Average Dancer Rerun #47

By Leslie Matsumoto, Foster Village

I have long believed that the average dancer is the one that has the most fun in the extra benefits, such as socializing with friends, drinking and dining in a dance party, and going to a night club in groups. And fortunately average is not real high at most clubs. So if you are not going to look down on anyone and many are not going to look down at you, that can be comfortable.

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful

about what we pretend to be.”

With a good basic of line dancing, it is relatively easy to get accustomed to the music that is used at most social dance occasions. The movements to the music will come easy in the beginning part and as soon as they get too fancy, you can switch over into partner dancing.

Getting to average is not out of reach for anybody who stays in the game and attends socials and even a night club or two regularly. In some scenes a year or two will be required. Try to make it fun thing, enjoy every step of the way, the trip of learning does not have to be chore.

"Somewhere Over The Rainbow" by Bruddah Iz

Many are the ones that can learn just by watching. Some watch clips on the web to learn  the simple movements and can even purchase some DVDs. It’s easy to miss details. Of the guys who do take group classes, the majority take once or twice a week for a few months before cutting back. For some reason, the dropout rates of group classes are amazingly low. Perhaps because they become a good social affair and you meet an awful lot of good people.

If you make a concentrated effort, it’s easy to learn faster than average. In addition, most guys level off after a few months, so just staying in the learning game beyond the first six to twelve months can make you really stand out. And you will dance at least one day every week.

What Is Basic? Rerun #46

Rudolf von Laban was a dance artist and theorist. He is notable as one of the pioneers of modern dance movement in Europe. His work laid the foundations for Laban Movement Analysis and  other more specific developments in dance notation and the evolution of many varieties of Laban Movement Study.

"The only people who are mad at you for speaking the truth

are those people who are living a lie."

He is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of dance. Laban Movement Analysis is a method and language for describing, visualizing, interpreting and documenting all varieties of human movement. It is one type of Laban Movement Study, originating from the work of Rudolf Laban and developed and extended by many others

"Dancing is a poem, in which each movement is a word."

Here are his first five basic movement for dance. In addition many derived practices have developed with great emphasis on methods.

1.Gesture: Any movement not connected to supporting the body weight. Same as Posturing.
2. Stepping: The transfer of weight from one support to another.
3, Locomotor Movements:That move the dancers from one location to another. They consist of the Walk, Leap, Jump, Hop, Gallop, Slide and Skip.
4, Jumping: Which consists of movement without a point of support.
5. Turning: The basic dance movement of changing the position of the front.
Labans later increased the different amount of movements, But we can start from here and dance to our favorite music in sheer joy, over and over again - forever.

"Morning Dew" by Melveen Leeds 

Beginner? Rerun #45

By John Chan, Enchanted Lake.

Dancing is one of those inescapable facts of life. For most of us on Oahu, it comes up over and over again in social situations. We might as well learn to become passable at it. It's not as hard to pick up the basics as we may think, it's smoother sailing once we know a little of how to do it, and it tends to score us points in lots of situations. And we don't have to reach a particularly high standard.

'"One of the most profoundly human things we can do,

is talk to our fellow dancers instead of them."

We just need to be good enough that we can get on the dance floor, blend in with everyone else, not look like an idiot, and not feel too uncomfortable while we are there. A lot of us are at least somewhat awkward about dancing, that's why we have to down a few drinks and wait for the dance floor to get busy before we step out on it. But we also know that it can be a lot more fun.

"I Will Dance For You" by Willie K.

You don't have to look like someone out of a music video, or from one of the deluxe dance clubs of Oahu. We just got to be decent enough to get by and that is by looking for the "basic" movements. Being better than the average never hurts of course, but just knowing the basics will put you way ahead of all the non-dancers out there.

"Pohai Kealoha" by Amy Hanaialii"

There are three divisions in almost anything and in dancing it is already been very nicely stated. Bronze, Silver and Gold divisions. Very, very nice, only thing is that everyone has a different opinion of what is what. I can write my opinion who is where, but that would not be necessarily right. The more we know, the better we will be able to classify and feel comfortable of where we are.

"Another good thing about our dancing, everytime we dance,

we turn into a better version of ourselves." 

