The Ballroom Dance Craze

By Genevieve Bernstein, Hawaii Kai.

In the teens decade of the last century, the US went dance-mad and much of the world followed suit.This dance craze was given much impetus by a young couple Vernon and Irene Castle. Vernon, an English comedian was working in America in stage musicals and Irene, a wannabee dancer met. He got her a job in the musical he was working in and they were married in 1911. They practiced and practiced, went to Paris as a dance team and were a smash hit. They returned to New York where they began a series of tea dances that became the rage of high society.

“Social dancers believe that life is dance and everyone
dances with their own rhythm.”

And of course other dance teachers bloomed all over. From 1912 to 1915 over 100 ballroom dances were created. The Castles founded Castle House, a studio for teaching a more refined type of dancing. A natural sociological function to distinguish themselves from the "street dancers," the lower classes. Much as the Internationals have done in present day Hawaii. They created many dances, the Castle Walk, the Castle Valse Classique, the Castle Tango, the Castle Last Waltz, the Castle Combination, the Castle Lame Duck, and the Maxixe. And most of their dances became fashionable in most of the American upper class ballrooms.

 "Waterfalls" by TLC  (1995)

And the Castles firmly established the terminology for this type of dancing as "ballroom." When they first founded Castle House, they had trouble finding a band that played music suitable for their dances. They met James Reese Europe (a black man) and engaged him as their personal musician. Many black musicians in New York looked down on syncopated music. Ragtime was associated with minstrel shows. Europe decide that his future lay in popular music and realized the power of syncopation, even in the primitive form of those days and made great use of it. He played in Carnegie Hall in 1914 ten years before the great Paul Whiteman.

"Social dancers believe that there may be three sides to every story:

yours, theirs and the truth."

Wine

The new century and Wine seems to be the increasing choice of drink for dancers. You just sip, sip and sip. Many seem to know the different classes of wine and even the differences in smell. Dancers have had a long time reputation of not being drunks. They drink but usually responsibly and that is to the good of everyone.

"I got started dancing because I knew that was one way to meet girls."
~ Gene Kelly (1912-1996) American dancer

Wine has a long history dating back about 8,000 years (along with agriculture) and is thought to have originated in present day Georgia (Russia) or Iran. It took about 1500 years to get to Europe. It became very common in classical Greece and Rome. In early Greece, 20000 Greek men and wine in the afternoon, evolved the entire Western concept of ethics that we know today.

"Days Of Wine And Roses" by Andy Williams

Wine has also played an important role in religion since ancient times. The Greek God Dionysos and the Roman God Bacchus represented wine. Wine has played an important role in ceremonies in the Christian religion such as mass. And wine was drunk at the Last Supper.

Forty years ago, I could see empty hard liquor bottles at some of the social dances. And always a few beer cans but no evidence of wine. Now. not many drinkers at the socials but it has become apparent in Night Clubs and Da Big Shows in Waikiki. There must be other reasons why wine is becoming "acceptable," One of the marks of a certain type of a bad person is one that cannot give up a thing themselves without wanting every one else to give it up too.

From the Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam, one millennium ago.

Come, fill the cup, and in the fire of Spring

Your Winter garment of Repentance fling:

The Bird of Time has but a little way

To flutter - and the Bird is on the Wing.

Looking Good

I tried the first comeback blog for trial couple weeks ago and got some hits. So I hope to get it rolling in December with some regular Guest Authors. And I believe I will probably will get most from my other social media. This Blog will be just bigger that Oahu Dancer on Facebook. It will cover dancing, music, food and drink. Of course the Guest Authors will stick their own things now and then which is perfectly acceptable. And 90% of the readership will be from Oahu. I will try to blog at least once per week. This is all preliminary and changes will be made according to Guest Authors. I can do it with three,  but six would be ideal.

"The truth may not lead you to where you thought you were going,

but it will always lead you somewhere better"

A dance opinion may be supported by facts, in which case it becomes an argument, although people may draw opposing opinions from the same set of facts. In our social media, we will continue to establish some better understanding of our dance scene. Opinions rarely change without new arguments being presented. So in our blogs we need more honest dance opinions from different viewpoints. It can be reasoned that one opinion is better supported by the facts than another by analyzing the supporting arguments. For now we cover what must to write. Later we must cover the feedback.

