Tag: Latin / Ballroom

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Crap Friday, Sobering Saturday…

Ugh, horrible night last night at the studio. First, the second I exited the subway and saw what I saw, I had to ask myself why, why, why do I have to go to a studio located in the Times Square area??? And, if I must go to a studio located in this madhouse, why did I not remember to cancel my two-days-before-the-ball-drops lesson???

Times Square two days before New Years Eve

Needless to say, it took me twenty minutes to get from 42nd Street all the way up to 44th, two whole blocks… Why do tourists want to visit at this time of year??? Maybe I should listen to myself and go to Rio some time other than Carnival… Hmmm..

Anyway, then the lesson. I just couldn’t understand anything Jacob was saying, and he was being really rather impatient. We practiced my kick splits in the air — where he gives me his arm and I push down and propel myself up about three feet, do the splits as quickly as I can, pointing my toes of course, then come down about 1/10th of a second later. So much harder than it seems to split, straighten legs and make the perfect line, point toes, then come down right away, and remember to do so on bent knees, bent ever so slightly — not so much so that the audience can actually TELL they’re bent, but bent enough so that you don’t kill your knees coming down on straight ones, and in HEELS… Ugh. We did it about twenty-five times. I was finally getting the hang of it, when he wanted to start on these crazy stretches, where I lean away from him as far as I can but while holding his hand. Apparently, I’m supposed to kind of give him my body weight, but kind of hold my own weight — which I don’t get AT ALL. Pasha always used to tell me, “you have to hold yourself; you’re responsible for your own weight, not me,” and sometimes he would even let go ever so quickly to see if I’d begin to fall. Of course I always would, scaring the crap out of me, and making me hold myself completely up giving the man NONE of my weight now. Now Jacob is telling me, “you’ve got to trust me and give me your weight; you’re not trusting me, and it’s not going to look right if you don’t lean completely away me so much so that you’ll fall if I let go.” What? I swear it’s the antithesis of what Pasha said, but he said it was not, and tried to explain how to both hold myself AND trust the guy and give him my full weight, but I didn’t really get it. I guess as time goes on, I will. Hopefully.

And then apparently I am doing too many ballet-like things because he kept telling me, “no releve, this isn’t ballet,” “no ballet hands,” ” no ballet develope; in ballroom we bend the standing leg,” no ballet this, and no ballet that, and so on. Funny thing is, it’s not like I’m a former ballet dancer. I only have childhood lessons taken long long ago, and as an adult, I’m only in basic ballet classes. So, I couldn’t understand most of the terms he was saying, and therefore couldn’t really understand what exactly I was doing that was too ballet. I mean, I go to bizillions of ballet performances, obviously, but can that really rub off in terms of your own dancing? I want to push myself as far as I possibly can, and learn as much as I can as quickly as I am able to, but I just wish so much I had more background so that I would know terms and different dance techniques and be able to differentiate between different styles of dance…

Then, bright and early this morning (sorry, this is total whiner blog today…), my mom called telling me my dad was all upset because apparently he watched the DVD of my most recent studio showcase that I sent him as a Christmas present and couldn’t find either of my routines on it. “Are they on your copy?” she asked. And, if so, can you point to him exactly where? Blech! Of course, I hadn’t yet watched the copy of the tape I kept for myself, because I just hadn’t yet worked up the courage to do so (there’s nothing I HATE more than watching myself dance!). I told her to hold on, popped the blasted thing into the machine, confirmed they were both there while nearly throwing up in digust over my hideous lines, total lack of rhythm, missed steps, horrible gorilla arms, enormous, elephantine hands, etc. etc. etc. I nearly forgot she was still on the damn line. When she later called me back after reporting back to my dad, I found that he actually saw the whole tape and just didn’t recognize me. Lovely feeling when your own parent doesn’t recognize you!!!!!

Anyway, in an attempt to overcome my self-disgust, I marched straight out to my local bakery, and got this perfect early morning meal — chocolate fudge cake and Hazelnut coffee with about four scoops of sugar; a.k.a. the breakfast of pigs:

chocolate cake for stress attack breakfast

And, as soon as the liquor store opened,

Spent the afternoon by turns in front of the TV hysterically watching my hideous performances, then in front of the mirror, trying to do the lines Jacob was trying to teach me. Ugh. It just wasn’t going anywhere. Finally decided to just give it a break, and plopped down in front of the computer to read blogs. Serendipitously found these lovely little words of wisdom from Matt — thanks Matt!

