How to Improve Balance: Learn to Dance

Posted on June 23, 2015 by WildBill

Couples usually go dancing for fun. And depending on the tempo of the dance and the length of time they dance, it is also good for fitness. But according to recent research, there is an additional benefit from dancing that doesn’t occur from exercise such as walking or running that produces the same amount of sweat. That benefit is improved balance which, especially for older folks (those same ones that actually know how to do touch dancing), can prevent falls and injuries (sometimes so serious they are hospitalized and die). This benefit comes from the unpredictability of a partner’s actions (similar benefits occur in doubles tennis). Skeptics could point out that the less skillful the dancers, the greater the benefit, while advocates could argue that the more skillful dancers have a lot more alternative moves, so they can surprise their partners in a variety of different ways, providing pleasure both to themselves and to onlookers.

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.

Urban Dance Becoming Major Force in Dance World

Posted on August 12, 2013 by WildBill

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.

Comprehensive Study to Document Whole Canadian Dance Scene

Posted on August 12, 2013 by WildBill

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.

Wilddancer Helps Survey Debonair Dancers Dinner-Dance Group Members

Posted on April 10, 2013 by WildBill

Couples dancing is social dancing. Even for long-married couples, romance is in the air. And the opportunity to enjoy a nice meal (and drinks) while talking with old friends or making new ones is a wonderful prelude to an evening of dancing. But it takes some effort to keep a dinner-dance group intact and lively. One such group is Debonair Dancers, located in Silicon Valley (where there are lots of other things to do). We at Wilddancer served as their consultant to survey their members during the first calendar quarter of 2013. You can see the results at survey.