One Man YMCA

While discussing some of the popular dances in queer club settings, I thought of a half time performance I've seen at basketball games.

This is Christopher, who does a one man performance, complete with props, of the Village People performing YMCA. It's funny and entertaining. I know it was one of my family's favorite halftime performances at professional NBA game while I was growing up.

What is your opinion of this? Is it considered dance? Is it promoting the same messages in the YMCA and making them acceptable or is it a mockery?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2pNpQ1bbBA

Looking forward to hearing your opinions!

Electronic dance music / dance moves

Today we talked about queer club culture and the improvisation of dance to electronic music. But of course, electronic dance music is enjoyed by many other groups of people as well.

Learn some moves here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOUjDE-Uugc

And check out what Hasan Baba is up to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR_VhfxAnXU

Air Guitar Events April 21-22

Hi folks,

Competitors are starting to sign up for the big Syracuse air guitar competition! Might you be next??? It's another way to have a participatory dancelike experience this semester. Here's some PR...

http://blog.syracuse.com/entertainment/2011/04/air_guitarists_wanted_for_comp.html

http://insidesu.syr.edu/2011/04/05/first-syracuse-air-guitar-competition-will-be-april-22/

Learn A College Dance From A College Cheerleader

Hey Everyone,

Kim, Brittany and I made a video we are hoping will go viral for our class project. Check it out and spread it to all of your friends. The video shows Brittany teaching a very popular college cheer dance. She shows the dance once and then breaks it down by eight count. Feel free to leave any comments you might have, we are very interested in your feedback.

Here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWfhXfdPR5Q

See you all later on today!

The Impossible Dance

I really enjoyed this weeks required reading, Impossible Dance: Club culture and queer world-making by Fiona Buckland. Buckland discussed the history of disco, DJs, and clubs to our culture. In addition, she described the outlet these clubs gave to gay men in the 1970s and 1980s.

House music was first discovered after the Warehouse dance club in Chicago. The music is more beat heavy than garage and incorporated rhythm and vocals to the composition. DJs at clubs played this music. Suddenly, DJs and remixes became more popular than recording stars. Slowly, house music was phased out and singles such as the YMCA and Macho Man provided an outlet and meaning that gay men could understand and align themselves with.

I didn't know that clubs were such an outlet for homosexual men. This was a very interesting article. I look forward to discussing the rest of the article in class tomorrow!

The European Dougie

I had a foreign exchange student from belgium living with me and my family during my senior year of high school. He introduced me to many things including waffles, David Guetta, and this sweet dance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2keyIEof038

I'd say this is the equivalent of "the dougie" in Belgium. Everyone knows the dance style and most can perform it. If you look at the related videos you will see many other tutorials or home videos of people performing "tecktonik" with their own twist. Thought this would be fun to pass along...

T Mobile Flash Mob

After spending a few days meeting with commercial production companies over spring break, I was shown the commercial below. It is an example of a dance flash mob used in advertising. How do you think incorporating dancing into advertising has affected the way that dance evolves? I think that when advertising gets involved that it does have an affect on the way people dance and the publicity around dancing. I think this helps to make dances more public and people more aware of dance cultures and styles. Can you think of any other flash mobs that have been used in advertising before?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM