Dance around the world

Back again to the 20 reasons why dance is great for your wellbeing.  We are up to number 16.  Here's the full list

Reason 16 Dance is an international language that you can speak anywhere.

If someone speaks to you in a language you do not understand, communication is in the range between very difficult and impossible.  Dance with someone from anywhere in the world and communication is clear and direct.  Do all cultures have dance as a core element of their way of living?  Certainly the vast majority do.  Reflect on the origins of waltz, salsa, tango and ceroc and look at the different influences on them as they have been adapted and modified by different cultures.  In salsa alone, Cuban Style, LA Style, New York Style, Pacific Style..... and of course we all develop our own individually unique style as salsa merges into reggaton and hip hop... Dance lives and breathes and communicates as we do.

At the recent NZ Tango Festival we were all treated to a stunning performance by tango dancers in the touring show 'One Night in Buenos Aires'  We were also treated to having some of the dancers in this show leading workshops.  Thankfully, the organisers provided an interpreter to translate from Spanish to English, but the directions were so clear that even non-Spanish speakers were able to understand what the dance performers were teaching. 

Dancing in Havana in November will be a thrill to experience.  Buenos Aires will be on the list in 2008.  Does it matter than I do not speak Spanish?  I think not. 

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Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz

A small group of enthusiastic social dancers will be in New York for a week from Sat 28 September.  Care to join us? 

We are each paying our own way for travel and accommodation and sharing costs for the workshops and lessons that we will have at Pierre Duliane's studio www.pierredulaine.com  

We'll have plenty of time for enjoying the shopping and sites of New York during the day and the chance to dance New York, New York by night.  Friday night we will be here http://www.rainbowroom.com/rainbow_room.htm 

Wherever you are in the world right now, why not join us in New York in Sepetmber? 

 For those of us travelling from the other side of the world in New Zealand, it will be great to meet other passionate social dancers.

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Chris Mitchell
+6427 452 9616
chrismitchell@xtra.co.nz

We are back to the 20 reasons why dance is great for your wellbeing and we are up to number 15.  Here's the full list

Reason 15 Lifelong learning? Learn to dance. No-one lives long enough to learn them all

So many dances.... so little time....  While I don't agree with the sentiment behind the 'Life is too short... imagery here, there are obviously some people (mainly, but I guess not exclusively women) who might agree.  However from my perspective it is not the outer beauty that is the important factor behind the truism that life is too short, but the inner passion and connection with the music and with a partner that makes social dancing fun and interesting.

It is reassuring for us lifelong learners to know that is never too late to learn anything. Who better as a role model than Socrates to know that it is never too late to learn to dance?

Socrates learned to dance when he was 70 because he felt that an essential part of himself had been neglected.
             --Source unknown
This is a quote from a compilation of Tom Parsons, used with permission http://www.dancer.com/tom-parsons/quotes.html

The recent Salsa Congress in Wellington was a great opportunity to learn more, not just about salsa but other dances as well.  Coming up in two weeks' time is the Tango Festival www.nztangofestival.co.nz which will also test the brain. Refer to reason 13.   

Coming up on Sunday I will have my first lesson in New Vogue or Old time sequence dancing.  Is this dancing having a resurgence or has it always been popular but has just passed me by?  Here's a link to where Don Herbison-Evans and his partner Anna Piper show in full detail how to do it.   

The list of dfifferent dances to learn is endless.    

So much to learn and so little time, but it's never too late to learn...  What a great way to feel engaged in life. 

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Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz

Saturday night lived up to expectations.  Although neither Mum nor Dad were able to dance, they were so appreciative of being taken to their local RSA for a meal and dropped back again home after the first hour of dancing.  It is humbling to see how such small tokens of love and respect mean so much to them.  Local NZers know that a drink and a meal at the RSA do not exactly break the bank.  The corollary is that the food is generally not memorable.  However my choice of lamb shanks turned out to be the best lamb shanks (yes, there were two of them) that I had ever tasted anywhere.  The other food choices seemed ok too.

A small, but perfectly formed group of us hit the ballroom floor to some great dance music while Mum and Dad watched.  They don't know that I am writing this blog, but they do know that they are much loved and they return that in spades.

Back to the more prosaic 20 reasons next time, but I can't guarantee that I won't break into some more evidence that the passion lives before the last of the 20 reasons has been dealt with. 

