Gareth Au rerum 2015

I continue to get some good posters and a little write up from Gareth Au. But his usual audience is Facebook - Finland, probably - South Africa, probably, but in our blog the audience is our friends, relatives, neighbors and fellow dancers, just closer to home.

So Gareth, you can have the invite from Blogger and you accept or not. Your decision. The password is between you and them and you can get in, post, save, publish and get out without saying boo to anyone. In effect it is your blog  and you can have fun spreading the good word. I can coach you on the tech stuff by email.

"Somewhere Over The Rainbow" by Bruddah Iz

From Facebook, The Band might use some help.

Guest Authors: No registration, or registration fees, no annual or monthly meetings or dues or fees. And you can blog whatevah and whenevah you damn well please. I run a tight ship here. Ha!

American Style of Dancing

by Harry Kaneshiro, Pearl City

Historically, American style ballroom (called Smooth) was developing in the US at the same time as English style ballroom (called Modern) was developing in England. There was probably some cross fertilization, but there was also a lot of independent development.

"If you hear an onion ring, answer it."

Competitions seems to have started to dominate the development of English style fairly early (1920s), while American style was more rooted in social dancing and not as strict. The desire was to emulate the stage and screen dancing as epitomized in the Fred Astaire movies. Contests (not competitions) were held just for fun.

Contests had judges that liked or didn't like the dancing and that was it. Competitions were strict and got stricter with time. Heal, toe, toe, heal was strictly enforced. Or maybe it was the other way around. Your palm should be up or down, whatever. They developed the art of cloning.

"Shake, Rattle And Roll"   ...   Bill Haley & His Comets

You can generally trace many open American style foxtrot figures to things that Fred and Ginger did in various choreographic sequences in their movies. Teachers specially took that into consideration In fact, because of those movies, there was probably more influence of American style on English style than vice versa.

The National Dance Council of America syllabus has popular variations. Names of figures and timing can vary from one part of the country and/or studio to another. The consistency is quite loose and yet they manage to dance it that way. The main divisions are the Arthur Murray school and the Fred Astaire school.

Together they are closer to Universal (Social) dancing than any other discipline and it is somewhat standardizing into one American Style of Dance. If an Arthur Murray man meets a Fred Astaire lady at a night club they will have very little trouble adjusting to the man's dancing because he leads. It is also true vice versa.  *  *  *  *

Pub's Side Note: If they would just replace #40 short buses with tandem buses, what a world of  difference that would make in the West. More people riding the bus more comfortably. Less people on their cars on the streets and highways. Cost a couple million but it would never, ever come close to the ten billion that the rail would eventually cost. Ask anybody. They take the car because riding the bus is a pain in the ass.

Dancing in Hawaii Rerun #34

by John Hayashi, Kalihi:

Dancing throughout these islands has reflected our social needs same as anywhere else. These needs were displayed on these islands long before the arrival of the "strangers." And most primitive dances were performed by members of the same sex with little body contact, (line dancing?)  At times they may have been a little too rowdy for the newcomers.

"We must become the change we wish to see in the world."

Ballroom dancing referred to partner dances done in a ballroom to traditional ballroom music. The earliest 19th and 20th century forms of dance began with the subsequent interest of partner dancing. It became fashionable in Hawaii, even prior to WWI, for ladies and gentlemen of the high classes to dress well, dance and have polished manners. Additional partner dances done for pleasure and recreation for all classes were introduced early after the first  world war throughout all the islands.

Much of it became fads and went into history, the same as on the Mainland. The Swing Era had begun in the 1930s, when Americans were trying to forget the Great Depression. Dancing to upbeat music seemed to help. There was quite a bit of swing developed on all the islands and it became more popular as the decade went on, and after the repeal of prohibition, crowds began to outgrow the speakeasies where the dancing had started.