When I got bored of blogs, I decided to go visit my local Barnes & Noble, to use the gift card my mom sent me as part of her Christmas present. Came away with these wonderful finds:

Pynchon, Powell, and Dance Mag

Thomas Pynchon‘s new book “Against the Day” is so damn huge (nearly 1100 pages), I don’t even think it’s going to fit in my dance bag (with all the other stuff I have to put in there, I mean), which means I’m gonna have a hard time carting it to and from work on the subway… Well, maybe it’s a better read for home anyway; looks pretty dense. I’m very excited though! This is a first edition by a future Nobel Prize winner after all 🙂 It’s a real investment — both in terms of the material my brain will absorb, and the item itself; am kind of surprised more people aren’t buying them all up…
Also, upon noticing it in the new paperbacks section, I couldn’t help picking up Julie Powell’s chick lit book that evolved from her blog (this is the woman I’d met a couple of weeks ago at the “Bloggers into Authors” panel discussion held by Media Bistro). And, couldn’t resist Dance Magazine which advertised on its cover this article inside entitled “Talking Back to the Ballet Bashers” presumably on the recent Lewis Segal criticism everyone was talking about for a while, which I couldn’t miss…

And then, came home and am blogging while watching

Ford funeral on TV

the Gerald Ford funeral. So sad; I feel so badly for his wife… And then, the Hussein execution is of course all over the news. And I have such conflicted feelings. I just don’t think anyone should be put to death for anything…

So, a sobering but less stressful end to a crazy, self-absorbed day… I do think I’m going to leave dance alone for the rest of the weekend. I’ll go back to hystericizing after the holiday! I need a break :/

Happy New Year everyone!

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Dance Goals For 2007

La Duca shoes

Thanks to Natalia for forcing me to come up with these, because one must always have goals, and putting them down on paper (or blog) makes you organized and keeps you focused. I’ve divided mine into three basic categories:

1) CUT BACK ON EXPENSES.

Unfortunately, I think my biggest goal, at least regarding my greatest dance love — ballroom — is going to have to be to cut back. Looking over my expenses the past year, I’m a bit overwhelmed (okay a lot overwhelmed) at how much this wonderful hobby has cost me. I had wanted to go to Brazil this February for Carnival, and it looks like that’s not going to happen, I’d wanted to do some more travel even to places as close as Washington D.C. (do-able, but not without fret about cost), and even looking into possibly adopting another pet since my dear Najma passed away last year freaked me out a bit expense-wise. I simply have nothing left over in my leisure spending allotment after all of my ballroom. My parents, embarrasingly, have even had to help me pay for showcase, costume, and private coaching costs a bit here and there. Plus, my studio has just increased their prices $10 per private. So, with each private costing $95, each coaching $150 on top of that (for both teacher and coach), costumes running a minimum (and I mean very very minimum) of $500, and I don’t even want to say what the showcases cost, you get some clue as to the thousands. Not a happy bank account have I.

So, I’ve decided that, since of course giving it up is completely, ridiculously out of the question, I must force myself to take only one private lesson per week, and do either one showcase or one competition per year (ONE is the key number, in other words). Perhaps I can take one or two group lessons per week, but I’ve really got to watch that expense as well.

2) RELAX, LET LOOSE, AND HAVE FUN.

Second, and related to my first goal, I attended several Alvin Ailey performances this season and was really just mesmerized by what I saw. Watching the dancers closely, I realized Ailey must have had an extremely wide dance background including not only ballet, modern, and jazz, but African and Latin as well, because the way his dancers move incorporates all of those. And, I specifically saw some Samba, both in Revelations and other dances, and not only in the hip and pelvic movements generally, I mean I also saw some of the exact same steps I have learned in ballroom. And I felt like these dancers moved so amazingly. Jazz dancing is “bigger” than Latin ballroom, in that you take far larger steps and really work on moving your body without restraint; with ballroom, you must take very small steps and keep arm and upper body movement very small and controlled so as not to whack your partner or others on the crowded dance floor. And, because of this forced constraint, I found the Ailey dancers so much more interesting than ballroomers. Often at the ballroom competitions, there’s so much smallness of movement in Samba that I can’t even really see the dancers moving their hips and contracting and expanding their pelvises; it looks almost the exact same as a traveling form of Cha Cha to me.

Teachers at my old school used to tell me that studying any dance outside of ballroom besides ballet may well hurt my ballroom, mainly because of the uncontrolled movement. But these Ailey dancers just moved in such brilliant ways; really made me want to learn what they do. Plus, it looks so damn fun! So, I have decided that I will start taking some jazz, street samba (the Ailey School teaches it!), and African, in addition to my ballroom, at schools that offer group classes in those areas like Steps, Broadway Dance Center, and the Ailey school. If it hurts my ballroom technique, so be it. I love the way these modern dancers move and I’m not ever going to be a professional dancer, so it might as well be fun for me!

3) WRITE WRITE WRITE.

