Super Bowl, Declining Youth Team Sports, Underscore Decline in Physical Activity

Posted on February 3, 2014 by WildBill

The gigantic marketing power of the NFL has made the Super Bowl more important than many of our national holidays, but only a few dozen players are getting exercise. And even the combined roster of the entire NFL is a drop in the bucket compared with the millions of fans sitting and watching in stadiums and on TV (and eating too much often-unhealthy food). Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal, many youth team sports are declining, as the youths prefer to spend increasing amounts of time with videogames and social networking (and watch their waistlines grow). Both adults and youths would be better off doing some—any!—form of dancing than just sitting. And unlike football, baseball, or other pros, they can dance their entire life. Interestingly, after all the hype leading up to the Super Bowl, the uneven score (and other missteps that infuriated many fans) may actually mark the end of the growth in the NFL.

Don’t Call them Drones

Posted on January 28, 2014 by WildBill

On December 13, 2013 we opined in our blog post that Drones—which we will subsequently call UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) because of the negative image of military aircraft used to seek and kill enemy soldiers (especially terrorists)—could be used productively to record videos of dancers moving around the floor. Although we have yet to see any dance studios use one, the venerable Parrot AR Drone 2.0 (it would be a good idea for Parrot to stop using the emotionally-charged name for this mostly-toy model) in the right hands could give serious dancers and dance teachers some great camera angles not previously possible. In fact, during the UCWDC championships Wilddancer spoke with professional videographer who was taking videos of the whole floor with a fixed camera, but who had used a much larger professional model for other applications. However, in the meantime a bunch of companies—including Always Innovating (which may not yet have commercialized their MeCam), Transition Robotics (with their Quadshot), and Rotor Concept (with models HPQ-1 and HPQ-2)—have started offering alternatives to the Parrot model.

UCWDC Worlds Championships: Best Country Western Dancers

Posted on January 22, 2014 by WildBill

Wilddancer attended the annual US country western dancing championships in Nashville (“Music City”) during the week starting with New Year’s Eve, where hundreds of slender, fit people vied for top honors in eight different couples dances plus line dances and team dances. These folks were all having fun and staying in shape at the same time.

Who Will Keep Their New Year’s Resolutions to Take Dance Lessons?

Posted on January 14, 2014 by WildBill

There are a few perennial New Year’s Resolutions that are made, and usually broken. While social dancing, per se, does not appear in most popular top ten resolutions, it likely is a good possibility for at least two of the top ten—getting fit and learning something new. And it should be a particularly good choice because it is a lot less demanding than many of the alternatives.

Any Dancing is Better than No Dancing

Posted on January 3, 2014 by WildBill

As part of its continued promotional campaign, YouTube did its own “12 Days of Christmas” video, which included a “9 Dancers dancing” verse with two options: Prancercise: A Fitness Workout, and Evolution of [Football] End Zone Dancing. The former was 5 minutes of a slender, fit woman with ankle weights hopping through a park. You can see that this is good exercise.

The latter was two slender, fit guys in football jerseys—actually Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake– hamming it up. Some exercise for those two. But end zone dancing in football gear is done by a tiny fraction of folks, while the vast majority are sitting and watching TV. No exercise here.

Use Drones to Video Dance Routines?

Posted on December 13, 2013 by WildBill

Amazon’s proposal for delivering packages via drones has triggered a huge wave of press coverage … and controversy. Wilddancer has been watching to see if and when they will get used to record dance routines, especially those that move around the dance floor (like waltz, foxtrot, cowboy two-step, or polka). The Parrot company in France introduced a model several years ago that can be controlled by an iPhone or iPod, which can also record the video stream sent back from the tiny video camera built into the drone. Thus far the Parrot seems to have been used mainly by the same sort of hobbyists who enjoy flying remote-controlled model planes. But maybe now with this publicity dancers (at least during practice and competitions) will consider using them to record their performances, and those of their competitors, it’s an idea whose time has come. Brookstone has been selling them for some time, and eBay usually has a bunch ofused ones listed. And the Christmas season is bringing them out in force, including from such unlikely-sounding retailers as Bed Bath & Beyond (selling the Quadricopter for $179). But the heavier-duty AR Drone 2.0 seems to be pegged at $299 (including at the Apple Store).

Annual Country Dance World Championships in Nashville December 30-January 5

Posted on December 4, 2013 by WildBill

This is a must for enthusiastic dancers to country western music–including polka, triple two-step, nightclub two-step, cha cha, waltz, (cowboy) two-step, east coast swing, and west coast swing—the eight dances whose competition is sanctioned by the UCWDC (United Country Western Dance Council). Held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, it includes not only competitions and workshops, but also social dancing, shows, shopping, parties, and more. Check it out at UCWDC Worlds. See you there!

Even Small Towns Can Have Lots of Social Couples Dancing Opportunities

Posted on November 14, 2013 by WildBill

Perhaps it’s BECAUSE they are small, and dancing doesn’t require a large and expensive facility and a lot of wealthy people to support it. All that’s needed is a few enthusiasts (including a teacher if lessons are needed), a few hours of a smooth floor, and some suitable dance music (which could be on an iPod or other gadget). Wilddancer took the opportunity during his recent trip to the United Kingdom to visit his ancestral home of Coggeshall, current population about 4, 000. (His ancestor John Coggeshall emigrated from there in 1635, and became the first president of Rhode Island. His descendants form a classic family tree, and celebrated a large family reunion about 25 years ago.) Without even trying, within a few minutes he found two opportunities.

Debonair Dancers Survey Helps Boost Membership

Posted on November 8, 2013 by WildBill

It takes effort to keep ANY group intact and lively. This goes double when there is natural attrition that requires replacing members. But what KIND of effort is best? Wilddancer’s mission is to advise and suggest ways to maintain or increase membership. One of the best ways is to tap the members themselves for ideas, and Wilddancer helped the Silicon Valley-based Debonair Dancers dinner-dance group do just that in a survey of their members during the first calendar quarter of 2013. (Debonair Dancers’ membership had fallen well below their long-term 100-couple level (they formerly had a waiting list), so concerns were growing.) The results of that survey are at survey. The last page of that report lists more than 25 ideas, and the board and members have already followed up on several of them, resulting in a membership boost of more than 20% during the ensuing six months. In effect, the survey acted as a catalyst to remind members of the situation and energize them to act.

“Dirty Dancing” Musical Puts Romance Back into Couples Dancing

Posted on November 1, 2013 by WildBill

The famous “lift” (don’t’ try this at home) that is the signature image of this movie is just its public face … which is rated by one expert as the sixth most famous dance pose in all movies ever. But there is lots going on behind the scenes in this drama. Impressive as it was on the big screen in its 1987 debut, we had “the time of our life” seeing it on stage in London this month. The male lead Johnny, Paul-Michael Jones, is a British champion Latin and Standards dancer, so had plenty of dancing talent. And while there are a lot of choreographed “theater art” moves in both the movie and this stage version, there are also a lot of scenes of young couples doing sexy dance steps that shocked their waltz-and-foxtrot-oriented parents. We don’t know if any of many “millenials” (under 30’s) have watched this, but we’d bet that they would find it at least as interesting as the newer version of “Footloose”. Not surprisingly in show business, there is a story behind the story, as detailed in this 25th anniversary tribute.