Tag Archives: dancing

Urban Dance Becoming Major Force in Dance World

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Just as modern dance broke away from traditional ballet (and postmodern dance broke away from modern dance), urban dance (AKA street dance, break dancing, or hip hop), is breaking away from other forms of contemporary dance. But urban dance is still in its rebellious stage. (To emphasize that they call their events “battles”.) Just as pet cats can only be domesticated within limits, giving rise to the phrase “like herding cats”, urban dance is resisting most attempts to standardize it and create a syllabus. The hard core practitioners don’t want to be taught in a classroom or studio: they want to teach themselves (perhaps by watching YouTube and copying-then-modifying others’ moves). Apparently the purest “break dancers” don’t call themselves break dancers. Nonetheless, cutting-edge dance schools like Arizona State University are offering classes, which are over-subscribed. (And traditional social dance studios are besieged by wannabe hip hop dancers. Even the word “ballroom” now connotes “old-fashioned”.) And while time at the barre in ballet training likely stood modern/postmodern dancers well, likely early training in gymnastics could do the same for urban dancers. Conference speakers pointed out that both ballet/modern/postmodern dancers and urban dancers could have problems with injuries.

We were fascinated with Catherine Limbertie’s survey of Toronto’s Riverdale Collegiate high school students regarding their views on break dancing—-presented at the combined conference of the World Dance Alliance-Americas (WDA-A) and the Dance Critics Association (DCA) in Vancouver, BC, Canada during July 29-August 4. Getting a public school to allow a researcher to do such a survey, and being able to extract helpful findings from a bunch of high school students, were challenging enough. As is common in such research, what people tell the surveyors is one thing and what they do is another. Break dancing is so trendy at the Riverdale Collegiate that there is a break dancing club, which was said to have 100 members, but very few members actually seemed to show up at its meetings/practices. But break dancing skills have considerable cachet; students with recognized break dancing skills used them in their campaigns for offices.

Dancers Increasingly Adopt Electronic Technology

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Rachel Holdt’s “Considering Technology Integrated Dance Curriculum in Post-Secondary Education” paper, published in the new Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship (JEDS), considered a broad range of technology, including Facebook, that could enhance the overall process of educating dancers. But during the combined conference of the World Dance Alliance-Americas (WDA-A) and the Dance Critics Association (DCA) in Vancouver, BC, Canada during July 29-August 4 she and Duncan Holt (from UK’s University of Hull) discussed with Wilddancer some of the specific hardware and software tools that are already being applied to teaching specific techniques, to creating the scenery for the performance, and to the performance itself,. Projectors can play several roles, from pico projectors used with smartphones to play back a performer’s practice instantly so s/he can learn, to giant models that can be used with scrims to create instant scenery. Isadora software can create special effects for live performances, either pre-programmed or controlled in real time by a variety of devices. By using the Kinect camera that accompanies the Microsoft Xbox, or other control devices, performers can control the audio-visual support for their performances. And a host of gesture recognition systems is available that can create visual effects essentially only limited by the imagination and creativity of the user. (We also suspect that Google Glass will play a role, too, as Google is already sponsoring its use in filmmaking.)

Comprehensive Study to Document Whole Canadian Dance Scene

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Of great significance to the Canadian dance scene is the ambitious Canada Dance Mapping Study, discussed in some depth during the combined conference of the World Dance Alliance-Americas (WDA-A) and the Dance Critics Association (DCA) in Vancouver, BC, Canada during July 29-August 4. Inspired by ones conducted in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and two other countries (none has ever been done in the United States), the Study is notable because it is a cooperative effort among national, provincial, and municipal government bodies. (Appropriately, the research team also includes a “B-Boy” break dancer.) All sorts of dancing, including a range of folk dancing (notable are the numerous Ukrainian dance groups in the Manitoba province and the aboriginal dances). A literature search and preliminary data collection have already turned up some interesting, though in some cases questionable, results. In a recent year, 1.2 million Canadians attended 2,400 dance performances, though this is inconsistent with the cited figure of 15% penetration (Canada’s population is about 35 million, so even if only adults were included the 15% seems high), which compares with a 7% penetration in the USA. Another survey showed that 43% of adults living in the Ontario province dance socially at least once per month; this is highly doubtful. But the best is yet to come, as the team is creating a massive email database of individuals by combining lists recruited from all sorts of groups (both government and non-government) and professionals, that will be used to conduct a country-wide survey of individual dancers.