Third, I’ve realized through some recent discussions with friends and work and writing associates that a lot of people really don’t understand two basic things: 1) how frigging hard it is to become a great dancer — good enough, that is, that people will actually spend money to come see you perform; and 2) fun as it may be for most of us, dancing is actually a profession for others, and those others deserve to be taken seriously, just like doctors and lawyers and other professionals, and should be compensated appropriately. I came upon these realizations when some of the aforementioned friends and associates expressed difficulty understanding how I, with two whole years of part-time dance experience, could possibly need MORE practice (don’t I know everything already???), and that I actually had to pay for my teachers’ services — particulary at competitions and showcase events — as if my showcases and competitions were supposed to be so much fun for THEM that they were willing to forego an entire day’s worth of teaching wages to spend the day dancing with me, as if they don’t have rent to pay like the rest of us… Anyway, these discussions really enraged me, and one of my goals, as a fledgling writer, is to create more respect for professional dancers through not only this blog, but hopefully with magazine and newspaper writing that I will actually be compensated for, please please!

I also intend to attend as many ballroom competitions as I can — already have my tickets for Blackpool in May, of course of course! — and will most definitely blog about them, and take as many photos as I can, which I will put on the photo page here. I may take a course in digital photography, through the School of Visual Arts perhaps — to learn how to make better use of my camera.

And, finally, I intend to write my next novel this year, and to have it finished by the end of the year! It will deal, in some way, with dance, which is what that goal is doing in this blog entry, though I’m not sure how much of it will be devoted to dance, since, of course, plot and theme change a bit as you’re going about the writing process. But definitely definitely there will be dance in the novel 🙂 My last one took me one year, at least to get the first draft down, and I’ve already started this one (okay, I just have about the first 500 words!), so I am giving myself until, at the very very VERY latest, the end of the year. And, if I’m not finished and don’t have it out to my agent by this very day next year, please someone shoot me!!!!!

And of course, ballet, my lifelong love: I’ll be going to every performance I have the time and money for, am just sending off my ABT subscription renewal to their Met season now 🙂 🙂 🙂 and will likely run down to D.C. for a couple of Othello’s this January (since I’ll likely miss that ballet during their Met season, when I’ll be in England). And of course, I’ll obsessively be reading The Winger…

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My Little Sinatra Suite

tony and jacob 1

Well, I guess it’s not really a suite since I’m only dancing to one of his songs. But last night, we played the tune — “Luck Be a Lady Tonight” — for Melanie LaPatin, who liked it and approved it for the showcase! Then, Tony Meredith, the studio coach, and Jacob began choreographing it. This part always makes me nervous because I basically just have to sit and watch them go at it, and I’m not even sure what all they’re doing since most of the lifts and tricks they don’t actually do but only mark (so that Jacob doesn’t break Tony’s back jumping into his arms, etc.) Tony choreographs on Jacob because, basically, Jacob knows what he’s doing; if Tony used me, he’d have to spend far too much time teaching and not creating… so he uses Jacob, while Jacob tells him all of my strengths, and what kinds of things we want to do. Actually, I brought in the DVD of Baryshnikov dancing Tharp’s Sinatra Suite and Tony viewed it before my lesson to get an idea of what kind of lifts, tone, style, etc. we were shooting for.

I get nervous while watching them put together my routine both because I don’t want it to be too easy and basic (which sometimes teachers and coaches do because they don’t want the students to struggle with something that’s way over their head and then get down on themselves about their abilities), because then it won’t be interesting enough to watch, and because I really want to challenge myself. But then, I also got a bit freaked out listening to Jacob tell Tony repeatedly that I have great extensions that he wants to showcase! Blah! I have long limbs, so I think everyone WANTS me to have great extensions. But I have been very bad and lazy so far this fall and have not been stretching nearly as much as I should. So, my extensions … aren’t quite there yet, I should say 🙂 Oh well, goals goals!

tony and jacob 2

It is kind of funny watching Jacob play the girl!

jacob and tony 3

Who’s that goof flashing away in the mirror?… Crossed legs = varicose veins and bad posture! Bad bad…

Anyway, we got probably about a quarter choreographed. Tony gave me this really cool jump splits to do. Jacob extends his arm to me, I grab it and use it to propel myself up and do a big kick jump past him. He and Jacob also tried to do this very easy-looking small lift that Baryshnikov and Elaine Kudo did on the DVD, where he kneels and she slides over his shoulders. Of course, we realized right away, it only LOOKED easy with those two performing! I am determined though to learn it and get it right! Some of the other things they marked … well, I wasn’t quite sure what exactly they were. Important thing is that I videotaped it all, so Jacob will figure it all out next week and will then start teaching it to me.

