Tag: photography

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Ballroom Challenge Week One, and Head Shot Hell!

 

Sorry it took me so long to get this post up — last two days were stupidly busy, partly because of my ridiculous obsession with my face — but more about that in a minute…

Anyway, so Wednesday night was American Smooth, which I have to confess is my least favorite competition event, at least until J.T. Thomas and Tomas Mielnicki began dancing about a year ago. So, I’m obviously very happy they won. And I thought their showcase routine was lovely — actually, I recognized it from the RHYTHM OF LOVE show that I saw in Connecticut; it was the “At the Ballet” number where they feigned performing on a stage for the show’s main characters, their dancing leading to the boy’s obsession with learning to dance himself. It reminded me of something one of my favorite Standard couples — Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed — would do; a traditional ballroom dance but with some lovely lifts and a little storyline to elevate it to something more than just a group routine. I loved it.

This, to me, is in contrast to Eddie Stutts and Valentina, whom co-host Ron Montez was going nuts over. I didn’t think much of their showcase though. Their routine was just basic ballroom, something they could have done during the group dances, albeit without the very few lifts they threw in; a showdance needs to be more than that — that’s why it’s called a showdance. JT and Tomas’s had character, passion — they acted.

Oh and I loved Steven Doughtery and Eulia Baranovky’s tribute to Fred and Ginger (pictured above, image taken from ABC website). I’ve liked this couple, who unfortunately are retiring this year, for a while now, and am sorry the judges haven’t. They never seem to place them very high. That’s how it goes with ballroom though … sometimes you just can’t make sense of the judges. So I was beyond thrilled to see them win the showdance. That routine was full of class and sass and loads of character; I loved everything from how they held their arms, to their little tap-dancing hops (reminding me of Rita Hayworth when she would dance with Astaire), to her gorgeous dress. They really were like Fred and Ginger brought back to life. I’ll miss them, but what a perfect showdance to end your competitive career on.

The rest of the showdances I wasn’t tremendously impressed with. I thought Tony Scheppler and Tonja Martin’s hip hop routine was interesting, combining as it did two starkly different dances (Latin and hip hop wouldn’t have been such a contrast). I thought the judges should have scored them higher, both for the originality and for doing pretty well with both styles. I don’t understand why the judges liked Mazen Hamza and Irina Sarukhanyan. Their routines are often odd, but unlike last year’s martial arts-inspired number, this leopard-clad animalistic thing didn’t make much sense nor did it involve anything very difficult.

Unfortunately I couldn’t see much of the group heats. The camera caught the dancers from very odd angles, often getting way too much of the audience in the shot, cutting off our view of the dancers’ legs — kind of important in dance… The group comps never come across that well on film; you kind of need to be there to experience its unique thrill. But I still think the camera person could do better. There’s nothing like sitting near the dance floor and watching the dancers twirl by you. I would like to see what that would look like on film: just having the camera person sitting at the edge of the floor and capturing whatever happens to fly by.

Next week is a most raucous event: American Rhythm. Showdown time!! (I’ll post more when it gets nearer)

Okay, on to other dance-TV matters. Well, I am extremely excited to announce that I will be writing about the thriving TV dance scene for The Huffington Post! As soon as my blog is up in their Entertainment Section, I’ll be posting about the TV shows there, and of course everytime I post there, I’ll put a link to it here.

