Equilibrium @ Latin Dance Australia

This Saturday I traveled to Sydney with the Canberra K&L Zouk Team to perform at Equilibrium; a monthly social put on by Latin Dance Australia.

I always knew that some of the Canberra crew would travel to Sydney to dance (a 3.5 hour drive with no traffic… a 5 hour drive with traffic). And after this weekend I have decided that I will join their intermittent pilgrims for dance. Why? Because I had my first Latin Dance Australia (LDA) Equilibrium social and it gave me a refreshing change in Zouk scenery that is well worth the trip.

Equilibrium is more than Zouk; there are three floors each with a different dance style. As the name implies, they have equal amounts of Zouk, Kizomba, and Bachata dished out over thee different floors of the dance studio. Yep – their dance studio is three stories high. And this social is more than just a social; included in the cost is a 50 minute lesson and you can choose what style and level you would like to try. Scott and Rebecca took us through some variations for a packed dance floor which was handy for later in the night! The lights dimmed and the social dancing started. It wasn’t long before we had to get ready for our performance, but I got some great dances in before we had to get ready.

As a promotion for the LDA Variety Ball on 23 September, the Equilibrium performances went beyond dance. They were opened by none other than Donald and Melina Trump before our team of eight hit the floor. While I missed the following performance I hear it was a great rendition of ‘Despacito’ played on the flute. Then Scott and Rebecca performed their latest Zouk choreography which was full of fantastic spins and some serious show moves – it was great to watch. If you are swinging by Newcastle in NSW go and check out their classes as they have some great variations to teach. The finale was a blast – a skit involving Trump, Ivanka, Kanye West and Kim Jong-un. Trump tasked Kanye to bring Kim Jong-un to LDA for a meeting where they solved the problems on the Peninsula through dance. If only. Happy that a war had been averted, we were all able to dance until the early hours of the morning.

The People

The quality of the dancers at Equilibrium is high. I don’t know if it is because they have a number of Zouk social options, or because they have a larger pool of dancers to practice with. But they are good, and happy to dance. I found that there were slightly more females/follows than males/leads, but the balance was pretty good. I don’t remember many guys asking me to dance; but I had my Zouk mojo on so I would just went up to them and asked myself, which worked nicely.

The quality of the dancers is my reason to go back. I love the Canberra crowd; they are the peeps I started my dance journey with. But sometimes a change is as good as a holiday.

Different location = different people = different dance skills = winning.

The Place

I confess I didn’t venture away from the Zouk room… so I don’t know what the other two rooms were like. This Saturday the Zouk room was the ‘main’ room (middle floor), with the bar off to the side. It is a dance studio so the floors are great, and they have a proper stereo system and lighting that created a great atmosphere. Yes; I mentioned they have a bar. Unfortunately I had just started my Whole30 program, so I just imagined how nice the $7 cocktails would have been ($7 cocktails?!?!? BARGAIN!!!).

The Atmosphere

As it is a monthly event the atmosphere was great. They had a ‘battle of the DJs’ with the decks only switching if they ran out of shots purchased by dancers to keep them playing (1 shot = 2 songs). I think DJ Sexy Alexy won, but everyone was playing some great tracks with a wide variety of genres. There were heaps of people on the dance floor, but not so many that you couldn’t have some nice, wide styling; the dancefloor density was good (I should coin that phrase!).

The Verdict

I’ll be going back! I hope to see you there for a dance next time Equilibrium comes around!

The Details

LDA Studio at 263 Broadway Rd, Broadway, Sydney, NSW, Australia on the first Saturday of the month (check their facebook page and follow it to keep up to date with details!).

$15 cash at the door

The day after Equilibrium: Bronte beach, Sydney