 "With A Song In My Heart" by Mario Lanza

Dance is your pulse, your heartbeat, your breathing. It’s the rhythm of your life. It’s the expression in time and movement, in happiness, joy, sadness and envy.

The Palladium

The Palladium now seems to be rolling again, It’s administered by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which does not limit its use solely to ballroom dancing. What may be still most irksome to the ballroom dancers, however, aren’t the line dancers, swing dancers, Scottish folk dancers or other dancers who have staked claims to the space. It’s the non-dance groups competing for the Palladium’s coveted time slots. We shall see.

"Ka Nohona Pili Kai" by Keali'i Reichel

Hawaii Ballroom Dance Association, (HBDA), is still the largest ballroom dance organizations on Oahu. HBDA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, teaching and encouragement of ballroom dancing. They have their own studio in Aiea. HBDA offers both American and International style of ballroom dance and they can get a nice crowd at the Palladium.

 "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond

   “Dance for yourself. If someone understands,
 good. If not, no matter.”

Dance Party in Wahiawa

First one in three years and not everyone was there. However, everyone there was fortunate to see our dance friends in a well known comfortable location, Wahiawa Recreation Center. Pictures galore, video, good music,- the works. Gives me the opportunity to restart this blog. Who Knows? Juliaann, all the photos.

 We Witched you a Happy Halloween.

Q: What’s a ghoul’s favorite drink?
A: Anything with boos."

"It it all just a bunch of Hocus Pocus?"

 

The Only One Left.

All of my blogs have now been deleted except this one. "Social Dance Oahu. My other social media has kept me busy. Twitter and Facebook. And I am starting a dance group on Facebook,. "Oahu Dancers." All dancers welcome

 "All Or Nothing At All" by Frank Sinatra

Update

Our blogosphere on Oahu is definitely at the point of diminishing returns. Only a very slight but steady upward trend in hits. My physical disability has of course been a bigger part of it than I had first thought. It then hinges on my ability to get the information contributors to share the dance news with our readers.

"The truth may not always lead us to where we thought we

were going, but it may lead us somewhere better. Even

when ignored, it will eventually show itself."

Town Dancer remains in front by a more narrow margin every week. Dancing Nights is in second place with Platinum Horseshoe in third. The steady Two Center or even a Guest Author will help any one to the top. You got info that you are willing to share, email it and I will post it. The photos remain a big plus when we get going. The rest of the blogs are struggling to get into the 20s in average hits per day which is 600 hits per month.

"Beautiful Kauai" by Don Ho

Races are still being run on Oahu and I have been trying to find out. Most people have always known who were the top five clubs at the Palladium. Now number six has moved into fifth place and many do not know which of the top five is no longer there. Same thing on the Dance Studios, but now Divino Ritmo Studio is definitely emerging into the top spot in Honolulu. And they make good use of blogs to communicate with the dancers.

"Walk Through Paradise" by Melveen Leed

"We are dancers and we believe that we learn by dancing. Whether it means to learn to dance by dancing or to learn to live by living."

Da Latest Rerun from 2018

The Chinese symbol for the word “crisis” is written using two strokes of a pen. One stroke stands for danger, and the other for opportunity. In other words, in a crisis, beware of the danger, but also recognize the opportunity. Life always balances itself out. Everything that happens is neither positive nor negative; it just depends on your perspective. And all of us are going to dance.

"Social dancers think that all dancers are creators, and
all dancers create their own world in a dance.”

At one time,  I thought for sure there would be a new dance club on West Oahu dedicated to the social dancer only. And most of it based on the American Style of dance and with the introduction of many peripheral dances, such as Night Club 2 step, Bachata, Hustle, Salsa and Latin Waltz. Fortunately many groups have been way ahead of me. With terrific DJs that will play the music that the social dancers want to hear. In fact I have heard of one near Makapuu Point in Southeast Oahu. Gotta look into this when I get my new digs.