Rolling Rerun #44

We are picking up some good data from some good people and most are readers of this blog. We must emphasize that these people have their own opinions regardless of dance club or dance studio affiliation. We  must also accept that a large amount of our friends and neighbors are just not interested  in dance, for whatever the reason and we must respect their attitude.

"We haven't failed. We now know a thousand things that won't work,

so we're that much closer to finding what will.”

Now who are these reader/dancers? The figures should resemble the normal curve, there is no way out of that. Six Categories: But we always have small, medium and large and here we cut each section in half. For now we have the approximate percentages:

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

Minor interest, little dancing - - 2%  -  Minor interest, some dancing - - 8%
There maybe different viewpoints. total 9%? or 11%  I am not going to argue. Anyway, these people just come and go as they wish.

Average interest, some dancing - - 30%
Average interest, plenty dancing  -  - 40%
These are the bulk of our recreational dancers, The older more experienced dancers are the ones that intentionally or not make the rules by their likes or dislikes. Fortunately, in the future more of it will be done through social media, such as our blogs.

Major interest, exhibition dancing - - 15%
Major interest, competitions - - 5%
Ah these are our deluxe dancers, no matter how you slice it. They become our entertainers in our dance world. They may get a trifle snooty now and then but they are just fine in the main.

"As Long As I Am Singing" by Bobby Darin

Our aim will be to get the 8% with minor interest to average interest. And the 30% average going from some dancing to plenty dancing.  Not much but it doesn't have to be much because it will affect all levels and we will have more clubs and more fun and more people. The main thing is that we will have a growing amount of people that just want to dance the easiest, most natural and fun way.

What's happening? Rerun #43

Just six months ago, Oahu West was threatening to get into second place behind the famous Town Dancer. Now it has fallen quite a bit behind Kapolei Social Dance (2nd) and Blogging Hawaii (3rd) We don't get much news from this section so apparently they prefer to keep it private and we must respect. Meanwhile, is there anyone else?

"The light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion. The tunnel is."

What do we do when someone is telling lies about us? Let's face it. We all know there are people in our dance environment who don't have anything else better to do, and get a kick out of ruining other people's lives. The famous Creative Researchers And Producers are well known on Oahu.

And some in this group had taken over entire Dance Clubs. But with new blood coming in with the new dance clubs, some of these clubs are slowly realizing that they are shrinking not expanding any more. And there will be other clubs where the dancers can be more comfortable and enjoy an evening of dancing. Most of us have seen it coming, there will be another new club before year's end.

So it doesn't mean you have to play the victim all the time. Our blogs are doing something, we are getting "other" views of the dance environment and out in public and looking good. Our existing Guest Authors are becoming more aware that their own blog is just that, "Their Own Blog." Check in on the latest by Richie Fun in the Town Dancer blog. Now that is getting the dance news to the dancers and the hits are going through the roof.

"Mi Buenos Aires Querido" por Placido Domingo.

When we get more Two Centers willing to share a photo and a few comments with their fellow dancers, we will see more differences in each blog. I can look forward to retiring from the best one when they are ready. Town Dancer? We shall have Social Media.

Line Dancing Rerun #42

There has been little line dancing on the Waianae Coast, off and on for 20 years but always fizzles out. The last I heard was at Pililaau Park. And even they even had Salsa on Saturday night at Tacos And More. So the interest in dancing has been sporadic but I believe the time has come and there will be places where they don't roll up the streets early.  The bedroom communities are definitely not the answer. First come the places where we can work nearby and not have to spend half our day in commute. You think we got it bad now, cheer up, the worst is yet to come.

"I believe that everything happens for a reason -- People change so that you can learn to

let go -- things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right -- you believe

lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself -- and sometimes good

things  fall apart so better things can fall together."

Line Dancing is one of the most fun movements to music in existence. For beginners the best because they do not need a partner. Men as a rule do not realize it but they can learn to move to music that is normally played at partner dances. And they will learn many of the basic movements of dance, period. They will try to mimic their good fellow dancers and like all the rest of the dancers will develop their own style. From there it is skip and a jump to partner dancing.

For all it will become a social thing because you will be meeting so many nice people with a common interest, the dance. It can and is danced in bars across the nation. With a little room, you can lay down some leather and have a little fun with your beer.

Good Headstart Rerun #41

This blog has very good prospects. The search engines have already gathered material for Kokohead Dancing even though very little is us. Anyway the other search engines are sure to pick up this too. This separate and distinct blog that I have set up without thought of any head start was just lucky.

