By Jon Buenaventura, Turtle Bay
Bossa Nova remains to this day, some of the best music in the world with some of the best movements in dance to go with it. And it came into being when there were a lot of fad dances coming in. In the US and Europe, the local ones were backed heavily by the local disciplines and dance studios. The Bossa Nova articulated existing social differences in the United States, those of the elite versus the masses attempting to attain elite status, and the subsequent devaluation of the musical style as a result of its success.
In addition, there were fundamental shifts in how musicians arranged Bossa Nova songs in their recordings to cut across those social divisions for mass-market appeal. For this reason, the sounds of the music as recorded or practiced by musicians are as important as the performance and spectatorship of the Bossa Nova dance for explaining the rapid spread of the Bossa Nova as dance throughout the U.S. The popular culture made it especially true as expressed in print media, recordings, and television programs.
Bossa Nova’s transformation into a social dance in the U.S. is crucial to its international history, but it had an established social context long before all of that dancing. Bossa Nova as a social movement began in the late 1950s among a group of musicians in the richest areas of Rio de Janeiro’s south zone. The musicians involved, took the basic polyrhythmic elements of urban samba and transformed them to a cosmopolitan perspective that matched the overall mood of the period. At the time, the upper classes in Brazil were experiencing a rush of optimism in the country. In the US it went the way of all fads. World wide, it remains as one of the best.
Bossa Nova remains to this day, some of the best music in the world with some of the best movements in dance to go with it. And it came into being when there were a lot of fad dances coming in. In the US and Europe, the local ones were backed heavily by the local disciplines and dance studios. The Bossa Nova articulated existing social differences in the United States, those of the elite versus the masses attempting to attain elite status, and the subsequent devaluation of the musical style as a result of its success.
"Dance music doesn't care where you live. It doesn't care who your friends
are. It doesn't care how much money you make. It doesn't care
if you're 74 or if you are 24 because it is for everyone."
In addition, there were fundamental shifts in how musicians arranged Bossa Nova songs in their recordings to cut across those social divisions for mass-market appeal. For this reason, the sounds of the music as recorded or practiced by musicians are as important as the performance and spectatorship of the Bossa Nova dance for explaining the rapid spread of the Bossa Nova as dance throughout the U.S. The popular culture made it especially true as expressed in print media, recordings, and television programs.
"Corcovado" by Lisa Ono
Bossa Nova’s transformation into a social dance in the U.S. is crucial to its international history, but it had an established social context long before all of that dancing. Bossa Nova as a social movement began in the late 1950s among a group of musicians in the richest areas of Rio de Janeiro’s south zone. The musicians involved, took the basic polyrhythmic elements of urban samba and transformed them to a cosmopolitan perspective that matched the overall mood of the period. At the time, the upper classes in Brazil were experiencing a rush of optimism in the country. In the US it went the way of all fads. World wide, it remains as one of the best.
"Social Dancers know there's good deeds and then there's good intentions.
They are as far apart as Heaven and Hell."
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