Why I will be watching the Oscars this Sunday

For the dancing! Adam Shankmann has brought in the dancers from The LXD and many SYTYCD alums. Here's a preview:

Legion of Extraordinary Dancers debuts on SYTYCD

(crossposted at SYTYCD Social)
The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (The LXD) is a group of amazing dancers who are working with director Jon M Chu (StepUp 2 and the upcoming StepUp 3-D)on an online serial show scheduled to begin in 2010. They debuted a showpiece on last night's broadcast of So You Think You Can Dance that was absolutely wonderful. You can friend them on Facebook, Here's the video, with choreography by Harry Shum (currently performing as "Mike Chang" on Glee!) Christopher Scott, and Galen Hooks.



And here is a trailer for the show:

LXD "Moments" Trailer from Jon M. Chu on Vimeo.

They are keeping a very tight lid on publicity; I"m trying to find a list of the dancers, but have only found a list on this video of the crew performing with Ellen DeGeneres at her live show in Vegas. Here's some background on the project, but I have not found a wikipedia entry, which shows how Chu is building publicity, bit by bit. I'm so psyched for the success of this venture! The premise of the series will appeal to comic book/manga fans as well as dance fans:

"The 10-week Volume One of LXD...will chronicle the formation of “the most elite dance crew in the world,” tracing the origins of the seven schools of dance that make up the famed crew. Chu blends comic-book style characters with a fictional cinematic narrative. The story begins with the modern day regrouping of a 1930’s era dance troupe birthed out of the traveling circus circuit."

Tutting (updated)

LOVE THESE GUYS!



Di Zhang (Moon), Phillip Chbeeb (Pacman) and Hokuto Konishi (Hok) here integrate waving and hand tutting into a dance they apparently created and filmed in just three days. Moon and Chbeeb teach and dance with a group called MarvelousMotion. Chbeeb was a very popular contestant on Season 5 of So You Think You Can Dance (sytycd), while Hok competed in Season 4 (and his crew auditioned together earlier). Hok and his buddies are now the Qwest Crew which won America's Best Dance Crew (abdc) last season.

Tutting (as in King Tut) is a type of hip-hop dance movement that emerged in the early days of hip hop dance, along with popping and locking. The group of dancers called The Electric Boogaloos had a huge influence on young kids who saw them on Soul Train (omg, awesome!).

Tut movements were inspired by Egyptian images and meant making right angles with the arms; these movements have been refined into various types, including hand tutting, which you can see here. Click on some of the links below for some more You Tube videos:

pacman chbeeb hok hokuto konishi di zhang moon tutting waving popping sytycd abdc
The masters break it down for us:

Ritmo de pasodoble

Last week, Jean-Marc Genereaux, that savvy showman, choreographed a paso doble for Jason and Caitlin that was... a hot mess. Sorry, but I hated it. The costumes have been compared elsewhere to Disney's Aladdin (or I Dream of Genie meets Princess Leia) while the music (the same overblown music from Carmina Burana that Brandon used for his audition) was a crime against the paso doble because it simply was not the right rhythm. The poor dancers were told that they were supposed to hate each other and were given a lot of stomping and flailing to do, but whatever tenuous grasp of the character of the dance the non-ballroom public might have picked up over the last few years of watching SYTYCD (or even DWTS) was stamped out. I got so annoyed I couldn't enjoy a thing about it, even how ridiculous it was. I don't expect dance purity from SYTYCD, or even an attempt to educate us about the origins of various dances. But if they weren't going to even gesture toward the Spanish popular origins of the pasodoble at least they could respect more stylized conventions the ballroom paso! The dancers can't be faulted for their performance; Jean-Marc is a generally a crowd pleaser, but in this case I think he went too far trying to sell a spectacle to a non-ballroom audience instead helping his dancers understand something about the character of the dance that would make their posture, arm gestures, head position, promenades, poses convey something about the paso doble and look like something better than a kind of pompous hustle. I think that's why they ended up in the bottom 3 last week.

So, to rinse out my brain, I went looking for some REAL pasodoble, both Spanish and ballroom. Disclaimer: I'm not an expert, but enjoy dancing ballroom as an amateur, and I have spent a lot of time in Spain in the last fifteen years because my daughter's dad is Spanish. I thought I'd share some of my ideas about the paso doble, not as prescriptions for the show, but just to take us beyond what the show is able to show us about the dance.

Start with the rhythm. This 1902 composition "Suspiros de España" (presented on Spanish TV with reverence by opera tenor Plácido Domingo) is a Spanish example of the song genre called the pasodoble, Listen to the rhythm: this is the essence of the pasodoble whose very name tells us what is basic to this genre of music; translated as "two step" or "double step", the music that gives origin to the dance has the 1-2 1-2 rhythm of a quick march, but it's not a stomp stomp stomp.