On a techie note, a number of readers of this blog are picking up the RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed, which means that they get an alert each time I write a new entry.  If you would like to do the same, the RSS icon is at the bottom right hand panel on this page. 

Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz

A friend told me that my recent posts on the blog have lost a lot of the passion of earlier blogs.  That got me thinking that maybe I should take a break from the 20 reasons why dancing is good for your wellbeing and add an entry that conveys the passion that I do continue to feel.  Tomorrow a group of us will be dancing at the Manurewa Returned Services Association (RSA). It's a good venue and a great band, The Constellations, but there is another more poignant reason for this venue.   

Recently my Dad (aged 84) and Mum (aged 80) nominated and seconded me respectively, in my application to become an associate member of the RSA.  With Dad's active membership of 60 years and Mum's mere 30 years membership, the President rightly commented that with 90 years of membership behind my nomination, how could he decline the application.  It is only in the last 30 years or so that women were admitted as members, hence the difference in years of service.

The nomination process gave me the opportunity to state publicly, in front of my Dad, how proud I am of him and Mum and that it was a privilege after all this time to become an associate member of the RSA.  So tomorrow might we head off for an early meal at the RSA where I can say thanks for their nomination and thanks for everything they have done for me in my 50mumble years...... then the dancing begins at 7.30pm....

I am very fortunate to have both parents still alive and well.  They introduced me to ballroom dancing lessons when I was 14 yrs old and my current passion comes directly from their introduction more than 40 years ago.  Legend are the stories that I have heard about my parents' dancing seven nights a week while they were courting.  Tomorrow, Mum may not be up to dancing following a recent hip operation, but I am sure that Dad, who is a very good ballroom dancer, will be able to dance with the friends who are joining us tomorrow evening.  Five days later my Mum will be 81 so there are multiple levels of celebration tomorrow.

So despite the apparently clinical and dry recent posts... the passion is alive and well....  The next post will be an update on tomorrow evening's dancing.

Chris
www.dancetours.co.nz

14th of 20 reasons why dancing is great for your well-being.  Here's the full list.

We keep on being told about the eight cups of water that we need to drink each day to avoid dehydration. Excuse a little cynicism, but maybe there are also some vested interests behind this message.  Petrol is expensive but it is only half the price of bottled water.  Although there are undoubtedly some health benefits in drinking plenty of water, I have never been one to suck on the cap of a plastic bottle of water, especially at the exorbitant price that bottled water companies charge.  The negative impact of discarding so many plastic bottles into our environment seems to bypass the logic and conscience of the water sellers and buyers.  -What does Evian spell backwards?

Maybe my view is a poor attempt to rationalise my lack of commitment to drinking water continuously all day.  I'll drink water, usually out of a tap, when I am thirsty and/or when I have worked up a sweat.  Dancing does both.  I don't have to consciously think about drinking water in this situation.  It comes naturally. Whether at dance classes or at dance venues, there is usually plenty of water available and this gives me the opportunity to drink close to the eight cup quota that others say I should drink.  Dancing also reduces the quantity of alcohol that I might otherwise drink.  A beer or two or a wine, at the beginning of the evening is usually enough to set the mood and I continue to dance while drinking only water for the rest of the evening.

 For more info on the global issues around bottled water you can read the report from Food and Water Watch, who have a particular perspective on this issue.  They state their goal clearly:

In a Nutshell...
We are working with grassroots organizations and other allies around the world to stop the corporate control of our food and water.  We are committed to creating an economically and environmentally viable future.

Here's another counter view on the eight glasses of water a day issue which contains a lot of common sense to me.

A quote from a compilation of Tom Parsons, used with permission http://www.dancer.com/tom-parsons/quotes.html

If you're on thin ice you might as well be dancing.
             --Source unknown

Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz

13th of 20 reasons why dancing is great for your well-being.  Here's the full list.

It is timely that Tom Tubbs has posted a comment http://dancetours.blog.com/1551403/#cmts on my last blog entry about the problem that the lead dancer has of  "learning a routine a week say, to being able to have a repertoire that enables both yourself and your partner enough variation in a dance of 3-5 minutes?"