The Mainland led as the band performances moved into bigger halls to accommodate more and more dancers. The bands had to get bigger, too, to fill those halls with more sound. The result was the big band, a sizable orchestra built around saxophones, strident brass, and drums. And with the arrival of large military in Hawaii, there evolved a huge group of people dancing in a social ballroom style. It was a long time coming as it was essentially touch dancing and included all forms of partner dancing done primarily for recreation or pleasure to a variety of musical styles.

The entire syllabus may have had less than one hundred steps and most everyone could dance with anyone somewhat easily. But our dance world rapidly became more diverse and today, we may have over 600 documented steps in Salsa alone. The days of the Big Bands are over and the Big Ballrooms are obsolete. So we will make the effort to standardize a little and fuse more to make Social Dancing more effective to the lead and follow and probably more enjoyable.

"Til I Waltz Again With You" by Theresa Brewer

How about as dance floor of about 4000 square feet? Oh Boy, one third the size of the Palladium. But what a terrific crowd of dancers we could get.

Social Dancing in the West. Rerun #33

Ballroom Dance Styles
by Rodney Komatsu, Pearlridge

American Style: The one most used in the US and gradually moving into other countries, including England. The syllabus is based on the National Council of America with popular variations. It's best feature is it's inconsistency, Try the basic rumba step. Ho, Ho.

"You have within you, right now, everything you need to deal

with whatever the world can throw at you."

Names of figures and timing can vary from one part of the country and/or studio to another. The basic Social Dancer develops very nicely through this program because it is more current than the other disciplines. It can very easily be converted into the local social Style.

"How High The Moon"
by Les Paul and Mary Ford

Country Style: Very similar to the American but even more varied and less strict than the American. If it wasn't concentrated on Country Music, it would have been ideal to develop into the Real Universal Style. Very nice movements with freedom of ease.

"Perfidia" by Linda Rondstad

International Style: The syllabus is based on the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in London, England for both Ballroom and Latin Dancing. This is a real discipline and is a standard of dancing that is taught around the world and has standard technique, timing and styling. For dancers interested in competition dancing, this is the answer to your question. As a social dance handy because of the sameness of most of its movements all over the world.

All three Styles of dancing are used in competitive format, with the strictest  being the International. All three are used in social dancing. Very little in International Style, because it may not be dancing just for fun. It has a more serious aspect to dance "correctly." "Yeah, you, ya dumb dodo are dancing it incorrectly!" With a good teacher you can fix that up easily for a couple grand.

  Young At Heart by Frank Sinatra

In West Oahu we are gradually developing the best American Style dancers in the Pacific Basin and they will take a back seat for no one. For instance, I just saw an an American Style Tango dance on You Tube. Wow, it would knock you hats off.

And we keeps on dancing.
Rod Komatsu

 "The secret of living to 100 becomes less attractive
as you grow older."

The Fairy Tale Rerun #32

A Chinese boy, last name of Yong, was born about 1900 or shortly thereafter in China. He was early on dissatisfied with his life and always thought there must be a better place to live. The family thought of him as an oddball. So there came a time when he was in his teens, that some relatives came to visit and they worked the Pacific Ocean as sailors. By luck they needed a cabin boy and this kid jumped at the chance.

"If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes."

He liked the Philippines, and he thought Hawaii was great but plantation work not what he was hoping for. He liked San Francisco and he figured that this might be the place. However the ship was going to Los Angeles and then to Mexico and then go the same route back. He could wait. He though L.A. was terrific, so at that point, it was San Francisco or L,A. At the seaport in Mexico his group happened to run into some Chinese that spoke the same Chinese that they did. They explained that the Revolution in Mexico was just over and everyone was going to make money, about 1919, and they had a "car." He "jumped" ship with his meager belongings and went with them to Guamuchil in the State of Sinaloa.

