a blog enticing you get up, get down, grab a partner and boogie
If you tweet, like I do, you might fancy following some of the Strictly Come Dancing pros.
Brian Fortuna – @BrianFortuna
Anton Du Beke – @RealAnton
Brendan Cole – @thebrendan_cole
Erin Boag – @Erinboag
Katya Virshilas – @KatyaVirshilas
Kristina Rihanoff – @KRihanoff
The BBC featured the first of the Brucie Goes Dancing series today where Strictly Come Dancing’s Bruce Forsyth goes after how different forms of dances had evolved. It included an interview with the great Frankie Manning himself. Obviously, the series was filmed before the legendary dancer’s death in April 2009.
Anyhow, during this interview, Bruce mentioned that lindy hop looks like a very, very fast dance, especially when watching Frankie Manning’s performance on Hellzapoppin. Frankie replied, “Of course… because it was a performance!” He said that show dancing is very different from social dancing and this is what people should remember. With show dancing, you show off… with social dancing, you take it easy and savouring the moment with your dancing partner.
I couldn’t agree more with Mr Manning. I have been explaining this to people since I began learning Argentine tango. They always ask me whether I can now dance like those dancers in Strictly Come Dancing since I’ve been learning for so long. I respond by telling them that what they see on TV is not social dancing. See, great minds think alike. *chuckles*
Episode 2 of Brucie Goes Dancing is on tomorrow, 11 Oct on BBC One.
It is appalling that my last post was back in February. Talk about a long hiatus! Actually, the amount of time I’ve left this blog unattended was about the same amount of time that I stayed away from the dance floor, any dance floor. I am hoping to turn that around now so come back again soon!
This weekend, Pablo Veron — renowed dancer, appeared in the film, The Tango Lesson by Sally Potter — conducted a series of tango workshops here in London. I was supposed to go but my laziness got the better of me that I forgot to pay the booking. My bad, my bad, my bad. Oh well, I hope there will be another opportunity.
Knowing where and how tango really began is almost like finding out the origin of the universe. Both Argentina and Uruguay claim that tango started in their respective countries. Apparently, this debate has been going on like forever. However, there is this news item from the Guardian (dated 25 Jan 2009) says that for the sake of achieving a world heritage status for tango from UNESCO, two parties are needed. Below are some excerpts and link to the said article.
Latin rivals learn it takes two to tango | by Rory Carroll and Oliver Balch
For a century, Argentina and Uruguay have duelled over who invented tango, the sultry music and dance synonymous with Latin passion.Argentinians insist it was born in Buenos Aires and blossomed as the country came of age in the first half of the 20th century. Uruguay says tango originated on the other side of the River Plate in Montevideo, and that its best song and singer were Uruguayan.
…
At last, however, a truce has been declared. The respective culture ministries of Montevideo and Buenos Aires set aside their rivalry jointly to petition Unesco, the UN’s cultural agency, to grant tango world heritage status. It takes two, apparently, to get on to the coveted list of “cultural heritage of humanity”.
“The candidacy is being examined and the final decision will be made by the intergovernmental committee in September in Dubai,” a Unesco spokeswoman said last week.
(Image credits: Tango by Filippo Ciappi, licenced under Creative Commons on Flickr)
