Network Man

In the Connected book, the authors think our species could be termed homo dictyous (connected man) dicty being latin for network.

Social ballroom dancing is an interesting study because it is a close connection between two people that is easily formed and broken. How close? A foot apart. How entered in? An agreement for the space of a song, usually 3 minutes. Or perhaps a partnership for a series of lessons, which ideally would involve changing partners.

In the book, a small group, say for dinner, is ideally 3.8 people. An overnight camp often holds 38 people. A village has 150 members, a tribe 1,155. A dance class shouldn't be over 24, so that doesn't fit into those numbers.

The connections to find dance partners are what I'm interested in studying. How important dance is versus other factors determining the connection.

Connected, the book

I heard of the book on the radio. The hook was that, as they put it, obesity is catching, as are smoking and sexual activity, triggered by social networks with friends of friends being very important in determining behavior.
In my work as a ballroom dance teacher, social networks are very important, so I read the book hoping for more clues.
The findings of genetic predispositions to being in a central position in a social network was not helpful. Both my parents are happiest on the periphery.
Chapters on God and medicine weren't what I wanted either. The book read like an undergraduate text.

Virus

So this warning showed up on the computer - A Virus has Attacked! Get Antivirus Live!
Turns out this is a virus. I stopped short of giving it my VISA. Very clever, but it had to stop the annoying messages that were driving me to sign up, and that made me suspicious.
I was looking for my recovery disk when I found the book that came with my PC. All I had to do was System Restore to back to Saturday, before the nasty thing came on board. It came through Internet Explorer, I know because I couldn't find info on it on that program. Firefox gave me the info, though not the easy recovery. I can try telling wikipedia.

Around the World

I hoped the country with the fabulous dance music would have dancers everywhere. At least where we went, Cuba was like the rest of the world: most people have to be coaxed onto the floor. At our resort, dance lessons happened when I went to the "Animacion" crew and asked. Then a few other ladies would get up.
Out in town, beautiful music was on every other street corner, but we never found a nice dance floor.
Of course at a "Disco", the young people with their drinks are willing to take up space, and in Cuba, smoking is encouraged. The "Mambo Club" Saturday night had to be government run because there was the traditional Cuban band, great music even with the obligatory "Guantanamera", but when they took their break, House music came on and we had to leave.
Maybe if we had gone Sunday afternoon, but that day was 50 degrees and blowing 40 MPH with the Patriots on TV, losing. A bus ride was $6. Taxi $22. After the depressing night, I just curled up with What Falmouth is Reading, Moby Dick.

Cuban styling

Whoa!
Right foot forward, left foot back?
How do you manage the crossbody?
None of the lessons at our resort covered partner dancing, anyway.

The Donkey Show

In Harvard Square for a few more months, Club Oberon is set up at the American Repertory Theater on weekends, a Midsummer Night's Dream version of Studio 54, the famous disco club of the 70s in NYC. As you walk in early, King Oberon and Queen Tatania's fairies are the young male dancers who occupy the disco cubes that move around the dance floor. Do not bother with table seating for $50. The $25 dance floor tickets are great with plenty of view. Why sit still with that infectious music playing and scantily clad dancers moving around in the crowd? Puck on roller skates and Queen Tatania in butterfly pasties suspended from the ceiling are high points.
8 to 9:30 with a half hour of open dancing after the show

Ballymeade New Year's Eve

Ballymeade is a regular NYE celebration, I guess after talking to the activities director, not a Chamber of Commerce thing as it seemed from the Chamber website where they promoted it, so no Chamber people were there, just a few people that we knew. The mostly young people loved the DJ's hi-hop selections, and they did not take their drinks onto the dance floor. The dance floor was well situated and the acoustics were much improved from last time we were there. He gave us some earlier in the evening. The food was ok, especially for $20, and the champagne glasses were glass. The distance was awesomely close.