Open Meeting/Members Dance

Worth it to go to Betsy's Ballroom last night, especially as I was able to car pool. Thanks, Linda and Dawn!
Discussion at the board included trying to get some Falmouth/Bourne/Mashpee locations for dances. CCBD needs different locations. My dance (tonight) goes along just once a month. I get Ron to be part of a dance 4 times a year in Cataumet.
New members were elected to the board for next year, using the single unanimous vote system for a unopposed slate of five dancers who all spoke briefly and well.

Mary French Memorial Dance October 14

Coming up so soon - just next Friday, the terrific dance with Mary's favorite local band, Trilogy. Also, competition college dancers from MIT where Mary worked back when ballroom was just entering the competition phase that has become so popular.
With the closing of the Sons of Italy, we had to go downCape, to Betsy's Ballroom and I will figure out decorations tonight.
The food will be first rate, though not dinner. We subsist on our art! Or eat a hamburger before. But there will be fruit platters, cheese and crackers, my desserts and more.

Ballroom Hell

I love this little graph. The guys get to be scientifically validated as to how hard it is. Ladies are told to go to styling class.
from dancerhangout.com
written by "staff"

Coaching

The October 3 New Yorker has an article on coaching by Atul Gawande, a surgeon who can take criticism and write about it.
"Expertise, as the formula goes, requires going from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence to conscious competence and finally to unconscious competence." I love that.

Having reached the final stage, a success in one's field, a professional needs outside eyes and ears to improve. Gawande writes about musicians, athletes and teachers using coaches who can "break down performance into critical individual components." He doesn't mention dancers.

Once my students have the muscle memory for a step, I look at them and see how they could do it more easily.

Judging DWTS

I watch the show, I listen to the judges, I even read Television Without Pity to get perspective. Still, I disagree with them all. Four couples got the same score, and I hated Hope Solo and David Arquette's dancing and loved Rob Kasdashian's Foxtrot and the Samba with the little blond who is dancing with Mark Ballas.
Maybe the costumes put me in a bad mood. David Arquette did not need his new haircut, or his shirt open. Then, his arms were uncertain. Hope Solo had that horrid poofy skirt that showed the crotch with bare thighs and then garters and patterned stockings. Not a graceful look, and she isn't little and cute. Doesn't seem sure of what she's doing either.
Whereas Queer Eye Carson filled out his dinner jacket and attacked some Tango moves with great style. Chaz looked more comfortable than ever.
My leader board would have had Rob K. as #1 even with the huge Jesus Christ tattoo on his bicep. His deceased father (One of the lawyers who got OJ off) is on Rob's forearm. Rob: "He was a really good looking man." Cheryl: "You look like him." Rob: "Yeah." Maybe it's the whole Foxtrot smooth debonair stuff I go for.

quote from DEAR THEO

"As to mediocre artists, to which you think I should not want to belong, what shall I say about it? I shall do what I can, but mediocrity in its simple signification I do not despise at all. And certainly one does not rise above that mark by despising what is mediocre. In my opinion, one must begin at least by having some respect for the mediocre and know that it means something, and that it is only reached with great difficulty."
Vincent Van Gogh
I love watching people dance, especially as I see the tiny steps they make to progress.

Turns

Practicing dance moves is a great idea.
Practicing turns makes you dizzy, so we have to make a little bit go a long way.
Neck long, head level, abs engaged, and soft arms before you even start.
Then, attention to the connection between the hip and the ball of the foot.