By the way, I ended up throwing together my own little gift basket for him for the dreaded holiday gift — bought him some hand-made bath soaps for achy muscles, massaging foot lotion, lots of chocolate from my local Belgian chocolatier, and some fun-looking candy cane bath confetti. So, no bronzed Michaelangelos 🙂 🙂 🙂 Though that was a damn good idea, if I can ever track Luis down at his new studio…

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Fergie to Dance With Stars? Why Not ABT Royalty??

I just received in my inbox news that, according to rumor anyway, Sarah Ferguson is considering being on “Dancing With the Stars.” I think that would be quite fun actually; she’d be so cute! Who’d be her partner: Dovolani? Hmmm. I still think they should have ABT dancers do it. I’d so love to see Marcelo Gomes and Jose Carreno doing Quickstep or Viennese Waltz. Not with each other of course … although … hmmm… No, seriously, I really really wanna see ballet dancers run around the room at maximum speed attached to each other at the pelvic bone with feet in perfect, steadfastly maintained sixth position (that’s parallel: in Standard dances, a turned-out foot = a tripped over foot = partners going down fast…) And David Hallberg, that’s David Hallberg (sorry 🙂 ) and Julie Kent can do Samba. And Cha Cha. Fun fun!

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Carnival Carnival!

funny feminist bed pic

Not that carnival, unfortunately (though I really really REALLY wanna go to that one…)

I just saw this link today on a fave website of mine, which was timely, in light of Natalia‘s mention of a dance blog carnival. I hadn’t known what one was. This is a feminist blog carnival — looks to me like mad blog fun, with days and days of insightful reads! I think a dance carnival is definitely in order! And, hey, at ours we CAN have Samba…

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Money-Hungry, Who Me?

birthday quiz

***Your Birthdate: May 8***

Watch out Donald Trump! You’ve got a head for business and money.
You’ll make it rich some day, even if you haven’t figured out how yet.
A supreme individualist, you shouldn’t get stuck in a corporate job.
Instead, make your own way – so that you can be the boss.

Your strength: Your undying determination

Your weakness: You require an opulent lifestyle

Your power color: Plum

Your power symbol: Dollar sign

Your power month: August

Ha ha ha — I don’t know about this? It’s partly true — I am determined, want badly to be my own boss, and am a “supreme individualist” (and I think, with this trait, I greatly annoy and worry friends and family by traveling and going to theater alone, etc., as well as dance teachers who try to dictate to me my styling and costumes, etc. 🙂 ). And I guess I do require just a bit of opulence, seeing as how I absolutely need: 1) to sit in the front orchestra at ABT so as to have the perfect view of all my wonderful men; 2) to travel to exotic places, like Rio where I can witness real Samba, and Blackpool for real ballroom dancing; and 3) to take ballroom-dancing lessons (by far the greatest cost of the three!!!!!) But I don’t really consider myself on a money power trip?… Although, maybe, this sheds light on some of my previous dating posts… Oh no, I am not a gold-digger, I swear!!!

Anyway, Konagod always comes up with these fun / goofy quizzes. If you’re dying to know what your birthday means, take the quiz here.

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Oh How I Wish I Were In Ohio Right Now…

Ohio Star Ball advertisement

I know, odd thought, right. But that is where the Ohio Star Ball is happening right now. Decided not to go this year to save money and vacation time at work, but now I’m so sad! Tonight they are filming America’s Ballroom Challenge there. I went last year when they filmed the show for PBS for the first time in many years, and it was so much fun being part of a studio audience. Making fun of Marilu Henner with her umpteenth costume changes and do-overs, cheering wildly for no reason at all simply because the announcer told us to, watching the camera-man operate his elephantine machinery to get the most interesting shot… such an experience.

Anyway, I peeked at their website to find out when it’s going to be broadcast on PBS, and they seem not to have set the date yet. But, they are now re-airing last year’s show. In New York, it’s going to be on Channel Thirteen this Wednesday, November 22nd from 8-10 p.m., and elsewhere in the country it’s set to air on December 25th. Check your local PBS listings for the exact times.

Everyone please watch it if you can! This is soooo much better than Dancing With the Stars — in my mind at least! These are the best Latin and ballroom dancers in the country, and this is what a real ballroom competition looks like. The first half is where the finalists are all on the floor at once, competing for the judges’ attention, which is the main part of an authentic ballroom comp. And the second half is where the top three from the finals round perform a solo exhibition showcase, which is flashier, and hence like the popular TV show, but is only a very small part of a real competition. Andrei Gavriline is my favorite Latin male — and he’s the current US champ, so someone agrees with me 🙂 He’s tall and thin and dances with such amazing speed, he really seems to fly across the floor. And his body is such a contrast with that of his tiny former-gymnast wife, Elena Kryuschkova. She appears just to fly up into his arms during their lifts. My favorite showdance couples are Max Kozhnevnikov and Yulia Zagoruychenko, who do the most amazing ballroom samba I’ve ever seen, and Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine and Joanna Zacharewicz, the current world Mambo champs, who do a super fun, encore Mambo. Also, in the first hour, please watch for couple number 310 (Pavel Kovalev and Anna Garnis). They didn’t make it to the solos, and it’s such a shame because they really know how to put on a show, more than many ballroom dancers I think. They have incredible rhythm, she is one of the most voluptuous female dancers, and they are so much fun to watch. All of this is apparent, though, in the first half 🙂 Go couple 310!