Dancing Can Rescue People Who Sit Too Much and Negate Exercise Benefits

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Even if you spend seven or more hours per week in moderate-to-vigorous exercise, if you sit in front of your TV too much of the rest of your waking hours your health may be compromised, according to a study published in 2012 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and reported in the Wall Street Journal [3/12/13]. The American Heart Association and other experts say that you should aim for 10,000 steps per day, but according to a 2010 study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Americans only averaged about 5,100 steps. We at Wilddancer strongly urge people to make up some of the average 4,900 steps deficit by dancing, which most people would likely agree is more fun than walking on a treadmill or step machine or riding an exercycle.
There is considerable regional variation in people’s step counts, from a high of about 6,500 in fitness-conscious/ outdoors-oriented Colorado to states like Arkansas and Tennessee with a low of about 4,500. But obesity levels (and life expectancy) correlate pretty closely with these counts. The latest data come from the journal Population Health Metrics, published by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The county-by-county analysis shows that California’s San Francisco had the lowest 2009 obesity rates, 20.2% for women and 17.8% for men, compared with the women’s national average of about 36% and a high of nearly 60% in some parts of Mississippi. Marin County women expect to live to 85, compared with the national average of 80 and 12 years longer than in Perry, KY. (These figures are averages, and factors like age, education, income, and race can cause significant differences.) The most telling figures, though are that the poorer-performing counties and states have life expectancies than many third-world countries with much worse food, water, nutrition, and medical care.

Annual South Bay Dance Fling in San Jose August 29-September 2

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This long-running event includes tons of workshops and competitions, as well as social dancing and a great dinner show that has been an annual must for Wilddancer for the last few years. It covers a wide range of 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). It is one of a bevy of regional events that lead up to a national championship meet in Nashville at year-end. Its activities are also licensed through the National FastDance Association. Owned and managed by Glenn, Sue & Candace Cravalho, who hold a lot of competitive championships, it can be reached at www.southbaydancefling.com.

What’s Baseball Got to do with Dancing?

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Actually, a lot! Baseball, football, basketball, and other sports are popular to play AND to watch. Thanks to continuing admiration of athletic heroes, extensive media coverage (some of it about the seamier aspects like performance drug abuse), and loads of advertising dollars, they have continued to attract more and more fans. But those fans would be a lot better off if they spent more time playing, and less watching (and often over-eating while they watch). They would be better off skipping a few games and spending some time on the dance floor.
Even for the players, there isn’t that much action. The Wall Street Journal [7/12/13] measured how much action occurs in a major league baseball game, and learned that 90% of the game is spent standing around. Major league football is even worse.
But in recent years baseball teams have learned what dancers have always known: Good songs with good tempos make the experience more productive and more fun. Actually, the practice of playing a special theme tune as each batter takes the plate started 20 years ago, and continues to be refined, according to the San Jose Mercury News [6/11/13]. Teams and players swear that using the right tunes (which might change over time depending on the players’ moods or batting averages) can boost their performances.
Baseball has been blessed since 1908 with the theme song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”, which is actually played at a comfortable tempo for a Viennese (fast) waltz … though you likely won’t find many baseball fans who can waltz that fast.

Can a New Song and a New Movie Reignite Interest in Hustle?