"Tu Lo Decidiste" por Ana Gabriel

They got him a job in the local Chinese restaurant and worked 10 hours a day six days a week. He had never learned to read and write in Chinese very well but now he made a special effort to learn the Spanish language. He learned how to go without to save a little money. He worked his way into the kitchen and join a group of same age boys that hung around together. Eventually he met a nice Mexican girl, from the lower economic classes. Got married and settled down. He became a good cook and through one of the good customers, he was able to buy a nice lot with beat up shack for a good price. He developed a nice partnership with his wife and they worked together to make it a home for the family's sake and eventually arose to the job of Chief Cook.

"Eres Todo En Mi" por Ana Gabriel

Now he realized that this was a much better life than he had envisioned before. He had several children and one of his daughters was born right about the time that I was born. And she in turn married a nice middle class Mexican guy and they in turn had several children and a special daughter, named Maria Guadalupe Araujo Yong. Latin Style, first name, middle name, fathers last name and mother's last name. She was born in 1955, and is now 63 years old. She learned music and singing and eventually became the reigning queen of Mexico singers.

"Historia De Un Amor" por Ana Gabriel

And her stage name was now Ana Gabriel. Before he passed, when she had concerts in the vicinity she always made arrangement for her Chinese grandfather to attend her concerts. He could have gotten front row but he always insisted on sitting on the side of the theater. Her favorite introduction always included her Big shot friends in the audience and there were many. And as always she would notice, "and that old Chinese man over there on the side, I know him. Hola Abuelito" Oh, Hi, Grandpa! and of course he would beam. He had come a long ways. It was always a touching scene.

"The last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set

of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” 

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics.Rerun from 2014

Oahu West is going down in hits. At one time right behind second place Blogging Hawaii. Now Kapolei Social Dance is taking over but I will admit I do not know for how long,. The dancers will make those decisions and I just have to go along with them.

"Never forget where you have been, never lose sight of where

you are going. And never take for granted the people

that travel the journey with you."

We have another problem in the "lies" from the Creative Researchers And Producers, some of which are reaching this far. While such a situation seems hopeless, there are actually things we can do when someone is telling lies about us. Calm yourself down. Going into hysterics will not help your case one bit. In fact, creating an uproar will only serve to fuel the gossip all the more.

Even if you can't control what other people might think, you can at least control how you react. Be calm and address the lies in a professional manner. When people ask you about it, tell them point blank that the rumor is not true. And you can try to live a nice life as an example of what we can all do, - help instead of hinder.  If they tell you that the liar is a duck, tell them to shut the duck up.

"How High The Moon" by Les Paul and Mary Ford

We must concentrate on getting enough Two Centers and Guest Authors in this blog so that with enough hits per day, I can resign as Administrator. From there we can phase my leaving, for only then will the blog be independent. You people will do a great job, believe me. Meanwhile we can let it ride steady as she goes. Don't forget the Goodies in every blog. Could be something in there for you.

The Social Dancer

It has usually been recommended that if you want to learn to dance, it is far better and faster to take lessons and we concur. On Oahu we are fortunate to have some of the best amateur and professional teachers of dance in the entire Pacific. It may cost you a small fortune to get private dance lessons but you will learn to dance. And fortunately too, we have the many social dance clubs on Oahu with minimal costs in large classes.

“Happiness in dancing is part of who we are. Joy is

the feeling of moving to our favorite music.”

There will come a point however where the potential dancers must actually experience dancing if he or she is to really learn how to dance: No amount of time taking classes will actually make you a good dancer, Doing the real thing with real people on a real dance floor. That's where the refinement and dance memory develops. That is why street dancers can and do develop into such good dancers.

"I Believe" by Frankie Laine

Additionally, the man will never learn how to become truly accomplished at leading until he dances with several different ladies that he has never danced with before. The same stands for ladies, those who have danced with many men of different skill sets develop great following skills. There is no substitute for actual dance experience with many other dancers if one is to really learn how to dance well and to be versatile.

"Look around the habitable world: how few know their own good,

or knowing it, pursue."

