Moving on from adidas after 7 years - October recap

Hey everyone! As more and more leaves have changed their colours, we can say fall is really here. Welcome to my recap of October.

Every 6 months I replace my dance shoes. I do this in October and April each year. For the last 7 years I have worn the adidas Ultraboost but this time I wanted to see if I could find a better model, better suited for (my) dancing. Fun fact: I just discovered that they don’t write adidas with a capital “a”. Well, look at that. 😮

The Ultraboost are adidas’ high-end running shoes which launched in 2015. I picked them because they have a lot of cushioning and that is something that I personally benefit from considering my history of foot and leg injuries. Additionally, the last models I bought had an upper part that consisted of at least 80% recycled material if I’m correct, and there was a clear description of what materials were used.

For the new model, it seems to me that the share of recycled material adidas uses has dropped and they also provide less information about the incorporated materials. This bothered me.

There is more. In the past, I have noticed that this model didn’t provide the necessary stability and support for lateral movements, which is something we have a lot of in dancing. The Ultraboost is made for running, as is, going in a pretty straight line most of the time, so it makes sense that lateral movements were not an important factor in adidas' design process.

The first stop on my quest to find a new model of shoes was the adidas store. After all, I’ve been very happy with my adidas shoes over the last 7 years, so I was not just going to jump ship immediately. This is what they call “brand loyalty” I think. 🤓 One of the models that I considered was the RapidMove ADV. The store has the following to say about it: 

Fly through HIIT classes in shoes you can count on. These adidas training shoes are made for dynamic movement. The engineered knit upper has strategically placed areas of support. Lightstrike cushioning is super lightweight and responsive, and the asymmetrical Torsion System helps keep you stable during quick cuts and multidirectional moves. Made with a series of recycled materials, this upper features at least 50% recycled content.

The good things about this model are that it supports multidirectional moves and that at least 50% of the upper part is recycled. This is still less than 80% from the Ultraboost though. Furthermore, the store is also not super clear about what materials are used. Considering all this, I started looking into other brands.

On is a Swiss shoe and clothing company with as its mission “To ignite the human spirit through movement.” The model that I was interested in was Cloud X 4, a “new generation” is what On calls it and they describe it as follows:

HIIT, mountain climbers, squat jumps? No problem. Here's an ultra-flexible training shoe built for feel-good workouts.

This reads as “support for lateral movements” to me! Under the heading “Materials & Transparency” on their store we learn that

Collar Lining: 100% Recycled Polyester Vamp Lining: 100% Recycled Polyester

100% recycled?! Sign me up! Side note: call it nitpicking but the lack of a comma between Polyester and Vamp annoys me 😅 

The company as a whole also puts a big emphasis on sustainability which I like a lot. Okay, they won me over. I ordered the Cloud X 4.

It’s the end of October and I’ve used my new pair for a month now and so far I really like them a lot. They are a lot better for lateral movements while still providing enough cushioning. Even better, I haven’t felt a difference with the Ultraboost so far. And that was something that I was a bit worried about. I’m curious to see how it will evolve and especially what I will decide in April when I will buy my next pair of shoes.

During the weekend of the 19th and 20th of October another edition of Jungle Beats took place in Brussels. This event featured the styles Dancehall, Afro and Twerk through a set of workshops and battles. For Dancehall we had as teachers Ravage from Belgium and Slip from Jamaica, who currently lives in Italy. I took Slip’s class, my first by him since 2017. That was 7 years ago! I tried to take his class at an event in Italy in 2021 but the organisers had to cancel his class because he got sick. So 3 years later, I finally got to take his class. The class was really great! He is a very good teacher: taking his time explaining what he does and why he does it the way he does it. His understanding of not only Dancehall but dance in general is very good. Of all the dancers I've taken classes from so far, he is one of the best when it comes to his pedagogical approach. Our class was mainly focused on learning 2 of his steps with a small routine at the end putting them both together. I highly recommend taking his class when you have the chance!

Next to the workshops, there were also battles. On Saturday, the Dancehall battles took place and on Sunday the Afro and Twerk battles. I only watched the ones on the first day: Female Dancehall and 2 vs 2 Dancehall. Participating in the 2 vs 2 was really something that I wanted to do but unfortunately I didn’t have a partner. So I was a member of the audience for this one, something that doesn’t happen a lot! 😄 I don’t know for sure but this might have been the first time that there was a 2 vs 2 Dancehall in Belgium. I can’t recall any event where that was part of the program. 

On top of a 2 vs 2 taking place for the first time in my country, I’m very happy to share with you that the win stayed in Belgium! 🤩 Clara and Safi won! Great job, girls! 🔥 Before I forget, the judges of both the female and the 2 vs 2 were Slip, Ravage, and Coco.

While I was only a spectator during Jungle Beats, I planned to be on the dancefloor again in Poznań, Poland for my second appearance at Spal Parkiet. However, the Dancehall (and the breaking) battles got cancelled because not enough dancers registered to participate. 😭 This sucked. I won at that event last year and I really wanted to see if I could win again, which would have resulted in my first back-to-back win. But yeah… That will have to wait.

I want to finish this month’s recap by sharing with you my favourite Dancehall song of the month: Blanco by Alkaline.

Thanks for joining my dance journey and for your support! Talk to you next month.