The singer here, Rosa, doesn't camp it up like some of the copla singers of the past (Isabel Pantoja , Rocio Jurado are wonderful examples of great popular singers of the pasodoble) but gives it to us simply and from the heart. Spaniards are incredibly fond of this kind of song and see it as a part of their cultural heritage. This particular song is so iconic in Spain that it has been used in the soundtrack of two films about the Spanish Civil War to convey something about the conflict: in Soldados de Salamanca the song was reinterpreted in a slowed-down style that brings out the North African/gypsy elements of Spanish heritage, while in Ay! Carmela, Carmen Maura sings it when forced to perform for the Germans and Italians who were the allies of Franco. In both cases, the words and rhythm of this pasodoble are supposed to communicate something important about what it means to be Spanish, however complicated that might turn out to be.

The pasodoble is also a rhythm associated with the promenatde of the bullfighters, the entrance of toreros, because it's often played by brass bands (its probable origin in the 19th century is as a military march, later played by bands for popular entertaiment). This march was made internationally famous by Bizet in his opera Carmen, and even today famous pasodoble songs are performed on TV by some of the most iconic diva singers of Spanish pop culture. The social dance called the pasodoble (which, of course, looks almost nothing like they highly stylized and athletic dance of International Dancesport competitive ballroom dance) is danced socially in Spain (and in some other countries like Colombia) at events like weddings where families get together. I have dance the pasodoble at weddings in Spain--it's a hoot.

What is the "character of the dance?" In this clip from Carlos Saura's film of García Lorca's play Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding), you can see the wedding band playing (and singing) a pasodoble as the wedding party poses for a photo, drinks a toast and begins the first dance. The bride (the splendid Cristina Hoyos) dances first with her groom, but then with the man she really loves (Antonio Gades, he of the wolfish eyes). The entire film tells the story using flamenco-based dance, but what I love about this scene is that is conveys the intensity that ballroom paso doble wants to convey, but using entirely Spanish cultural, musical and dance idioms.

The character of the dance is not just its basic rhythm, but also the posture, the gestures, the emotions: here the love that is a mix of lust and resentment, the danger of dancing with a former lover at your own wedding in front of everyone, the pride of both the man and the woman, is not just danced by the couple but by the entire group.

To convey the character of the dance, the choreography and performance of woman's part in the pasodoble should give us the FEELING of Lola Flores singing "Pena penita pena."

When ballroom instructors who don't know much about Spanish culture try to explain to students what the paso should look like they often fall back on the analogy of the bullfighter: the man is the bullfighter the woman is the cape (NOT the bull, please!) but what does that really mean? Here's an example of the movement of a bullfighter who is a master of the cape, the current idol of Spain's bullfight aficionados, Morantes de la Puebla (WARNING: don't watch this if you will feel sorry for the bull!). Look at his posture, the quality of his movements, the incredible stylization of this bloody ritual that survives in spite of the protests of those against animal cruelty because of its amazing artistry and danger.

This of the best ballroom paso doble as an extremely stylized set of moves, always set to a few basic Spanish paso doble songs. Although it no longer has much direct connection to its Spanish roots, it is almost always danced in competition to the pasodoble song "España Cani" (aka the "bullfight song") which preserve the musical rhythm of the popular genre, and attempts to capture some of the spirit of the Spanish attitude and movements that come from the bullfight, flamenco, and Spanish popular culturel. Here's a fairly straightforward example, danced as a showcase by international champions Michael Malitowski and Joanne Leunis:


Our SYTYCD dancers aren't going to be able to do this, but the judges need to have a talk with Jean-Marc.
crossposted at SYTYCD 5 Social

Is it research or is it fun? why not both?

Following the trail of serendipity leads to amazing things! (I will be using some of this material in a class next semester.)


Checked out The Chutry Experiment where Prof Chuck Tryon blogs about film and new media, and found a link to an inspired remix showing McCain's links to his political friends (see this video about remixing) "My Friends, the Musical", by an extremely skilled video remixer who posts at the YouTube channel Humanitainment.
I love the way the remix makes its points with verbal and visual puns on "my friends" and a wicked sense of humor.
This link then led me to a site that promotes and houses video remixes, RemixAmerica.org. What a find! not just for the entertaining and thought-provoking remixes, but also becaue the site provides you with the means to make and post your own! I'm going to try it out later. Here is how RemixAmerica describes itself on their About page:

RemixAmerica.org is a multi-partisan, non-profit website that uses digital technology to give everyone the chance to own the words, the music, the images and sounds of America in digital form; to remix those expressions and ideas with their own; and to send the products of our community's creativity out to the world... where others will come back to us and start it all over again...