August 15 1944

It was a sight that had rarely been seen before and which may never be seen again. It was almost the last large-scale night parachute jump of World War II. An hour after midnight, three hundred ninety-six C-47 aircraft, scattered over a hundred and fifty miles at ten airfields in west-central Italy, began turning over their engines. Over five thousand paratroopers of the 517th Regimental Parachute Combat Team were on board. At ten-second intervals planes taxied down dirt runways, lifted off, and circled into formation.The dust, compounded by darkness, was so thick that many pilots had to use compass bearings to find their way down the runways.

Takeoff times were from 0136 to 0151 for the ten serials, depending on the distance to the first check point at the Isle of Elba. Each serial required over an hour to get into formation, a column of "V of V's" nine planes wide. The entire formation, from the head of the first serial to the tail of the last, was over one hundred miles long. This was the ALBATROSS mission, to drop 5,630 paratroopers in Southern France. Only about 20% of the 517th landed within two miles of the Drop Zones. The 2nd Battalion had made a fair landing, but had only half its strength on hand. The 3rd was split into three groups a day's march away.

The artillery was in three groups near Frejus, Trans-en-Provence, and the DZ. The 1st Battalion was so widely scattered that it would take most of a day to get it together. The basic cause of the inaccurate landings was the heavy, unexpected fog bank. But there were other factors, including gross navigational error, excessive air speeds and altitudes, lack of practice in formation flying and failures of the red light-green light system. Paratroopers want most of all to be dropped upon their DZ. Failing this, they want at least to be concentrated together. Most of the 517th got neither. War is never easy.

Happy Veteran's Day,  November 11th.

The Western Fluke of History2 Rerun 2015

Dancing on the "2", by Aristides Raul Garcia
AKA "El Intruso", New York

I’m going to try and catch this slippery cat by the tail. Let’s take a closer look at his original dance and the Palladium. Mike Bello in his "essay": "Mambo, Cuba created it, New York perfected it", takes the Mambo on a non- stop supersonic flight from Cuba to NYC. He, like every other "dance on 2" expert, decides to ignore the fact that the trans-culturalisation of Cuban music in the Caribbean Basin was in motion long before the Mambo made it to New York.

"Nothing really ends, it may be neither an end nor a beginning but a going on,

with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."

Lets take a brief look at Mexico in relationship to this transculturalisation. For artists coming from the Spanish Caribbean, long before New York became a center of Latin music, Mexico was the Latin Hollywood. The center of Latin music and one of the largest cities in the world. The goal of just about every band, singer, or musician from the area was to perform and be recorded there. In turn, many Mexicans took to this music whole heartedly and some of it spread into their other dances. One of the most famous singers of Sones, Boleros, etc. was the Mexican known as Toña la Negra, whose popularity was superseded, perhaps, only by Celia Cruz. She was, and still is, a legend.

"Mambo Guajiro" by Rene Touzet

Agustin Lara, composer, arranger, and singer (also Mexican) was in high demand all over the Caribbean in the late 40’s and all throughout the 50’s. One of his most famous compositions is "La Clave y el Bongo alegran el Corazon". He was writing poems and music to the Claves before Manhattan knew how to eat with them. Before New York knew about the Mambo, Mario Moreno (Cantinflas) - also Mexican, was dancing it both seriously and comically. In reality by the time the Mambo made it to NYC, it was considered "zapato viejo" (old shoe) even in Cuba.

 “When we dance, all that is important is this one movement to the music. Let us make that moment important, vital, and worth living"

Update Rerum from 2014

Three quarters of the year has almost gone by and the blogs are definitely nearing the point of diminishing returns. For only one person, and rather unknown at that, I am not doing so bad. But of course, that establishes a point that the Two Centers will make the difference.

"Party hard, make mistakes, dance and laugh endlessly and do

the things you are afraid to do. You only live once."

The bottom of the pile in hits. But we cannot blame anyone. It is the newest

blog and whatever has been there is very private. We will be patient

for the first Two Center willing to share the news.

Town Dancer is still number one in hits but mostly taken over by the scam, spam robots that are running it into the ground. And Blogger programmers don't have a clue. And of the eight remaining only three show great promise. Blogging Hawaii, Platinum Horseshoe and Moanalua Corridor. And the only thing holding them back is the lack of Two Centers.