Okay, that is my happy ballroom reflection for the day. In world of ballet, look how gorgeous David Hallberg looks!!!! (Here with Winger woman Kristin Sloan, and Matthew Murphy, posted on Matt’s blog). His face is maturing and he is really starting to look like a man 🙂 He looks 10 years older than in his pic on the cover of Pointe magazine from earlier this year…

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"Trying to Lift You Is Like Dancing With a Jack-in-the-Box!"

Mr. Jack

So Jacob says to me, while we try to do a simple lift for the umpteenth time! Apparently, I am springing up on releve (for non-dancers, that’s tippy-toes) way too early, and way too often, making it near-impossible for the guy to figure out where the hell I am so as to get a grip on me. Ugh. Lifts are so much harder than they look — even the simple-looking ones…

Anyway, I posted this pic for another reason. Just got my tickets for my annual trek down to North Carolina to visit my mom for Thanksgiving 🙂 Yay! Biscuits ‘n gravy, biscuits ‘n gravy, mouthwateringly buttery grits, more biscuits ‘n gravy, and … Jack-in-the-Box!!!!!! Seriously, this chain started in the west, and was a childhood favorite of mine growing up in Phoenix. There was a restaurant just down the street from our house, and I just thrilled to see my mom talk into the big happy-faced Jack in the drive-thru. Unfortunately, I got hooked on the menu too, which is admittedly major white-trash food — the greasy, greasy, lardy, meat-filled Monster Tacos and even greasier, fried-battery, near onion-less onion rings are my faves! Once I moved to the east coast, ugh, I was so upset — no Jacks! BUT, now they have opened several franchises in the south, and Charlotte, North Carolina (ONLY a near two-hour drive from where Mom lives!) now boasts one! So, every year, Mom has been driving me, and my cousin, who now lives in her neighborhood but who likewise grew up in Phoenix on this exquisite white-trash cornucopia, all the way to Charlotte for our annual trip down memory lane. Last year, for old times’s sake, Mom bought me this little Jack doll to bring home with me to NY. If he looks a little odd, it’s because his nose broke off and I haven’t yet got to Lee’s Paints to buy some superglue, so just stuffed it back in backwards. Well, thanks to my new teach, Jacob, the little man’s springy, wobbly head now has adult meaning to me as well…

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Is Dance an Art Form or a Set of RULES? Is It Time For A Re-Release of Baz Luhrmann's Spectacular 1992 Film???

Okay, I must rant. Has anyone seen “Dancing With the Stars” for the past two weeks? Has anyone seen Karina’s BRILLIANT choreography for Mario — last week’s Swingy Quickstep and this week’s Standard Tango mixed with elements of Argentine? What I have always loved about Karina, and the reason I was so ecstatic upon seeing her name listed as a participant in this season’s show, is her brilliant artistry. Though fellow ballroom enthusiasts debate me about her world rank technique-wise, artistically speaking, she is by far the most exciting ballroom dancer today. Everything from her unique choreography, music and costume choices, and just her beautiful stylistics and the way she executes even basic steps — I savor the opportunity to watch her perform like I do no other ballroom dancer. Yet, the judges bashed her both weeks for not staying within the RULES — criticisms the audience clearly didn’t understand. First, even assuming arguendo that there should be rigid RULES that the dancers adhere to, Americans took traditional English Quickstep music, melded it with African-American rhythms, the music became known as Swing, and Americans originated a new dance form to that music. Today, the same music can be used for Quickstep (by the English primarily), or Swing. So, Karina was not off-base, even RULE-wise, by choreographing a Swingy Quickstep routine for Mario; it was simply an Americanized Quickstep. And it was perfect for Mario’s body and his dancing strengths. HELLO HELLO HELLOOOOOO???. This is what real choreographers do in the world of real dance, where dance is considered an art form: they choreograph according to the dancer’s strengths.

This week, I honestly didn’t even understand the judges’ criticisms. Was it that the Tango was too Argentinian and not Standard enough? (Because Tango didn’t originate out of Argentina or anything…) I honestly didn’t understand what RULE Karina’s choreography violated. And, if I, a ballroom enthusiast and student, didn’t understand, how could the idiotic judges expect the audiences to? Do the judges even realize that they are not in a formal ballroom competition setting, blabbering with other judges? Do they realize who the audience is? If they don’t, I will tell them: the audience is comprised of normal people who want to see fabulous, exciting ballroom dancing.

