Dance History , dance videos , Learning dance , Lindy Hop , music for dance , political dance , social dancing
I’ve blogged in the past about my appreciation for dance in advertising, and now along comes one of the best yet. I confess I don’t really get what this has to do with Guinness, but more power to them. It’s pretty wonderful all on it’s own so I’m happy to spread it around. The dancing […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , dancing with physical challenges , music for dance , rhythm
A dancing interpreter for the deaf is winning hearts across the internet with his heartfelt signing of musicians. It’s a great example of how to interpret music for those who can’t hear it. He is so fun to watch because he dances as he signs, his body movements feeling the music as his hands interpret […]
Continue readingabout LaurieAnn , competitive dance , Country Western dance , Dance History , music for dance , same sex dancing , teaching dance
A couple of decades or so ago I taught a series of monthly country western workshops with a close friend. I usually teach alone because a teaching partner automatically cuts the take in half, but I loved teaching with Jose so I mostly did it for fun. There was an expensive Japanese restaurant in the […]
Continue readingDance History , dance videos , music for dance , rhythm , tap dance
Music and dance go hand in hand, but sometimes the dance IS the music, or at least part of it. The most obvious example of this is tap dance, where the dance creates the percussion. Tap is the perfect blend of music and dance because the dance is part of the music. Watch how […]
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I’ve written in the past about dance troupes like Axis that feature dancers in wheelchairs performing with able bodied dancers, blind and deaf dancers, and a hip hop crew composed entirely of physically challenged dancers. This is a subject near and dear to my heart because of my background in working with people who live […]
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Last week I wrote about my Samba teacher Jacqui Barnes. Today I’ll introduce you to my latin rhythms teacher, Yismari Ramos. Like Jacqui, Yismari is passionate about the music of her culture (Cuban) and the the way the dance feels. Her classes consist of complicated choreography that incompasses the various rhythms of Cuban dance. […]
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Dance teachers in my present I wrote a post a while ago about dance teachers in my past who influenced me. I’d like to write now about teachers who are influencing me now. Yes, dance teachers do still study. It never ends! Brazilian Samba I am lucky enough to be able to study Brazilian […]
Continue readingThank Rocky Jones for this delightful cartoon. And I also thank my friend and fellow dancer Shala Marie for bringing it to my attention. This is the best explanation of clapping on the 2 and 4 I’ve ever seen. The info about the snare drum was news to me. Dancers for the most part […]
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I teach a lot of first dance lessons for weddings. Usually my students have a song picked out or they have several they are considering. Often they’ll say something like this to me: “I don’t know if this will work. It’s kind of fast.” “The music changes part way through. It’s slow at the […]
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I’ve written previous posts on White Man’s Clapping Syndrome, but even if you can clap to the beat, do you know on which beat to clap? Jazz dancers clap on the upbeat I’ve heard it said that black people clap on the upbeat and white people clap on the downbeat. Or that jazz dancers of […]
Continue readingcompetitive dance , dance videos , dancing in the golden years , gymnastics , inspirational dancing , music for dance , performance dance , sport dancing
Controversial dance This surprising controversy in the dance community popped up when this video started going viral: [embedplusvideo height=”390″ width=”640″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1oaNfNp” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/XAh9zYWfJiY?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=XAh9zYWfJiY&width=640&height=390&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep7038″ /] But is it really dance? Some people commented that is isn’t really dance because it’s really just a bunch of aerials and really qualifies as acrobatics rather than dance. If […]
Continue readingLearning dance , music for dance , rhythm
Can’t find the beat? I’ve written before about people who can’t find the beat to dance to, and I’ve given my best guesses as to the cause. But today I heard about a new study of a rare neurological disorder that actually causes White Man’s Clapping Syndrome. The disorder was discovered so recently that it’s […]
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