 

 Near  the bottom and also new to the game. Latin is very splintered,

mainly the young and the old. Also the two specialty factions,

Tango and Bachata-Salsa. The elders will prevail.

The rest are in the teens average hits per day and the same values exist there - just one Two Center will make the difference on any of them. Needless to say, the amount of hits is of benefit to everyone. It is a win-win situation. No one knows? Yes, I know.

Pub's Side Note: Social media in dancing is not about technology, it is about

psychology. The tools are always changing but the concepts -- the

engagement, transparency,  sharing and entertainment -- do not.

The Change Is Coming Rerun from 2015

Upper Moanalua Corridor will be forever changed with the Rail Disaster and we must accept. We may have to change the name of the blog, to "West Honolulu." to include, from the stadium east, Kalihi. and Chinatown. Kalihi, far from the Rail Calamity is developing very nicely. Might be able to unify this section, we have not been too successful with the Moanalua Corridor. Very few in the upper Corridor has been interested and we should not bother them.

"Spring comes with flowers - Summer with a breeze -

Autumn with a moon - Winter with snow."

There are many in this new section. Regular Social Dancers, but we also have Line Dancers, Square dancers, Round dancers too. Whatevah, they are dancers and they like to dance for the sheer joy of it. There will be no triangle dancing allowed? We can all see that entertainment will be moving in an Westerly direction due to the heavy traffic in town and Waikiki. And the rent makes a big difference. And everyone knows it is going to get worse.

"Little Things Mean A Lot" by Kitty Kallen

Dream To Dance studio is now in Palama, and the others are still in Aiea. It is logical to assume that there will be a new dance club in the Moanalua, Salt Lake area. The Homeless are moving into the Rail Calamity area, it is shambles. It will be the new slum area of Oahu. So any area a half mile north may be just about the right area for us to cover. And these blogs are here to help all the dancers. That will become more evident when we get a few Two Centers.

"Shores Of Haleiwa" by Loyal Garner

Pub's Side Note: Dance Clubs and other Dance Organizations are already coming to terms with the need to integrate their social media efforts with their content strategy, and are seeing the impact of blogs in terms of lead generation, referral traffic, and membership.

Tango, the Dance, Rerun 2016

By Ted Ross and Karen Lile

What is a Dance?
In its broadest sense, a dance can be any type of movement that rises above the ordinary walk and movements of everyday life. Dancing dates back to the earliest records of mankind. Dancing can express who we are, what is important to us, who is important to us, our culture, our visions, our dreams, our aspirations and the meanings we give to life. There is no limit to what a dance can be and what it can mean.

"Life is its own journey, presupposes its own change and movement,

and one tries to arrest them at one's eternal peril."

As people have created new dances, others have watched and wanted to learn. And as creators have attempted to teach others how to do what they created, communities of people have gathered around new dances and infused them with their culture and sociality.

Partner dancing has come from a tradition of teaching, learning and community. In essence, the partner dances seek to teach leaders and followers around the world how to dance a specific way so that anywhere you go, you can walk into a dance ballroom or club and ask someone to dance and they will be able to dance with you. Many of the partner dances we do today, have more than a hundred years of history that have gone into the development of the dances and the communities they are danced in. Two dance communities in particular are important to the roots of the Foxtantino. One is the Argentine Tango community and the other is the Fox Trot in the Ballroom Dance community.

"A Media Luz" por Libertad Lamarque

The Argentine Tango community sprang up around the partner dance creations of dancers in Argentina at the end of the 1800's. Its story has been told many times and in many ways. Today, the Argentine Tango community has developed into a group of people who are passionate about the dance, the music, the culture and the embrace and feeling of the Tango. They don't usually call their dance, Argentine Tango.

