January 16th.

Pizza:

It is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions, olives, vegetables, meat, ham, etc.), which is then baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven. On Oahu, Pizza is usually pronounced "Peet sa" by people that believe it is a heavenly taste and eat it often. But it is usually pronounced Peezah by most every once else and no one quibbles about it. Most connoisseurs, after Fifty, cut it down from 4 slices to two. 

 "Adoro" by Graciela Susana

Social Dancers are really defining themselves in this new era of Social Dancing.The rootzi tootzis, which are different from the ordinary Club dancers are still there but for not so divine.The rootzi tootsis know LAGS (the latest and greatest syndrome) better than most dancers. They have liked to differentiate themselves from the rest of us and they have no idea that we are very willing to let them do that. That is why our Guest bloggers in all our dance blog will be needed to solidify their credentials.

 "Social dancers believe that if we danced and shared music,
we'd be too busy enjoying life to start a war.”

Not With A Bang

Music fits in quite naturally in our Oahu social dancing. And on Oahu, in our dancing, we may get carried away with perfecting our technique and our connection with our partner,  This may leave us little time to focus on the outside stimuli that our excellent music provides for us. Our understanding and knowledge of our dance music becomes somewhat limited, However in this century we will have many basic resources to understand this inspiring medium - this  beautiful music provided by our terrific Disc Jockeys.

 

"E Kuu Morning Dew" by Melveen Leed

The rule in blogs as social media is just a little communication for the reader/dancers in which they can see that a blog is merely larger than Twitter or Facebook. Later on there may be some sublime advertising, in which we ring bells for our favorite groups. And we do not as a rule accept advertising. I will reassert that we are not that strict in anything, and we must always do the best we can for the reader/dancer. What do we have to do to establish our blogs as social media? We must furnish  direct information from the reader/dancers to the reader/dancers on this Island via the blog. You do not know who they are? Neither do I.

"There are shortcuts to happiness and dancing is one of them."

The Fairy Tale

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 67 years old. She learned music and singing and eventually became the reigning queen of Mexico singers. She is still among the best in Mexico.

"Historia De Un Amor" por Ana Gabriel

And her stage name was now Ana Gabriel. Before her grandfather passed, she had concerts in the vicinity and 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.” 

January

Social Media: Facebook under the name Joseph Martel.

One Group. Oahh Dancers. covering Dance and Music. And Food and Drink. We may naturally have other things now and then but have enough for good crowd. We have less than 550 Friends, I accept anyone who has more than 100 mutual friends.

 

Started Twitter about  two years ago, under the name Pepe Martel.

Covering all subjects and with only 370 followers so far. I accept anyone who has more than 100 followers.

Starting on Tumbler now, because Facebook and Twitter are getting too chintzy and are too much for the Rich.

Retreating from these and looking for new one, Freedom of speech and little Trump Propangana.

"Should old acquaintances be forgot and never brought to mind."

This is a new year and that is from old song.

 

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.