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Dance Trends
Newsletter, P.O. Box 222, Nashotah, WI 53058 | Tel: 262-367-3367
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Dan's Spin DANCESPORT GETS PLENTY OF MEDIA EXPOSURE
Recently, I was talking to a fellow colleague about the explosion in media coverage. His opinion was that the shows currently running were not good for our industry because they don't really show good dancing. I do agree that the dancing is definitely not of the highest quality but I don't agree that it is bad for the dance business. REMEMBER WHEN? Think about when you first took dance lessons. I was eighteen when I walked into the local Arthur Murray studio to apply for a job. I was sitting in the reception area, filling out my application while several lessons were being taught in the main ballroom. I had a perfect view from where I was sitting. It was the fall of 1978 and Hustle was all the rage. The studio was teaching all forms of Hustle. There was the Swing Hustle, Merengue Hustle, Tango Hustle, New York Hustle, L.A. Hustle, Disco Hustle..... I'll bet many of you readers didn't even know there were that many versions of Hustle! So, I'm watching this one couple doing the Tango Hustle and I am thinking "there is no way on this earth that I am ever going to be that good". Everything they did looked so smooth, just like the couples in "Saturday Night Fever". In my eyes, at that time, they were truly perfect from head to toe. OK, so now I am going to make my point. After several months of training, I started seeing that same couple differently. As I was progressing faster in my dancing and gaining more knowledge, this couple no longer looked the same to me. They were still nice dancers but not quite as perfect as I had thought they were when I knew nothing about ballroom dancing. It's all about how much knowledge you have in dancing and your average Joe and Jane TV viewer have basically none! BEST NOT ALWAYS "THE BEST" TO AVERAGE JOE & JANE Here's another example: My wife, Becky, and I run an event in Wisconsin every April. One year, we were fortunate to have a couple from England (10th in the world) do an International Standard demonstration. In order to keep the show flowing and allow them to have a costume change break, we inserted a couple of numbers using some of our area kids and local teachers. Any experienced dancer absolutely loved the show and could appreciate the skill that it took for this couple to dance the way they did. My neighbor, Larry, loved the show too. He had brought ten people from his company to come and see the show. I was excited to talk to him the next day to see what he thought. After all, it's not every day you get to see one of the top ten couples in the world dance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "So." I said, "wasn't that couple from England awesome?" He responded, "Well, yeah they were good but we really liked the other numbers with the kids better". I could understand where he was coming from. Although the English couple was truly technically outstanding, the local kids and teachers stole the show and were more entertaining all around. He, and many other non or newer dancers, simply couldn't relate to that high of a standard of dancing. OUT OF THE LAZY BOY, ONTO THE DANCE FLOOR So, maybe we experienced dancers aren't all that impressed with John O'Hurley's quickstep or Kelly Monaco's interpretation of the Cha-Cha. Maybe Ballroom Boot Camp can be painful at times but, Joe and Jane TV are taking notice of our sport/art for the very first time. They are actually considering getting out of that Lazy boy and heading to a local studio for lessons. Many of them, just like you and me when we were new, will be thrilled to be able to dance the swing on time to music or to learn Cuban motion for the very first time. They can finally enjoy a fun social dance out on the dance floor instead of making excuses for a sore foot. A few will continue on and really learn what it takes to become a skilled ballroom dancer. They will look back someday and say, "I can't believe I thought this person or that person was a great dancer." They have now graduated to watching "Championship Ballroom Dancing", Dancesport at the highest level. It's all about education and building interest with the general public and this is our opportunity to introduce America to ballroom dancing. Right now, people are talking about it. You know how great it is to be discussing a ballroom TV show with my neighbors and hear them give their opinions as to who they thought was the winner? Last week I was having my tires changed and the mechanic, the original "Paul Bunyan", wants to know all about what I do! He is truly interested folks! It's all good! It's funny how much the media really does influence what is "ok" in our society. We have always known how cool our sport is. Now it's even more OK for people to give it a try! OK, that's my spin for this issue. I'm going to go to the video store, rent Saturday Night Fever and take a trip down memory lane. NEXT COLUMN: Reflecting on our U.S. Championships and current NDCA issues Top of Dance Trends Newsletter
Your Turn
HOW OFTEN WILL I GET DANCE TRENDS? Dan Writes Back: Thanks Bob and Mary! Dance Trends will be published on a monthly basis with additional newsletters when their is major news to talk about. And thanks for signing up! Do you have a question for Dan? Write him Top of Dance Trends Newsletter
Here's The
Question: The Last
Survey's Results The results were:
-0- yes | xx No Top of Dance Trends Newsletter Your Comments: "Tune in next month for a piece of our readers' minds" Dancebriefs After just winning their first U.S. title, American Rhythm
Champions Tony Dovolani and Inna Ivanenko have ended their
partnership. Tony will be dancing with Elena Grinenko
Dancing with the Stars will be back for another season on CBS. The new season will start in the early part of of 2006. The plan is to keep the same three judges but to change the scoring system so the audience can better understand how the judges came up with their results. their hope is to avoid any doubt about the selection of next years champion. The United States Dancesport Championships is bringing back all of it's titles to next years event held in Miami in September. This will include the U.S. Standard which was held in Utah and the U.S. Rising Star titles that were held at the Emerald Ball. You can read more about this in next weeks spin. dancespirations
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Without
a doubt, the first issue of a newsletter is the hardest to write! There
are so many things happening in the dance world, where do I begin? We have
all kinds of TV exposure, with shows like "So, You Think You Can Dance",
"Dancing with the Stars", "Ballroom Bootcamp" and a new edition of "Championship
Ballroom Dancing", coming out in early '06. Championship Ballroom Dancing
has yet to find a host for this year's show, which will be filmed at the Ohio
Star Ball. Several celebrities have had the honor, Juliet Prowse, Rita
Moreno, Barbara Eden, and Sandy Duncan (did I miss someone?). So, who do
you think would be a good host for Championship Ballroom Dancing? I'm
putting together my list and so far I am leaning toward Ozzy and Sharon Osborn
(can you picture it?:) Or, how about Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey? They could
sing all of the songs for the finals! I have personally volunteered to
host with Pamela Anderson, which would go over like a lead balloon with the
wife. That's OK, she's a good sport and she knows my sense of humor :) I
guess we will just have to wait and see.
The
question was: Do you think the media
is helping Dancesport??
former partner of Maksim Chmerkouskiy. They will debut their new partnership
at the Ohio Star Ball in November.
Have you ever seen the reality TV show
Elimidate? Well
now you can see American Rhythm Finalist Jesse DeSoto as he dates several
young ladies eliminating them down to his final choice. I wonder if dance
ability was part of his criteria? :) Check your local listing or visit the
Elimidate web site for more information.