"Like a Virgin" by Madonna  (1984)

Now that I am moving to my new location in Mililani, I must accept that I can only go so far by myself.  So the next step is getting the most important Two Center. Finding the right keyword keeps eluding me and I somehow believe it it is not that important. I use Oahu and Social Dance and I will stay there for now. I am going for the dancers not the search engines. There are bloggers in the mainland that seem to have the right keywords and have been able to generate some incredible traffic from search engines and they make thousands of dollars. That is not my goal.

"We need more people who do not read with the intent to understand,

they read with the intent to reply." ~ Social Media.

Videos Rerun July 2018

The videos on Facebook are hitting all the blogs. There are now 3 Billions videos posted on Facebook daily. That is Billion with a B not an M. So we must await for the slow down, then we can get our blogs going again. For now let us respect that they are doing a great job for their fellow dancers. And that is our intent, so let us not get in their way. Blogging is a little different.

"Anyone who says only sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain."

I have been coming across more and more advertising for using VOIP instead of your landline. But upon further investigation I find landlines are more reliable than VOIP, as evidenced by the fact that businesses have not reduced landline usage at all. For now, I will just wait it out.

VOIP suffers from multiple points of failure or degradation:

    Internet connection could be dropped (connection, modem or router)
    Power to the internet connection to the premises could be lost
    Computer reliability - Power to the computer
    Multiple processes running on the computer can interfere
    Congestion on the network
    Location of the computer in the house (if wireless)

 1991 "All The Man That I Need" by Whitney Houston

These blogs have never been properly defined simply because they were mainly me and that's no good. The blogs need other opinions to help define themselves. The blogs at six are on shaky ground for now, and the dance video fad on Oahu is slowing down. We must be patient and wait for a that one Guest Blogger that can see a dance group that can use a blog. One Guest Blogger will decide it. We are waiting for you. I will reiterate, the reader/dancers will make the decisions, this is a blog.

"Two dancing peanuts walked into a Waikiki Night Club.
And wow, one of them was really salted."

Wahiawa Rerun July 2018

This blog not going anyplace. Most places in town have terrific Web sites and have advertising in newspapers, magazines, radio and TV. Most are not sure what a Blog is. Hell, I have been working blogs for 20 years and I am not sure either. I have six blogs now and I have tried to make them different but tough to communicate that to the readers. The reader/dancers have some idea of what each blog does. If you have some dance information to share, email it and it can go in the blog of your choice.You are the ones to make it Social Media.

“Social dancers believe that dance does not give rise to anything in

us that isn’t already there. The music just sparks a fire that

illuminates who we have always wanted to be.”

 It helps to have information contributors. This invitation from Maile of WBDC.

Aloha Dancers!
You are invited to WBDC's Stars and Stripes Forever Dance, to be held on Friday, July 13, 2018, Wahiawa Recreation Center, Hale Hookipa Room, starts at 7:30 pm - 9:50 pm, Potluck or a small monetary donation appreciated! Attire: (Optional) DRESS WITH RED, WHITE, AND BLUE!  STARS AND STRIPES ARE GREAT TOO!

"The Star Spangled Banner" even if you don't know all the words. 

With enough guest bloggers and steady information and photo contributors, our blogs will be up in the stratosphere in hits. If we plan it right with the best blog, I can make my gradual withdrawal and let the guest bloggers take the blog over and they will make all the rules. For now I  hope it will be Town Dancer because that is the leader of the pack.  With new blood, these bloggers can teach the rest of us how to do better.

 “Social dancers know that the job of feet is walking,

but they also know that their hobby is dancing.”

Bossa Nova Re-run June 2018

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.

"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."

Trickle Down

 Income inequality grew tremendously over the Trump Four Year Disaster. And even now policies have been favoring the “free market” Easy Money and the Rich get Richer. And as per usual when unregulated capitalism doesn’t work, people on the brink of poverty and homelessness are left with few options, including taking the blame.

