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.