“This world was never about Truth or Lies. There are only hard facts.

Despite that, some who exist in this world mistakenly believe

that only Facts Favorable To Them are truths. They know

no other way to live.  Do you know all the Facts?”

Apparently there is already a dance studio there and they can post anything they wish in our Kokohead blog. These people in this area have had very good teachers and they do dance very well. We wish to disperse information to our fellow reader/dancers that they would enjoy. We could gradually get enough Information Contributors to get Kokohead blog published three or four times a week. After that, it would be relatively easy to get a few Guest Authors.

Then I could appoint a couple of Administrators and resign as Administrator. They could take it over, get more Guest Authors and run up the hits in the hundreds average per day, They would establish their own Social Media and independence, making their own rules. The best part is that there is no one that covers that section like we do, so it is all virgin territory. With time I will resign completely, I will have my hands full with the remaining blogs.

"Morning Dew" by Loyal Garner

Pub's Side Note: To our reader/dancers, please consider yourselves, now and henceforth, and no matter what anyone ever asks of you, free to do any damned thing you want as long as it doesn't hurt someone else unnecessarily.

Dancing on Oahu Rerun #40

Male dancers have a reputation of being effeminate, why?

Simply put, it’s because quite often we are. In  learning to dance you get less clumsy and move more with the rhythm. This does not mean we are gay though! Dance training, whether on the street or in the studio makes you very aware of your body, men stop slouching, they walk more gracefully. "try not to walk like a horse stuck in a muddy swamp" and they hold themselves up very nicely.

"Life may not be the party we hoped for,

but while we are here, Let's Dance."

They become elegant, less squat and clumsy. Let’s dispel a myth once and for all. Male dancers are not gay. There are some, of course it is the natural part of the order, but they want to dance. In some clubs there are typically 2 to 3 girls for every guy. Work it out, male dancers have great fun dancing!

In the Mainland there are special clubs with single gender dancing. Men with men and women with women. They seem to be gaining in popularity. That is their business and they should be allowed to do it if they are not harming anyone.

"Morning Dew" by Melveen Leed.

With such female to male ratios on Oahu and the very social nature of dance clubs we have now on Oahu, many male dancers. They consider it one of dancing’s greatest benefits! Do we need more men? You'd bettah believe it! We should not have much trouble there.

Sorry folks but we are going to have to this blog on hold, there are now two Russian Robots in the hits and stopping all the rest that could be in there. At least a week.

Social Dancing Rerun #39

By Enio Cordoba, California

Many would have us believe that dancing is simply keeping time to the rhythm of the music. If that were the case, then there would be no "fancy" steps, no turns, no shine-ups. Everybody would do the same steps all night long. Of course that is not the answer.

"If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what

you are.  For where you are pleased with yourself there you will remain.
Keep adding, keep walking, keep dancing."

What is annoying is to see those that complain the most about "ballroom" dancers, attempt to do many of the same moves. Everyone thinks that what they do in the appropriate level for social dancing is right and if anyone does anything slightly more difficult, they are showing off. Dancing is not only an expression of your rhythm, but also of your personality ... your being. Just like people are introverted and shy at a party and others are loud, boorish and extroverted.

"Nostalgia" por Placido Domingo

I remind my students that there are no dance schools in Latin America. People learn the rhythms from listening to years of the music. Eventually they go to a club and copy what the next guy is doing. This is a form of street dance,  there are no rules. You go to one club and everyone is dancing quick, quick, slow and in another club they dance slow, quick, quick. What is that we dance to? We just go right along with them!

"We don't have a financial crisis in Washington, we have a moral crisis."

Where are we? Rerun #38

We've come a long ways, baby. The entire enchilada is there, just needs more meat and chili sauce. And each of the blogs should eventually go independent, from who? (From me the original blogger.) Naturally you will get a blog with plenty of reader/dancers already there and very likely you will double the hits.

"In any project that we attempt, the important factor is our belief.

Without belief, there can be no successful outcome."

Blogging Hawaii: Supposed to cover the entire Hawaiian Chain, but we only have a smidgen of Honolulu and night club spot dance news. Now, solidly entrenched but way behind Town Dancer in average hits per day but could be ready to be spun off on its own by the end of the year. It could have a bigger, more Island wide social dancer group. The ones that take it over will make those decisions.