In this country, it has been pointed out that many homeless people are employed but not making enough money to pay rent. Many people who are renting apartments can barely afford to do so. What’s more, an unexpected cost could put them on the street. The Federal Minimum Wage remains indecently low. This is not a sign of a thriving economy. Instead, it shows that “trickle-down” economic policy has never worked and never will.

Social Dancing? Rerun #14

Rerun #14, Original, July 2018

 

Basic Movements for Dance.
By Fred Lumaban, Ewa Beach.

Syllabi in the disciplines, Bronze, Silver and Gold are the usual but some groups have extra gold, double gold or even diamond gold, whatevah. Each division has about 12 to 14 movements in each category, which has you way ahead of everybody by the time you reach advance. It is both the students and the instructors fault that they go too fast. The Students in Beginner (Bronze) level are looking longingly at the Intermediate (Silver) level, they can see it close by.

“Social dancers know, that the sweet melody that travels to their ears,

can remind them that the heart can dance when the feet can't.”

The Intermediates just starting out are looking longingly at the Gold level which is also close by, and ready for attainment. By the time most are in their Gold levels, it is a different story, in International they may have had a few exhibitions and are thinking of competitions. And some may be seriously thinking of going back to basics and really learning it right. As Social street dancers we are not constrained by any of these rules. We just take our time and enjoy the learning process to the music as we go along and don't try to get too fancy.

"The Stars and Stripes Forever"

-follows the standard American military march form and is a standard in all military bands.

It was first performed at Willow Grove Park, just outside Philadelphia, on May 14, 1897,

and was immediately greeted with enthusiasm. Following an Act of Congress in 1987,

it was officially adopted as the national march of the United States of America.

Many fortunate dancers will have fun dancing that evening, guaranteed.

Most of us consider ourselves pretty much beginners and perhaps a little bit intermediates. And what is more important is, we are having more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Consequently, most of our basic or Bronze equivalents are limited to about 30 good solid basic movements in any dance. And these movements can be led and followed by most anyone. And there is where the fun of our type of dancing resides. The readership in agreement is reinforced by the hits on the blogs and Web sites.

"In the beginning there is no failure - only feedback."

"It ain't over 'til it's over"

"It ain't over 'til it's over"

As emergency rooms once again get full with Covid patients and hospital systems in several areas in the Red states, we cannot help but think about blame. There is plenty to go around, beginning with elected officials at every level and going right up to god. But I do not believe that we have all fully reckoned with just how much death is directly attributable to Trump himself. Trumpanzees are the leaders of stopping the mandates They are the anti vaxxers, They have no respect for Social Distance and who knows about hand cleansing. Most of us just have to learn to keep away from those people.

WBDC Anniversary Rerun #13

This was one of the first Dance Clubs on this island to set the pace for the others to follow. Things slowed down many years ago when the new dance clubs were being established in town. But this one has been holding up just fine and is bound to get better and there is new interest to dancing in the West. Unfortunately, the Dance Pavilion scheduled to be built at the Patsy Mink Recreation Park has been cancelled to pay for the Rail Disaster.

This have excellent teachers in the American Style of Dance and some of the best social dancers on this Island. Their music ranks up at the top in classes and their socials. They have good workers such as Carol Kohagura and Maile Yagi. You want answers? What else do you need?

There have been two groups in town that have consistently produced the best International Style dancers on this island. By the same token there have been two groups that have consistently produce the worst International Style dancers on this Island. Who? Ha Ha! We are talking competition here are we not? That is the name of their game. Happy Dancing.

Apprentice Wanted Rerun #12

Apprentice Blogger Wanted:

Should reside on Oahu and available to attend a dance function now and then. Information can be submitted by email along with a photo or two. I may furnish a point and shoot camera. The most important factor is that it will be their opinion and their unique viewpoint.

"There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating;

people who know absolutely everything, and people

who know absolutely nothing.”

 

Within a week or so, they should be able to decide which blog they wish to Guest Author. Of course, it must be their choice, They can then get in, write, include photos, save and publish and get out without saying boo to anyone. They will learn that they can pretty well write whatever they damn well please and whenever they please. The blog just provides the platform. From there it is to help to get more people and eventually making one of the blogs independent and operate on its own with enough guest authors and without me.