Maybe the problem lies in what ballroom dancing, or DanceSport, really is considered. When I was at the U.S. National DanceSport competion in Florida earlier this month, one judge remarked how wonderful it was that, with the proliferation of shows like “Dancing With the Stars,” people were growing to love our SPORT. Not art. Not that DanceSport is not a sport, of course, with the immense speed required for some of the Latin dances and faster Standard dances like Quickstep, and the strength and flexibility required for spectacular lifts in the exhibitions. But Ballet, while requiring deft athletic ability, is obviously an art as well — it would have to be for it to be watchable. And Ballet is of course meant to be watched. In Ballet, the competitions are merely a means for dancers to achieve a status high enough for them to get a job with a good company, so that they can spend their careers performing; competitions aren’t ends in themselves, as they are in ballroom. Which is probably the heart of the problem. In ballroom, dancers spend their careers competing for world titles; the title in and of itself is the goal. They then spend their post-competition careers teaching ballroom dance to students — both up and coming pro dancers and just people who want to learn how to social dance. So, they never really have performance careers. Until now. Which is why the rules regarding the RULES need to change.

And, what are rules, anyway? The desire for those in power to control someone else? Does that have any place in an art form? Artists — both performers and choreographers – need freedom to create or the art form will die.

Even in the world of competition, the RULE thing needs to take a break. All of the couples at the top levels are in excellent athletic shape and have perfect technique. Shouldn’t they be judged on their artistry too? In ballroom competitions, the same couples tend to stay on top for years and years on end, preventing new and upcoming couples from ever really making it. Which is so unfair to them — and boring for us to watch.

It’s only now, when I’ve begun going regularly to the comps, and have started doing my own student showcases and trying my hand at helping to choreograph my own routines, that I’m realizing the beauty and value of Baz Luhrmann’s brilliantly spectacular 1992 film, “Strictly Ballroom.” I saw it earlier, closer to the time when it first came out, but then I knew nothing about the rigid, staid world of ballroom dance. Now that TV shows like DWTS are popularizing the … whatever (I’ll call it ‘art’ because that’s, in my heart, what it is) of ballroom dance, and the judges are getting booed right and left for their “your broke the RULES whining”, I think it’s time for a re-release — bring back Baz!!

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Dumber Than a 6-Year-Old, 6 is the New 14, and Money Money Money!

I cannot for the life of me memorize my choreography. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Luis and I have our Latin combo Cha Cha / Samba / Salsa / Merengue routine almost finished, except for the “series of overhead lifts and tricks” (yikes…) he has planned, which we couldn’t choreograph yet because we need the big studio with the high ceilings (double yikes…) for that. I spent all afternoon Sunday watching and re-watching and re-re-watching the damn video I made of us, and I thought I had it all down, but when he turned on the blasted music and we were actually going at it, I forgot everything! David Hallberg posted a picture on The Winger of a bunch of little kids, by the looks of it not more than 6 years old, tremendously excited about having little roles in ABT‘s Le Corsaire last week. He commented how he could have never remembered his choreography at that age. And it made me think, ‘geez, I am dumber than a 6 year old kid…’ — just like when you’re in a foreign country trying so hard to learn the language and some little local kid comes along and blurts out sentence after sentence after sentence in perfect fluency and you feel like the greatest idiot…

On top of learning this choreography and mastering these crazy to-come lifts, I have a new worry over my head: money. Ballroom dancing is getting really expensive. I mean, I want to practice practice practice until I’m as perfect as possible — because how are my routines possibly going to look good if I don’t? But that’s hard when I have to pay a lot of money for every 50-minute lesson with each of my two teachers. I’m going to practice on my own as much as I can, and kill myself with far less expensive ballet classes for overall dance technique, but I can’t really practice lifts very well on my own. And you can’t really practice much in ballroom alone — ballroom by definition takes two. At the studio last night, one of my fellow students, who competed in a local pro-am competition last weekend, was all upset because her husband came unglued over her I won’t say how many thousand dollar credit card bill last MONTH. Unfortunately, it is so believable to me that you could rack up a several thousand dollar bill in only one month on this kind of dancing. Gowns are around $1000 at least, competition entry fees well over a thousand, teacher fees in the hundreds, likewise studio fees, and the bizillions of private lessons you need to get yourself ready. .. it’s breathtaking, really. And this was in Brooklyn, so there weren’t even any transportation costs. I jokingly told her to tell him, “please, dear, it’s necessary to my human development,” but I felt like she’s really lucky to have a husband who can afford it in the first place! I certainly don’t; and am struggling to afford it myself as it is…

