer dancer. We talk about the importance of ELEF, empathy and dismantling the idea that gender = dance role. Let’s get into it!

In YT Supremacy and Dance, Part 2 , Kate and Lou continue their conversation with Tema Okun’s Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture , moving through the second half of the list and exploring how these patterns show up in partner dance spaces. How do these characteristics surface in teaching and dance community and what are the antidotes? How do they live in our bodies and relationships, and h...

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...

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 sh...

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...

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...

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...

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 t...