Oahu West: That section that has emerged so prominently in dancing, from Salt Lake up and around to Central Valley and all the way to the North Shore. It is developing very nicely with places to dance, night clubs, studios and dance lessons available from many dance clubs. However with the Rail Catastrophe looming, the coming place will be Central Valley and at least two new dance clubs to look forward to. With the new developing "every weekend of dancing" there will be a big increase in interest, guaranteed.

"Rock and Roll All Night" by Kiss

Kapolei Social Dance: Some small mix of West Oahu news, and still in the development stages. Strangely enough there are plenty average hits per day. A regular Two Center and/or an Invited Writer would send the hits up through the ceiling. I am getting more information from the section Barber's Point to Ewa Beach.

Dance Waianae: Was strictly a long shot and then just seemed to trudge ahead. The Rail Fiasco is making more people aware that we need a third city on the Waianae Coast. We have come in contact with a few places and like all the rest, the regular Two Center and/or an Invited Writer will make a big big difference in the hits.

So the big telling difference will be in the Two Centers and/or the Invited Writers. They will make the decision of which blog they wish and then for all it only in one direction, UP. Happy Dancing.

Social Dancing. Rerun #37

By Guy Nakagawa, Kalani Valley

What is social dancing? Seems pretty simple right? On Oahu it is batted around quite a bit but it is still up for grabs. Can social dancers dance exhibitions? Of course. How about competition dancers? Why not? It must mean dancing socially, Which it does but there are actually several forms of dance that could be considered “social dancing.”

"We could all understand that death for us oldsters is not an injustice,

it's an end of a terrific journey that we were fortunate to take."

Social dancing was first really coined as a term to describe how men and women used to dance with each other at “Socials” which were organized events where a band would come play music and people would come specifically to enjoy dancing with each other. We could even go back to Old England to when the royal court used to have social gatherings where dances like the Waltz were performed.

"My Isle Of Golden Dreams" by Melveen Leed

But in modern times the term social dancing started to gain popularity in the 1920s with the big band sound that was popular back then and dance styles such as swing, waltz, rumba, foxtrot, and samba coming later on. And the bands would mix them all up for the enjoyment of all. Social dancing can also be used to describe “Party Dancing” which is what people would call the original styles of hip hop grooves that originated in the block parties in Urban areas like New York, and Los Angeles in the 1970s and 80s.

All of these different definitions of social dancing can get confusing so for us on Oahu it is much easier to use the term “Social Dancing” as a blanket term to describe any style of dancing that is best performed either with a partner, or in “Social” group situations with many different dances. It has become any dance that is primarily performed with a partner in social situations like social dance clubs, weddings, school cafeterias, district parks and community centers and even in night clubs.

"You'll Never Know" by Dick Haymes

Originally when dance socials were popular the term made much more sense to use to describe these events, but nowadays so many different styles have emerged that it doesn’t make sense to use the term to describe any one style. Then there are the peripherals, Tango and Salsa Bachata for instance. They have evolved into becoming more "correct" or "incorrect." And then who is the judge?

A Few Whispers Rerun #36

On this side of town they are coming to the same conclusion as elsewhere. "The best teachers are not always the best dancers. By the same token, the best dancers are not always the best teachers." So the entire dance scene on Oahu is getting more knowledgeable and developing very nicely.

"We are unstoppable not because we do not have failures or doubts

but because we can continue in spite them."

Dancing three centuries ago was very much divided between the rich and their big ballrooms with expert dance teachers teaching the rich how to dance correctly. And of course, there were the poor and their folk dances that could be danced in the streets if necessary. The entire dance scene changed after WWII. Went to Big Bands and Big Ballrooms which all petered by the end of the century.

"Maui Waltz" by Loyal Garner

On Oahu today there are even more divisions, with a wider choice of dances. Salsa coming in strong and not on anyone's syllabus yet. But the biggest group remains. The social dancers are dancing a partner dance somewhat loosely based on the American Style of Dance. Most of us understand that it can be quite varied and there are few "correct" ways of dancing it. Many viewpoints and fusion is accepted by many.

They accept that each person develops their own style. It is so noticeable in the line dances where the people convey their happiness in moving to music. Same identical steps but each person moving in their own way. The same movements are repeated in endless joy to so many different types of music. Social Dancing at its best.