All the Single Ladies

I mentioned this video in a class discussion, however I got the choreographer wrong! But, this is an original Fosse performance entitled "Mexican Breakfast" originally aired on the Ed Sullivan show. Beyonce confirmed first on 106 and Park but then again in later interviews that her single ladies dance was based on this old dance style from the late 60's (which made me a few years off from the style mentioned in class I confused it with- oops!). However, still an amazing insight on how old dance affects new dances. There were lots of Fosse videos on youtube with even more comments of other dance moves from pop, hip hop, and more like the "walk it out" video that all had old school roots. Interesting to think about the next time you're watching a music video! Years later for Fosse's dance style to still be relevant and translatable to new music forms speaks a lot to the timeless nature of his talent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz7InzhwJTo

Sign Language a Dance?

The clip you'll see below is a girl performing her final project for her sign language class. She chose a song and performed it through sign language. If we define dance as any form of movement through your body, this is an example of a style of dance. Would you consider sign language a form of dance before seeing this clip? What about after? Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3tadz5Q3o

Salsa Portrayed in Movies

The following clip is from one of my favorite movies, Center Stage. The plot is about a professional ballet company and in this scene the group decides to take a night off from the intensity and focus on a different style of dance at a salsa club. As you watch, pay attention to the way the different characters (white vs. African American) move and and use elements of their bodies that we discussed in class (hips, ribcage, knees). Personally, I thought they all did a great job in looking "authentic", but then again, they are professional dancers. I think it is interesting to see the way these professionals are able to adapt to different styles and gain that sense of "fluency" even though they are not from Latin American descent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rSgC3tNMik

Dance and Sports

I found this clip of a flash mob dance at a Kansas basketball game. I am a big college basketball fan and I just thought this clip was funny and amazing at the same time. The article says that the group of students only practiced for a total of 2 hours before the game on Monday night and performed it to promote looking out for friends when drinking. Even the coach was dancing by the end. Besides that the message is a great idea, the fact that the school got together enough students to make this work is pretty impressive and everything they're doing is from their seats. They even have a clothing change! It just shows how dance is so ingrained in our culture that it is being used at big-time college basketball game for entertainment and for a cause.


http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/22766/kansas-game-features-flash-mob-dance

The Hustle

In today's class, the topic of salsa types/styles came up and The Hustle was briefly touched on. Though we have yet to see a bunch of examples of various salsa styles, I think it's safe to say that we all have a pretty general understanding of what salsa dance is "supposed" to look like. Here's a vid (rather small) of two people doing the hustle.

http://www.dancedancedance.com/jg_hustle.html

What similarities/differences between "typical" salsa and the hustle can you all point out regarding the movements, dance steps, music, style, etc.?

Dance bring people together

I am a huge geek when it comes to dancing and musicals. If it's out i've probably seen it or at least heard the music and seen it. Dancing movies are my guilty pleasue, so i have no problem sharing this video and having people laugh at my ridiculousness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA3_8AomNQ4

This is the video of Glee's Thriller mash-up. Althought we've talked about Thriller on the blog. This dance is about more than just the dancing and singing. A mini synopsis of the episode is that the glee club and the football team were forced to join together to create a halftime show for the championship game because the football team has been torturing everyone on the glee club for being girls, or gay, or sissies because they like to sing. This forces the coach make them work together so they can join together.

The video shows how people can work together through dance and other means of artistic expression to create a common ground, which they were able to do.

Also, I think the choreography is amazing.

Mambo in the Movies

I'm excited to see that this week's reading is so popular. I, too, have been inspired to write a blog about it. While reading the first few pages of Professor Hutchinson's work, all I could think about was a scene from the movie Dirty Dancing. It kept playing over and over through my mind as I was reading, so finally, I had enough and decided to write about it.
Dirty Dancing is, by far, my favorite dance movie (and one of my favorite movies in general). I love the dance routines in the movie and many of them have a Mambo/Pachanga/Salsa influence, so I decided to relate it to the article.
One scene in particular is, in my opinion, similar to "Mambo on 2." The scene in Dirty Dancing is referred to as "Johnny's Mambo" (appropriate, isn't it?) and can be found here (with an advertisement to start it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkqA_jj4Flk

Dirty Dancing is set in 1963, which was the turning point of the 1st generation to 2nd generation of Mambo dancers. It was also roughly ten years after the Mambo became a dance craze in New York City. It was definitely a popular dance in the time period that Dirty Dancing takes place in.
The footwork of the routine isn't entirely accurate compared to On 2 Mambo, but Mambo dancers synchronized their dance to the music that they danced to, which is shown in the movie. Also, there were "flashy" moves that made Johnny and Penny stand out. There were some moments with large arm movements, faster turns and dramatic poses which is also similar to New York Mambo. As an added fun fact, the location that Dirty Dancing is set in is in the Catskills, which just so happens to be where Joe Piro took some of his Mambo dancers to perform, as we learned in the reading.

Overall, it seems there are quite a few similarities between Dirty Dancing and actual Mambo dancing. I think it's a good representation of Mambo. What do you guys think? In your opinion, do you think Dirty Dancing is similar to or different from the reading?