Which brings me to my face obsession. My future editor needed a little picture to accompany the column, and not being a pro dancer or actor or anything, I don’t have a real head shot. So I had to do the homemade version, which I’m more comfortable with than having them professionally done anyway — I can be in control of myself. Of course it took me all night Wednesday night, trying to attain: the perfect background, the perfect camera angle, the perfect distance of the lens from my face, the perfect tilt of the head, the perfect smile (not too much so as to look like a goof but not too little so as to look like I have a rod up my backside), the perfect degree of widened eyes — seriously, I either looked like I was on some serious Speed or had just smoked a load of Pot. I would finally get a decent shot only to discover my bra strap was clearly visible. I guess these would be the reasons for having a professional… Yesterday, I forced myself to decide on a few. I downloaded them to the computer, obsessed over which one looked the best both in large and small (the headshots on the site are TINY, but still, I needed to send the picture in its original size so they could downsize it and crop it up however they liked and couldn’t bear to send regular-sized photo in which I looked hideous). I finally chose one and was about to send it off when I did a test run first and sent it to myself. I clicked on the attachment, hit open, and was faced with the biggest flipping representation of my face I’d ever come into contact with. I scrolled this way and that, viewing my face in all its various parts. When I scrolled down to my mouth area, I was shocked to find: MOUSTACHE!!!! Plain as day, there it was. I honestly never knew I had it. And it was dark — jet black. I sprinted to the bathroom, searched the cabinet for tweezers and began plucking around, feeling nothing, seeing nothing.

Later I met Ariel for a celebratory pig-fest at Magnolia Bakery (she just landed a most excellent gig covering the upcoming Fashion Week for an online magazine — go Ariel!). But we had to find another place in the area since blasted Magnolia STILL doesn’t have their sit-down area ready! What is up with them?! Who gets take-out cupcakes??? The whole point of having a dining establishment in NY is for people to dine there! It’s the dead of winter; who can take their cupcake outside and eat it on the bench or at the Lincoln Center fountain?! Have the owners no sense????? Anyway, we found a nice cozy little cafe called The Muffins Cafe just down the street, and substituted our cupcakes for chocolate croissants.

As soon as she got herself situated at the table, I spit out, “Okay, be honest. Am I in denial? Do I have a moustache? Be honest!”

“What? No,” she giggled.

“I can’t see it at all; can’t even feel it, but according to my camera it’s there!”

“Oh you mean when you downloaded and viewed it full-size on the screen,” she laughed. “Yeah, that magnifies everything. Don’t do that, especially with a portrait!”

Oh.

“Everyone has weird flaws!” she laughed shaking her head like I was a goof for not knowing this, which I guess I did; I just don’t obsess over anyone else’s. She told just to downsize it before sending it, at least a little.

“But then, can’t the editor blow it back to its original? I blabbered.

“Er, I don’t think he has time for that,” she said.

True.

Anyway, I am really excited to write about dance for such a large audience, most of which may not have much exposure. As I said, I’ll link to the blog column when it’s up and running! For now, here’s an article I wrote for Explore Dance about the various TV shows (at least the ones on network TV).

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"Rhythm of Love" Pics and Performance

Here are the photograph sets from the professional photographer who sat a few seats down from me at “Rhythm of Love.” (just hit ‘continue’ and you’ll be taken to the album). To be honest, I’m kind of disappointed with the quality of his photos — think I could’ve taken better ones myself. He won’t let me so much as copylink and post on my blog because he’s not a publicity photographer working for the event’s presenting organization, but only takes pictures so that he can sell them for his own profit, like many do at ballroom competition events. Catch up with the world of concert dance, ballroom people, and hire pro photographers for publicity purposes, not these greedy goofs! Andrew Eccles anyone?! Anyway, have a look and if you’re so inclined, you can order some of Pasha and Anya, or Pasha and the gang, or just Pasha, or anyone else!

