Folk Dance in Schools

Reading the article about Folk Dance in schools made me think about the purpose of dance in schools. While folk dancing was gaining popularity, the music and dancing appeared in music and physical education classes at school, exposing students to different forms of dancing. Being an educator, I think this is a great idea. Not only does it promote physical activity in schools, which students need, it allows students to learn about different cultures. The article also talks about the development of international folk dancing, where programs developed retaining and including dances from a variety of cultures. Not only will students learn about the history of folk dancing, they also will be more accepting of other cultures and their values, so diversity will be appreciated in schools. Anyway students can learn about other cultures and respect them and the differences, will help us live in a more tolerant world.

I'm not sure how much folk dancing (or other forms of dancing) are still included in music and physical education classes, especially when the emphasis on schools is on content and standardized testing. What are other ways for teachers to incorporate dance and other cultures into the regular curriculum to continue giving students the opportunity to appreciate diversity?

Emergence of Hip Hop

I know it dates back a few weeks, but this kind of relates to the "From Mambo to Hip Hop" film we watched earlier in Feb. I thought it was interesting to see how mambo slowly gave way to hip hop and other dance styles throughout the years, and it actually reminded me of a really good book that you guys might find interesting. Classmate Brittany and I were studying in London last semester and had to read Cut 'n' Mix: Culture, Identity and Caribbean Music by Dick Hebdige for one of our music courses. Although the book focuses more on the music rather than the dance style, it ties in nicely with the film. It discusses Caribbean music in its entirety, and how it led to the development of various other music genres such as calypso, ska, reggae, and then eventually hip hop music (particularly in the States). What the movie did not mention, which the book touches on, is the important role of the "soundsystem culture" and how it helped perpetuate the emergence of both hip hop music and dance. Many countries and regions where Caribbean music was popular (such as African nations, Jamaica, etc.) were poverty stricken and uneducated, therefore leading to the heavy reliance on soundsystems, because they were somewhat cheap and produced a lot of sound for a lot of people (in regions where music was an important cultural value). This eventually grew quite popular in modern culture, first spreading to the UK and then later to New York, followed by the rest of the U.S. Anyways, that's just the hip hop aspect of the book in a nutshell. It is a really cool book though, and thought that you guys would be interested in checking it out. I would lend it to anybody who wants to read it, but I unfortunately left it back home in California!

Dancing with the Stars: Season 12 Cast

Since we talk about Dancing with the Stars a lot in class I thought it would be interesting to post the new cast for season 12 as they just announced it last night. The group of stars chosen relates to what we have been talking about in class in two ways specifically. First, with Dancesport and our discussion about ballroom dancers not being entirely recognized and given the same amount of credit as the "stars" on the show. If you read the article you see that the "stars" are listed first (and it is what all the news hype is about) and given much more attention. Down below, the "professionals", as they are called, are summarized in a brief two sentence list. Second, as we have been talking about authenticity in relation to different types of dance and what truly makes a dance "authentic", it will be interesting to see if these stars can dance the styles in a way that makes them and the dance look genuine. Or, do you think they will in a sense "ruin" the dance they perform. I guess that's why its entertaining!

Down below is the list of stars and their "title", and here is the link for the article if you want to read it in full: http://www.squidoo.com/dancingwiththestars

Rapper- Lil Romeo
Boxing Legend- Sugar Ray Leonard
Original Karate Kid- Ralph Macchio
Wrestler- Chris Jericho
Football Player- Hines Ward
"Loveline" Host- Mike Catherwood

Disney Actress- Chelsea Kane
Model- Petra Nemcova
Reality Star- Kendra Wilkinson
Talk Show Host- Wendy Williams
Actress- Kirstie Alley

Hula Hoop

While talking so much of the Hula last week, I was curious to see if the Hula Hoop and the Hawaiian Hula had anything to do with each other. I tried to find the history of the hula hoop and I found a few articles which I'll try to sum up in case anyone else was curious. Hoops had been around since as far back as ancient Egypt but Hula Hooping didn't come around until there were similarities spotted between the shape of a hoop and the shape of the Hula dance (so there is a connection!). American soldiers used the term hooping to describe this connection in the 18th century. The first official hula hoop came about in 1958 and no one was able to make a patent off it because hoops had been around for a very long time.

Here are two of the articles if anyone wants to read more information.
http://spinninghoop.com/hula-hoop-memories/history.htm
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/hulahoop.htm

World Hoop Championship

After class this week, I looked up dance in the news. This video came up, showing Native Americans performing a typical dance style known as the 'Hoop Dance'. However, in this championship, the competition isn't the focal point, but the dance is. Unlike the other dances we've studied, the focus is the family and tradition of the dance, not winning the competition. I found this interesting, because even though it's competition based, it doesn't make the dance better or worse because of it. Do you think that competition is integral for the success of a dance? Why do we place so much importance on competition based dancing, instead of the beauty of dance itself?

http://abcnews.go.com/OnCampus/video/world-hoop-dance-championship-12973318

'ohana

after watching the video on hula, hawaii, and the native hawaiians living in california i was thinking about what i know personally about hawaiian culture if anything. i oddly recalled a disney movie "lilo and stitch" and researched if any of the film makers had direct hawaiian influences when making the film set in hawaii based on a hawaiian family. this article attached was an interesting idea that the film makers never wrote into the script but added after staying on the island, the idea of "'ohana." in a technical sense the word means "family" but the they focused on the idea that hawaiians often have a wide spread meaning of family including extended members and family friends as close as their immediate mom, dad, siblings, etc. it was interesting the writer/director said they made a point to not clearly define "ohana" in the movie, as respect for hawaiian culture and the way they see as each family having their own definition of "ohana." i thought it was especially interesting in relation to the native hawaiians who moved to california and formed these amazing tight knit communities as perhaps their own "ohana." definitely worth a read, it's not too long!

http://gohawaii.about.com/cs/hawaiifilms/a/lilo_and_stitch_2.htm

Joffrey Ballet helping Students

While I was home this past weekend, I saw this news story about dancers from the Joffrey Ballet teaching local students from the Chicago schools ballet. Not only are they learning dance, but they are also learning life skills. Some students will be able to continue their training after the program ends as well. Here is the link to the news story:

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7982764

I think this is a great idea because it allows these children to be able to learn about dance that they would not otherwise get. It may inspire them to continue dancing. This is similar to the hip hop dancers we discussed at the beginning of the semester since they used dance to express themselves and stay off the streets by doing something constructive rather than violent.

What are your thoughts on this program? Should these programs exist more often?