Anyway, to try to calm myself down, I went to see The Devil Wears Prada. Mad great wicked fun! Of course I sat in the raucous-with-laughter ‘gay man section’ so that might have (greatly) helped set the mood for my viewing… Very campy in a “Valley of the Dolls” sort of way and somewhat satirical like “Heathers” or “Clueless,” and the genius screenwriter both gave Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci some nastily cool lines and re-wrote the plot to make it sweeter and with more heart than the book. At one point, in explaining to protagonist Andy why Streep was really going out on such a limb to hire her — “the smart fat girl” — Tucci exclaims that size 4 is the new 2, 2 the new 0, and 6 (Andy’s size of course) the new 14! Very wickedly funny movie, and far better than the book.

On one last note, I want to bring attention to Doug Fox‘s new blog, Dance That Matters, which will deal with how dance informs and speaks to the compelling social issues of our time, such as global warming, genocide, and wrongful incarceration, and will log what dancers and dance companies are doing to help improve their communities. As someone with a keen interest in both social justice issues and dance, I am really hoping this takes off. Go Doug!

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Male Ballerinas, Bad Non-Brazil-Rooting Ballroom Dancers, and Social Issues at the ABT

My pics from the Manhattan DanceSport Championships are now up on the photo page. It was a lot of fun — I always like this comp because, being in Brooklyn Heights, it’s in an area easily accessible by public transportation and near courthouse-area parks and Montague Street eateries, and, since it’s local, I end up knowing lots of people and reconnecting with old dance friends. Expectedly, Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova won the Standard, Tony Dovolani and Elena Grinenko the American Rhythm, and one of my favorite couples — Maxim Kozhevnikov and Yulia Zagorouitchenko won the Latin (current US champs Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kruychkova didn’t compete for some reason; I didn’t see the American Smooth comp). The only grumble I had was, on Saturday the 3rd, after finishing watching my friend compete in Pro/Am Standard, I ran to the hotel bar to catch the second half of the World Cup game only to see, horribly, Brazil lose. And all of the crazed Standard dancers watching with me cheered wildly when France won??? Ugh, evil Standard people! That never would have been the case had the Latin comps been underway at the time! Actually, it well could have been the same. Almost all ballroom dancers, Standard and Latin both, are European and likely root for European teams. Plus, I think I am the only person who actually takes an interest in the culture from which these dances emerge. . .

Anyway, backtracking a bit, I went to the ballet (ABT) on Friday night to see Marcelo! and Julie perfom Swan Lake. The ballet is not one of my favorites, but Marcelo! is. This year marks Julie’s, I think 20th anniversary with the company, and during curtain call, Marcelo! did a Nureyev and bowed down to her, and on one knee, took her hand and dramatically kissed it:):):) Of course Fonteyn scolded the boy Rudik, telling him it made her feel like an old lady. Julie seems too sweetly down-to-earth to say the same though. Earlier, when Marcelo! came out alone, someone tossed a bouquet onstage, and he caught it mid-air with one hand, just like a football (American football of course). Gia Kourlas of TONY said of Julio, after removing his ballet shoes and placing them atop Giselle’s grave during his last ever performance of that ballet a week ago, “Bocca may not be a ballerina but he certainly knows how to act like one.” Well, Julio was Marcelo!’s little-boy role model so… Although I think Marcelo!’s a much more interesting ballerina — a big, brawny, 20-foot-high leaping, football-catching, leading-lady-worshipping one! Marcelo!’s inner ballerina rocks!!

On a more serious note, included in the ABT’s Playbill this month was a survey form that they asked be filled out and deposited in a box in the opera house or mailed in. The survey consisted of interesting questions such as which are your favorite full-length ballets and what do you like about them, and who are your favorite choreographers, both contemporary and classical, and why. It made me think, and I started to answer. Then, at the bottom of the form, it asked for the survey-taker’s salary. It listed many ranges, but extremely specific ones, starting from ‘under $50,000’ and going up in less than $10,000 increments, ending at ‘above $175,000’. I found this interesting. I’ve definitely seen surveys asking for the person’s general income-level, but in $50,000 increments, so the testers basically wanted to know who their demographic was. But this form was too specific for that, they seemed to want to know your exact salary, as if the degree to which they intended to take into account my choice of ballets and choreographers was based on what level of patronage I could give them. First, I think that’s rude to be so obvious, and second, don’t they know that the wealthiest people in New York are living off of trust funds and don’t even have salaries? They would have been better served asking what’s in people’s bank accounts or investment portfolios. I don’t even really like most of the ballets they put on; I come for the dancers. They nicely offered first-time subscribers discounted orchestra tickets, so I’ve been sitting either in the orchestra, for performances that are either part of my subscription plan or for matinees which are less expensive, otherwise in the balcony. Friday night was almost sold out, and they only had family circle tickets left, so I sat up there. And I realized that, unless you’re in the first couple of rows in the orchestra, you can see almost the same from the family circle as you can from anywhere else. I also encountered lots of interesting people up there — there were several giggly teenaged girls who were obviously dance students and would burst out laughing whenever the dancers did something impossibly great. I honestly felt like I learned something just listening to them. Next to me was a large, burly construction-worker-type who resembled Herb Ritts’ Vladimir without his makeup on, sitting, interestingly, alone, and, judging by his howls during the curtain call, was a fellow Marcelo! fan. And behind me were several elderly couples watching with mesmerized looks on their faces, as well as a young mother trying to explain to her two little daughters the beauty of the ballet. I honestly found family circle patrons a much more interesting bunch than the people who sit in orchestra and, although I understand a large ballet company’s need for financial support, family circle patrons’ interests should not be taken lightly! Anyway, whatever bad taste ABT’s management left in my mouth, happily, my fellow family-circle spectators and Marcelo! cured 🙂