It is called Tango, for to them it is the first and only Tango and all offshoots are not Tango. Argentine Tango is primarily an improvisational dance that emphasizes musicality and emotion in dancing. There are strict etiquettes in Tango communities as to the way the people interact in the dancing. When you attend a traditional Milonga (an Argentine Tango social dance), you will hear mostly Tango music the whole night long. Neo or Nuevo Tango dancers have Milongas with a variety of music styles, but they are still mostly dancing the Tango through the evening.

"Alma De Bohemio" por Placido Domingo 

The Ballroom community has been strong and expanding for more than 90 years. Ballroom dances are formalized dances where steps are put together into dance figures and given names and taught in a similar manner in every ballroom around the world. Ballroom dances have come from the native dances of many cultures. When these dances were formalized into the Ballroom dance syllabus, they were changed to appeal to the values and styles that ballroom dancers were most familiar with.

If you go to a ballroom dance party today, there will be a variety of dance music played during the night, including Swing, Waltz, Rock, Salsa, Latin and Tango music. Ballroom dancers have assigned specific dances to each style and tempo of music. It is common that most of the dancers on the social dance floor will be dancing the same partner dance as everyone else to a particular musical composition. Some dances are non-progressive where the dance couples all dance in their own spot, independent. Is there more? You bet!

We Still Have Hopes Rerun 2016

Our blogs are not replacing traditional conversation on the dance floor. It is just one way to help facilitate it and add to it. It also allows for the conversation to occur outside of dance hours and for those ideas to be discussed at the next dance. There will always be dancers who do not want to participate. Our goal could be to find ways to encourage dancers to speak up, and social media might be the way. Let's get those dancers to open up and start to speak at the dance functions.

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_motivational.html

Currently our blogging situation is clearing up and we are getting clearer hits from dancers that are interested in dancing. However so far this month the stats are very lopsided. But these blogs are mostly me and that is referred to in blogging terms as SOS (same old shit) So I am sure, that our Social dance blogging on Oahu cannot have only one opinion. All of us need to know what the rest of us think about the entire enchilada.

Fortunately we are beginning to get some good Two Centers, those willing to contribute their 2 cents of  information for the benefit of the readers. HBDA, Kapolei Chapter is leading the way in Kapolei. Wahiawa Ballroom Dance Club is leading the charge in the Central Valley. These people are definitely part of the dance scene on this Island. And they are going to get better.

This section of dancers seem to be interested in moving comfortably to their favorite music. Standing a woman on her head is not it. Throwing her over your shoulder is not it. All right for some and we can applaud at the right time, but it is not for the rest of us. We are more than willing to let you dance your way. - But - may we dance our way?

"Drinking good wine, eating good food and dancing in good company
is one of society's most civilized pleasures."

Social Media? Rerun 2014

Island wide, dancers had been steadily losing interest in social dance clubs with too many regulations and restrictions despite the claims of most clubs that they put members first. Sometimes, the concern was the overall lack of concern on the part of the club that resulted in a continued decline in member satisfaction.

"Each of  us has a gift for the world, we make mistakes but

we must try to do the best we can. How others treat

us is their path. How we react is ours."

There are at least five clubs on Oahu now with a small groups existing. And there seems to be a continual spin off of new dance clubs from older ones. Fortunately, now we can use social media as a tool to bridge the wide gap between service and satisfaction to the members.

Web sites are good in social networking profiles specifically created for the social dance club and they are appropriate information for members. They are like a combination newsletter and plain advertising where a few top members can direct their questions and concerns to the club.

"Walk With Me Through Paradise" by Melveen Leed

Blog sites are much better in social media platforms mainly because they are current. They also have useful tools and features for providing feedback about the club, members and offerings. The Two Center is a very valuable asset for any clubs they visit. Once the needs and wants of the club members are known, the club can then act on that feedback to improve satisfaction.

Not recommended reading, "Downpour" by Wayne Dwops

Of course, there will be some that figure that they have all the answers and there is no need to get it from the "know nothings" in the membership. But we should all realize that the membership is where the answers truly are.