Poking around, I came across this absolutely superb remix of STYCYD judging and the presidential debates. For those of us who watched STYCD faithfully, it's fun as hell to see the judges comments repurposed this way. What I especially like is that the message the judges give the two candidates is that they have to listen to the audience. It's a great way to show how reality TV, even as a crass money-making operation, also allows for 'talk-back' from the viewers. More to the political point, for those of us who are frustrated at some of Obama's less-than-audacious positions, this vid gives a refreshing critique of his positions on "clean coal" and saber-rattling in Afghanistan. So I checked out the site of the remixer, Rebellious Pixels, and discovered the site of activist, photographer, videographer and busy, busy guy Jonathan McIntosh.
He just posted about his presentation at a New Media conference called Ars Electronica in Austria. (Note to self: listen to the talk!)

His remix playlist, the material he presented in his talk, is here (thanks, Jonathan, for your generosity in posting all this!)

For future reflection: when people take copyrighted footage and repurpose it for parody, political commentary, or just for fun, what are the issues of Fair Use that come up? The Center for Social Media at American University has a blog where people are talking about this and other issues related to this emerging phenomenon of Web 2.0 creativity, citizen journalism and activism, and collective intelligence.

There is a lot to reread and digest. here. A final note: a Google search on McIntosh led me to El Oso's (David Sasaki) work; he was the Latin American editor of Global Voices Online, one of my favorite blog portals, and now he is dedicating himself to outreach through Rising Voices Awesome!

Waiting for the SYTYCD spoilers...

Usually at this time, the spoilers start to pop up. But the big news today has been that Twitch and Josh both were hospitalized on Saturday for dehydration, and later released.

Fox announced that 2 of the top 4 dancers had been hospitalized for dehydration on Saturday, but didn't say who (as it is against the law to release medical information without permission). Then an unaffiliated source later spilled the beans that it was the two guys, Twitch and Josh:

"Boss and Allen were treated for dehydration and released, the source adds. Fox had no comment."

Although I have seen no direct source for this, a reliable commenter at TWoP says they were rehearsing a Russian character dance, so they were probably being tortured with those Russian deep knee bend traveling steps that burn up your quads.

Cue rant: These poor dancers have been driven into the ground by the demands of this show: a group dance, two new routines, solos every week for the last few weeks, and more! lifts! for the guys. I hope that all of the final four got a rest and ate a lot this weekend. I hope the show has a massage therapist on staff. I wonder if they have a meal table the way football players do?

Apparently dancers from seasons past will be performing during the last show, along with the Jonas Brothers (gag me). I hope the judges showcase other dancers in the top 20 or at least the top 10 for their "favorite dances" and give the top 4 a break.

Time for a LOL break.


There is a great So You Think You Can LOL thread over at Idol forums.

Thank you to Mademoiselle Lyss for creating SO UR DOIN IT WRONG, a blog where you can see more SYTYCD Lols.

Leee! over at Television! You Black Emperor is the undisputed master of LOLCat Deelys, so I'm expecting something with Cat wearing Twitch's grill any day now. No pressure or anything.
UPDATE:
Yay! Leee once again shows us how it's done.

"Feeling Good"

On the SyTYCD Top 10 results show, Mia Michaels choreographed a number for the five women to a version of "Ave Maria" by Celine Dion, while Gev did his solo to a cover of the great standard "Feeling Good". He used the version by Michael Bublé, and lots of folks were wowed by how he meshed the b-boy moves with this song.

It's a song from a Broadway musical, originally sung by Gilbert Price in an arrangement that was like a spiritual. What an amazing voice he had! But when Nina Simone sang it, she gave it a jazzy swagger which has marked almost all versions since.

Oddly enough, I had just heard Simone's cover, which I have listened to endless times, a few days ago when I watched a clip of my favorite champion ice-skater Johnny Weir, debuting his new routine in Seoul, Korea. This video also has his performance of his crowd-pleasing "Ave Maria" showcase number. Cosmic convergence!I wonder if Gev, who comes from a family of professional figure-skating performers, was inspired in his song choice by Weir? It's not impossible since he's also a skater.


Here Nina Simone sings "Feelin' Good" with a wonderful visual someone created for a class!

Feeling Good, Nina Simone
by mrfnk

I don't mind Michale Bublé'sversion, and I quite like what Muse has done to the song. Apparently, Nescafé used their version without permission in a TV ad; they sued and won, and donated the money to Oxfam. And Celine Dion tried to name her Vegas show Muse, but they said No, they didn't want people to think of them as her back-up band.