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Dead Weight, Lightweight, and Boxing, Bullfighting Ballroom Dancers

“Dead weight. Dead weight. Dead weeiighttt,” Pasha kept moaning while shaking his head all throughout my lesson last week. Ugh. Could I feel fatter? I guess when we do this far-more-complicated-than-it-looks lift / dip / spin thingy that I stole from my favorite Latin diva, Karina Smirnoff, I’m supposed to hold myself up by pushing my pelvis as far into Pasha’s groin as possible. Otherwise, I’m “Dead Weighttt” ie: too much for him to hold up. It just feels weird and, like, violative of boundaries dare I say, since I’m crushing my bony crotch as far as possible into his. I guess real dancers get over the boundary thing fast. But I still don’t completely understand when guys tell me to hold myself up. I know I have to strengthen my body during a lift and hold my position as much as I can, so I’m not dragging him down, but how much can you hold yourself up while suspended in mid air? And what about during a dip when you’re supposed to be “dipping” at least part of your body downward?

Then, while choreographing a rag doll into our routine (I couldn’t find a good link to this, but it’s the trick all the dancers are doing in the party scene at the beginning of “Dirty Dancing” that so seduces Jennifer Grey), Luis kept telling me to put my body weight completely into his hands so he could control me, and the trick, better. I kept trying but I couldn’t seem to do what he wanted, and he kept saying he knew I wasn’t as lightweight as I felt and that I must not be trusting him with my whole weight. Ugh! I totally don’t get it — am I too heavy and not working hard enough to hold my own, or am I not heavy enough indicating distrust?? Are all male partners just different or am I nuts??!

Anyway, speaking of Luis, tomorrow night, he and Anya will be teaching the salsa lesson at Midsummer Night Swing! Be there!

And, this weekend is the super mad fun Manhattan Dancesport Championships at the Marriott in Brooklyn Heights. This is the most prestigious dancesport competition in the mid-Atlantic region and all of the top U.S. couples compete at it (so, look for Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kruyschkova in Latin, and Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova in Standard). The event begins Thursday with pro/am competitions (when students compete with their teachers), and continues through Sunday evening. Saturday and Sunday nights will be the most fun to watch since they are the professional comps. Saturday is pro Latin (dancers compete in: cha cha, samba, rhumba, paso doble, and jive), and will be followed by an exhibition by the lovely and amazing Sharon Savoy (who, with her old partner, David Savoy, has performed at the Olympics and was a driving force behind making Dancesport an official Olympic sport). Sunday night are the comps in pro American Rhythm (American-style cha cha and rhumba, bolero, swing, and mambo) and Standard (waltz, foxtrot, viennese waltz, tango, and quickstep), and is to be followed by a cabaret show choreographed by Las Vegas choreographer Wendy Johnson, who I’m told really knows how to create a spectacle. These competitions are all a lot of fun and this is one of the best: the crowd can get so raucous rooting for their favorites, the dance floor can start to resemble a boxing match (except the ‘boxers’ are wearing beautiful ballgowns and lovely smiles:)). I will be excited to see the Latin because, ever since Blackpool, I can’t seem to get the paso doble music out of my mind — it’s so dramatic! And you don’t exactly hear it often on the radio… This comp is a perfect way for people to be introduced to the world of Dancesport. It’s a bit pricey — evening tkts are $50, but it’s worth it because the fun lasts for at least six hours (far longer than a Broadway show!) and it’s for a good cause — the dancers’ awards; and ballroom dancers don’t make a lot of money, so they need those prizes…

Lastly, watching Julio Thursday night at the ABT was unforgetable. He will be missed,to make a massive understatement. My pictures are up. I was in the nosebleed section but you can still see the basic action. Enjoy!