 

Looks like  Happy Holidays on the Waianae Coast

 

 

Look like they are moving?

 

So where do we go from here? The first step is a recognition that we are and have always been in the business of selling? – What? Social Media to our possible readership and our blogs are not seeking money. The key to realizing the promise of our profession is to reinforce it in the science of management and the analytics that measure our performance. But we just want to help and that is difficult to understand. Otherwise we’ll be left to shoot darts at a smaller and smaller portion of an expanding dartboard. We will be patient and we are getting there.

 

New Territory. Rerun #11

Apparently the reorganization of the blogs has not done too much damage. They have been at the bottom all week but are gradually regaining the hits. The biggest improvement will be in the Platinum Horseshoe blog because of the famous Willy Dionisio. If he can give us info and photos, the hits will go through the ceiling. Why? Because regardless of club affiliation dancers are interested in dancing and many of these are our own friends and neighbors. Simple?

 "Hard work does not guarantee success,

 but it sure as hell improves your chances."

I have seen the list in HBDA and Kalihi Chapter has no Web site and is not very stable. I would certainly like to help them and show everyone what we are capable of doing. Our blog is not magic just very capable public relations. Just watch the hits on Platinum Horseshoe in the next few days and figure out who is getting the most benefit. No contracts are necessary and everyone does as they damn well please.

Our blogs have a lot of space that can be used for good public relations. There are many out there that realize the good that can be done. Text is good most of the time. Photos are good most of the time, but the proper combination of both, with recency and currency, is what makes Social Media. I never knew before, but I can see the results now.

It is slowly forming all by itself, a new dance force on Oahu, for Truth, Inclusion and Innovation and made "of the dancers, by the dancers and for the dancers." All the dancers? Of course not, they do not all wish to be involved and we must respect. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Da Latest Scoop Rerun #10

Things are settling very nice in our blogosphere and I can see my way into a lot more of our dance environment. It is looking good, not because it is perfect but because I can see the need for whatever we lack.

 

"A person's own good breeding is the best security
against other people's ill manners."

A good example is the blog by Richie in Town Dancer of the 23rd. (Just click the link in the side bar.) Something that should have been brought out many times before and somehow missed by the best. Of course it seems to happen more often in the nightclub circuit. I sincerely hope that it is read by every male dancer, not only on Oahu, but in the entire Pacific area.

"You're Nothing But A Hound Dog" by Elvis Presley.

After a dance it is only proper courtesy to escort the lady back to where she was. Most men that I know do this, but now Richie has brought up a very good point, many do not escort the lady back to her table or chair. His honest opinion is what makes a blog into truly our kind of social media.

Which also brings up another point. My stats reveal that we are approaching the point of diminishing returns in hits. But only if we remain in the status quo of having no more Guest Authors. Just one more regular honest opinion from anyone in our blogs will keep us rolling ahead at the proper percentages. Honolulu Dance Guide is gaining on Town Dancer and could be ahead by the end of the month.

 

"Under The Boardwalk" by the Drifters

Fortunately we have been making good contact with Wahiawa Ballroom Dance Club. We have been getting some good write up information. A few added photos and we would have perfection. Another is the Annual Oldies but Goodies Dance Bash at the Pacific Beach Hotel. Sending the hits up, naturally. I will try to make it to Aliamanu Intermediate for the Saturday HBDA review and get some photos and perhaps a quote or two.

 

Teaching Latin Dancing to real Latin Music

 

Oahu West is still trying to coalesce into a unique center. Ewa Beach residents still consider themselves separate, as do some of the villages surrounding Ewa. With the new shopping center in Ewa plus Safeway and City Mill and a couple of cocktail lounges, the existence of night life may emerge and Ewa will become a central and prominent area again. Like all the West they need more industrial area for the thousands who commute to town daily. Nobody wants or needs a rail Disaster.  "I coulda been home in 20 minutes. Yes, I know, it's the money, Sonny. Big Profits in Rail Tragedies.