Sakura of DOOM

Beginnning waltz

2010-11-17T07:50:06Z

I started taking waltz classes a few weeks ago, and it's a) the first time I've steadily done partner dancing post-grad school, b) the first time I've steadily taken dance classes post-grad school, and c) the first time I've steadily learned a non-swing dance ever. (I've taken a handful of intro salsa classes, always spaced years apart, and one general ballroom dancing class back in freshman year where they teach you one dance a week or something.)

I picked waltz largely because it's within walking distance to my house, and my sister's friend introduced me to the place. I still mean to take a serious set of classes in salsa and general Latin dancing and balboa and more ballroom and I want to learn country dances and Chinese folk dancing and hip hop and belly dancing and and and...

So far, waltz is especially interesting because my greatest impressions of it are through Regency romances (including historical romances set during the Regency because I am too lazy to distinguish between them). I can see why authors go on about it so much! It really is superbly romantic, especially as a contrast to country dances or other dances where you basically switch partners during the dance. Still, every time I read about the hero and heroine getting to, gasp, waltz and how the hero holds her to his manly chest and their bodies are so close together, I want to whap them over the head and yell, "Lust is no excuse for letting go of your frame!"

I am sure they are not literally pressed chest to chest, but still! Frame! You may be the hottest guy in the ballroom and have Satanic eyebrows and skintight buckskin breeches and a dozen mistresses, but I refuse to dance with a grabby partner. Even someone with no frame and a terrible lead is better than a grabby partner.

Anyway!

(Also, if anyone knows exactly how dance cards and sets and the like work, I would love to know. I have never been able to figure out how many dances are in a set and if it's the same partner per set or per dance or if there's a specific number of dances in a set or if you can just make it up or what. That said, going to a waltz social dance was extremely helpful, as they post the dances per each set. I always used to wonder how people in the books always knew exactly which dance would be a waltz or not.)

Anyway for real!

( tl;dr dance babble )

In conclusion: waltz! Going around in circles while moving in a bigger circle around the room = awesome twirliness!

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So You Think You Can Dance, S5 Top 8 + eliminations

2009-07-24T06:44:50Z

( Spoilers )

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So You Think You Can Dance, S5 Top 10 + eliminations

2009-07-17T17:36:25Z

( Spoilers )

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So You Think You Can Dance, S5 Top 20 + eliminations

2009-06-12T06:01:42Z

Instead of catching up on the bazillion book write ups I am behind on, I watch lots of TV! (Ooooo! You can actually watch it online now! Nice.)

( Spoilers )

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So You Think You Can Dance, S5 auditions and Las Vegas

2009-06-04T05:45:16Z

Out of all my TV shows, this may be the one I look forward to the most...

It's just always so amazing watching the dancers, and it reminds me to start lindy hop again.

( Spoilers? Spoilers for S4 at least )

Also, we get another season in the fall? Awesomesauce! (Though wow, aren't the judges exhausted? The audition process looks so difficult.)

(Still working on the Asian Women's Carnival, apologies for the delay.)

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Frankie Manning

2009-04-30T03:10:25Z

Frankie Manning died today, at 94. He was one of the original Lindy hoppers in Harlem, and he was a major figure in its revival in the 1980s.

Racialicious has a post on Frankie Manning, Lindy hop, and cultural appropriation that I found interesting and on the mark, and I very much wish the Lindy communities I've been in were more aware of these issues, even as they preserve the dance. More than that, I wish the wider world were more aware of Lindy's origins in Black culture and music, since most of the images of Lindy these days are of middle-class white kids in the 1940s (Swing Kids, the Gap ads, etc.), not the Black dancers in the 1930s.

Still, I'm glad I got the chance to see Frankie a few months back, and I'm very glad to hear the big bash planned for his 95th birthday will continue.

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