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People say that The Twist killed touch dancing. And that about 15 years later the Disco craze (with its signature Hustle dance) brought it back (for a while, at least). (More recently, Hip Hop, which is influencing what “freestyle” dancers do when there is a dance floor and rap music, may be killing touch dancing again.) According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the hottest song this summer is Get Lucky, from a pair of 40-year-old French guys called Daft Punk. Get Lucky has a solid disco beat, which ought to please dancers who still do, or can do, the Hustle. Since it took from the song’s release on April 19 until the July1 Businessweek issue, and Wilddancer hasn’t heard it yet on a dance floor, it may take more than this song to make Hustle popular again. Interestingly, though, was the purposely seductive way the song was introduced, which seems to have been initiated more by the musicians than the marketing folks at Columbia Records. Even more interesting to us, though, was that the marketers discovered that their audience wanted to participate in the launch, saying that they felt “We don’t want to be treated like consumers. We want to be treated like dance partners.” It remains to be seen how many of those (passive) listeners will become (active) dancers.
And another very recent boost to this disco theme occurs in the new (July 5, 2013) movie from popular Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, titled I’m So Excited, from the eponymous 1982 disco hit by the Pointer Sisters. Three gay flight attendants on this farcical “flight from Hell” do a dance routine to the song (which is unmistakably a Hustle tune, though on the slow side for Hustle dancers).
Hustle dancing’s heyday was marked by the Saturday Night Fever movie and jammed disco dance spots like Studio 54, and like many fads it declined dramatically over time as the “fever” subsided. But the dance itself is sexy, Hustle groups have stayed active around the USA, and there is an association (the International Hustle Dance Association). There is even an IHDA Bronze Hustle Manual written by Billy Fajardo, Jami Josephson, and DVIDA that has been accepted by the NDCA (National Dance Council of America). We understand that this manual serves as a syllabus to guide judges for competitions. Most of the other books on Hustle—including The Engineer’s Guide to Hustle Dancing—are a little long in the tooth, so the real proof that Hustle is being reborn would be publication of Silver and Gold level sibling manuals by the IHDA.

WDA-Americas and DCA To Confer in Vancouver July 29-August 4

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The WDA’s goal is to serve as a primary voice for dance and dancers throughout the world, and to encourage the exchange of ideas and the awareness of dance in all its many forms. The DCA members are professional practitioners of dance criticism, and the organization seeks to further the identity of dance criticism as a profession; to offer its members solidarity; and to provide the means for exchanging information and exploring fresh approaches to critical writing. The Americas unit of the World Dance Alliance and the US-based Dance Critics Association have integrated their conference programming. Although Wilddancer is most interested in social couples dancing, we are looking forward to getting a more complete idea of the whole range of dancing. It will be interesting to see how our cowboy duds fit in with leotards.

July 27 is National Dance Day!

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Who knew???This is a big deal in the dancing community, and needs to get more publicity. Wilddancer (http://wilddancer.com/) believes that ANY dancing is better than no dancing. According to the Dizzy Feet Foundation: ” Launched in 2010 by reality TV show “So You Think You Can Dance” co-creator and Dizzy Feet Foundation co-president Nigel Lythgoe, National Dance Day (NDD) is an annual celebration that takes place on the last Saturday in July. This grassroots campaign encourages Americans to embrace dance as a fun and positive way to maintain good health and combat obesity. NDD achieved national recognition when Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a long-time proponent of healthy lifestyles, announced at a press conference on July 31, 2010, in Washington, D.C., that she was introducing a congressional resolution declaring the last Saturday in July to be the country’s official National Dance Day.” Even though NDD is not a household word across America, there is lots going on. There are two dance routines posted on the Dizzy Feet site—Everybody Dance and Hip-Hop Master Class 2013. Local organizations and teachers are planning flash mobs. Stanford’s Richard Powers and several vintage dance experts are putting on the Santa Clara Vintage Dance Weekend beginning July 26. And much, much more across the country.

Decadance Group Crafts Performances from Social Couples Dancing

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Stanford University has been a driving force for technology companies starting in 1939 when Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded Hewlett-Packard, and its graduates have created many giant companies in electronics, software, and other fields. But Stanford is also on the cutting edge of couples dancing, perhaps most notably through the vision and energy of Richard Powers. One of the innovative groups that has sprung from this supportive environment is Decadance (a subtle pun on “decadence”), which bills itself as “a social dance performance group that strives to make traditional couple-dancing less traditional”. This team is unlike many of the other teams you can see on TV or YouTube, whose choreography is either secondary to their crazy costumes or outrageous-but-baseless dance steps, because they craft their performances from time-tested dances like waltz, swing, tango, and cha cha. Wilddancer attended their Spring Show 2013: “how I met your mother” tonight. It was terrific! The members of the group had created all of the 15 professional-grade routines (though some of them came from previous performances); such good choreography takes a lot of skill and a lot of time. And the quality of the dancing matched the quality of the choreography. (We could parse many of the figures using our own social dance training, and they were often advanced ones.) You wonder how they can do it AND keep up their studies at a demanding university like Stanford.