The show itself was really cute. I’ll be writing a formal review for Explore Dance, which I’ll link to when it’s up. This was the first time I’ve ever seen a full-length story dance told through ballroom and Latin. The basic story was cute and original: it begins with a boy (played by Mambo King Benito Garcia) interested in a girl (Emilee Peterson, who I don’t know from ballroom but I could tell from the moment she walked out onstage that she had ballet background). The girl shows interest back, but they’re young high school-ish students and of course she doesn’t let him get very far very fast, to his predictable dismay. Eventually, they go out on some dates (there’s no talking by the way; all the non-dance acting is mimed) and he gives her some flowers, she gives him some … ballet tickets, over which he tries hard not to reveal his disgust. Off they go to the “ballet,” which, since this is a dance story told through ballroom, is really a lyrical waltz performed by the lovely American Smooth couple JT Thomas and Tomasz Mielnicki. The waltz moves the girl to tears, the guy to sleep. She shakes him out of his slumber just in time for him to witness another waltz of JT and Tomasz’s — this one combined with some Rhumba to give it a far more seductive tempo (and danced to Celine Dion’s gorgeously sultry “Seduces Me”), during which his attention now wanes not one bit. Now that he sees dance can be sexy, he is enthralled by it, wants to do it himself. The rest of the show is about him learning, the various ballroom and Latin dancers instructing. The ballroom ladies help Emilee lighten up, giving her dance fashion tips, rid her of her glasses and bun, and teach her how to let her inhibitions go in her dancing. The guys have their hands full doing the opposite for Benny — teaching him instead not to let too loose on the dance floor; one needs a sense of rhythm, timing, and body control after all so as not to make an ass of oneself! The two watch some more duets performed by the seasoned pros and eventually try the moves out themselves. At the end, Emilee is so happy Benny’s dancing with her, she puckers up for the kiss he’s earned, but he’s now too busy trying to get his steps right to notice. It ends on a happy note, of course!

Unfortunately, Pasha and Anya didn’t dance a whole lot. They were in two numbers: the first an opening group hip hoppy Samba to “Hip Hip, Chin Chin,” and later a Cha Cha / Latin combo to “Magic Carpet Ride.” Of course they danced spectacularly when they did, though! Anya looks so damn good in a simple black t-shirt and jeans. I recognized some of their hallmark moves in their second number: one where he lifts her horizontally over his shoulders and turns and turns and turns (a similar move is performed at the beginning of the excellent movie Strictly Ballroom — you must see it if you haven’t), and another where he holds her in a low dip, one of his arms free, and looking out at the audience, he kind of commands her lower torso up and down with the wave of his hand, without touching her. It’s very voo-doo-looking, and very cool.

My other favorite couple was Jose DeCamps and Joanna Zacharewicz, current American Rhythm champs, who had several duets — a slow, seductive bolero, a whiplashingly fast Cha Cha / Mambo, and, my favorite dance in the whole thing — a cool, calm and collected, yet sexy, Swing / Mambo that was very West Side Story.

Jose (for DWTS fans, he is Cheryl Burke’s old partner) has charisma galore. This was my first time seeing him on a real stage (and not just the competition floor), but whoa, he really stood out to me and commanded my attention every time he was up there. JT is a natural performer too; I think she could be on Broadway if she wanted to.

Carolina and Felipe Telona (American Rhythm competitors) danced gorgeously too — they did a couple of Argentine Tangos and some sultry rhumbas and boleros. They danced the most of any couple I think. They did this sweet, sad piece, where he is leaving her or dying and she tries in vain to bring him back. They performed it at Nationals last year as well. It nearly brought me to tears both times.

There were also a few numbers by Garry and Rita Gekhman, American Smooth dancers and showdance champions. They reprised their showdance championship-winning number from last year’s Nationals, “Freak-A-Zoid,” which was really cool seeing in competition in Florida last year, but looked a bit out of place on the stage here. Some of the movements, such as releasing their Standard handhold and moving across the vast ballroom floor still perfectly in sync and maintaining frame (pictured below) are so impressive to ballroom judges and afficionados who can appreciate the degree of difficulty, but I think are lost on a more general audience. Plus, the number didn’t really seem to fit: it was sandwiched in between the boy and girl’s first meeting in class after a voice-over has noted how love can be “mathematical” and I guess the robotic nature of the showdance is meant to evoke that. But it seemed more that the story was altered to accommodate the dance rather than the other way around. Still, only a small thing in an overall exciting show.

(all pictures are mine, from previous competitions; visit that Park West website for some pictures of Pasha and Anya — there aren’t many, but there are some!)