 This is certainly a problem I have faced.  Younger dancers seem to be able to remember the learned steps more readily than I have been able to.  Fortunately, the www.johnyoungdance.co,nz dance school I attend, does not just introduce a new routine each week and go onto yet another new one to learn the following week.  The focus is to build up a routine that might last up to two minutes at best yet still not enough to build up a routine for a 3-5 minute period.  My experience has been that getting out on the dance floor with social dancing and then practice, practice, practice is the only way to do it. It takes me a long time to create those new brain patterns, but there is a 'tipping point' that after sufficient practise enables me to base my dancing on the learnt steps but not be restricted to them.    

I have also found the step from bronze medal dancing to silver level is not as big as the earlier step from social dancing to bronze level.  It does get easier as the brain patterns get more firmly embedded.  As a lifetime learner, I enjoy the challenge of learning new things and am still filled with wonder with each new discovery. 

This article confirms that dancing helps prevent dementia.  

A quote from a compilation of Tom Parsons, used with permission http://www.dancer.com/tom-parsons/quotes.html

Classical dancing is like being a mother: if you've never done it, you can't imagine how hard it is.
             --Harriet Cavalli

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Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz

12th of 20 reasons why dancing is great for your well-being.  Here's the full list.

It is stunning to watch good dancers who appear to float around the room while ballroom dancing.  We know that this is achieved by the discipline of the rise and fall during the dance.  Getting control of leg and thigh muscles to achieve this does not just happen without practice.

It is possible to practice at anytime while standing still.  Standing flatfooted and rising and lowering on your toes is a gym exercise but how much more interesting to do it with your imaginary dance partner while standing at the kitchen sink; waiting for a bus (when did I last do that??);  in the lift; in the shower.... There are plenty of places to practice the rise and fall and tighten the leg and thigh muscles in the process.

Here's an article on stretching
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/

..and here's one on the benefits of dance including physical benefits.
http://living.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=92892007

A quote from a compilation of Tom Parsons, used with permission http://www.dancer.com/tom-parsons/quotes.html

I was a ballerina. I had to quit after I injured a groin muscle. It wasn't mine.
             --Rita Rudner

To return to the latest blog entry click here

Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz

11th of 20 reasons why dancing is great for your well-being.  Here's the full list.

It is self-evident that dancing burns calories.  There is a difference between the intensity of ballroom compared with salsa but both no doubt burn calories.  Dancing is much much more interesting than stepping out on the treadmill at the gym where 5 minutes feels like half an hour.  While dancing the time just flies by and those calories seem to just burn up effortlessly.  On a recent night of dancing which started at 7.30pm and did not finish until 2.30am, time seemed meaningless and each step helped to burn off those calories.  Ask me to jog or even walk, much less be on a treadmill for seven hours and see what sort of response you get.  But dancing is different.

Many dancers choose to not drink at all during an evening of dance, but I prefer to enjoy a glass of beer at the beginning of the evening and know that the risk of developing a beer pot is miniscule as those beer calories don't have time to hit the sides.before they are burned into oblivion on the dance floor. 

Juliet Kellow gives you a few options to burn off 300 calories.   http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/slimming/slimming_tips/burn_calories.htm
Would you rather #12 jog for 30 min or #25 dance for 35 mins?  What sounds like more fun? 

In case you are not yet convinced check out these calorie charts:
http://www.coolnurse.com/calories_burned.htm
http://www.self.com/health/activity/calculators/salsa_dancing/result?weightKgs=&duration=&activity=&met=5.5&submit.x=51&submit.y=10

We ought to dance with rapture that we might be alive...and part of the living, incarnate cosmos.
             --D. H. Lawrence

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Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz

Summer has finally threatened to arrive, and this 'road less travelled' is one part of NZ I have never visited.  Now is the time to do it.  The tent is packed, the food is in the chillybin and I'll be back by 15 January. It was in this part of the world that the stunning and moving film Whale Rider was created.  Whangara is too small for this map but is located halfway between Tolaga Bay and Gisborne.

If you want to read something new in the meantime, check out the dance goals that belly dancer Natalie has cleverly extracted from a number of passionate dancers and listed them in her inaugural dance carnival. 

Here's another couple of photos of my summer destination,  If you are currently enduring a winter you don't need to be envious.  Here's how you can join us and dance around New Zealand. Claire, from New York has some great photos on her blog that highlight Whangara, other East Coast locations and an intro to Maori culture.  

Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz