Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Come Dance With Me

























Enormous replicas of high-heeled shoes made from shiny pots and pans by Paris-born, Lisborn-based artist: Joana Vasconcelos.

These stunning pieces of footwear are part of an installation called 'Shoes', which have traveled the world. 

Beautiful in their conception, they are also a comment on the persisting traditional double role that womankind continues to lead, in a modern day world.

Via: DesignTaxi

Thursday 5 January 2012

SongBird



'A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, 
It sings because it has a song' - Lou Holtz


The new Connections magazine cover, Winter issue #34. Also, promo design for Vocalips whose up & coming concert you can see 21 Jan 2012, Plaza Danza, Groningen (NL). More Connections back issues: here

© Alison Day Designs

Thursday 10 June 2010

Dance is in!


Keeping fit doesn’t always have to mean going slavishly to the gym, dressed in this season’s lycra mishap, baseball cap crammed down as far as it will go (to remain incognito), and acting like a demented hamster on a conveyor belt, in order to fight the flab!

There are other activities to hand, which can be fun, keep you fit and happy and help to keep your social skills sharp as well. Have you ever thought of taking a dance class? No, I don’t mean attempting to relive Flash Dance under the pretext of being ‘discovered’ as the new dance hottie in town. There are a multitude of dance opportunities on offer such as Ballroom dancing, Salsa, Tango, Quickstep, Cha-cha-cha and even Belly dancing. Dancing is for everyone young and old. It seems, and I have this from an informed source, that ballroom dancing is also all the rage here, amongst the student population. Yes, surprising as this information may seem students these days are also looking for active distraction too.

So, let’s take a look at a few and see what's out there

Ballroom dancing covers several differently styled dances requiring a partner, the idea originating in Germany. Skillful interaction between two people in a partnership of dance means that its popularity not only continues as a form of social dancing for events and parties, but is also part of the competitive dance arena the world over, both for performance dance and entertainment. 

Salsa originates in the Caribbean (particularly in Cuba and Puerto Rico), Latin and North America. The music is not surprisingly salsa music, which also has a strong African influence. Again a partner dance with the sporadic solo steps and group interaction, with partner change included.
‘Salsa’ is the Spanish word for sauce. This spicy dance is flirtatious and sensuous. A well-known dance school for this is Salsa Roy in Groningen (Dutch)

The passionate and intimate dance for two, the Tango was originally known as tango criollo or simply tango. It originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay, as a result of a music genre by the same name, originating in South America. One of the many tango styles of today, the popular Argentinean style can be recognized due to its melodic nature and the use of percussion to break up any heavy accents. What many consider to be the authentic tango is that which is closest to that originally danced in Argentina and Uruguay. 

Belly dancing is a western term for a traditional Middle Eastern dance form. In Arabic, Raqs Sharqi is literally translated as ‘oriental’, ‘national’ or ‘folk’ dance. The origins of the term originate in Egypt. In Greece and the Balkans, belly dance is known as tsiftetelli.

Belly dancing is ‘uniquely designed for the female body, with an emphasis on abdominal muscles, hip moves, and chest moves. It is firm and earthy, traditionally with bare feet connected to the ground. It is a dance characterized by smooth, flowing, complex, and sensual movements of the torso, alternated with shaking and shimmy type moves’.

Should you be interested in taking up belly dancing: Aina Danst offers courses for people at all levels, including the possibility of a proof lesson.

Source: Wikipedia




© Alison Day

First published in the Connections magazine #21 Autumn 2008 

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Bollywood



My own experience of a Bollywood film came as a result of a trip to India and a visit to the local cinema in Jaipur, one evening. Treated to a fantastical spectacle in a cinema decorated with incredible opulence, I enjoyed a film, which was totally contradictory to the harsh realities of life in India.

Named after a combination of the name of the city Bombay (now known as Mumbai) and Hollywood, this is the Hindi film industry. Featuring a cast of thousands these musical glitz and glamour productions, often with a ‘boy meets girl’, storyline are perfect in their use of opulence and total escapism.

Starting with the first screening in 1899, Bollywood as an industry has grown to such an extent that it makes up to 800 films per year, with 14 million Indian people visiting the cinema every day in India alone. The same popular actors are featured in most of the films, which results in an actor/actress often being busy filming for more than one film at a time.

Seemingly, Bollywood’s appeal is on the increase as this has led to big US film companies, such as Warner Bros and Twentieth Century Fox setting up offices in India with obviously an idea for future collaboration.

With an Oscar nomination for ‘Lagaan’, in 2002 Bollywood films have been gathering momentum and have managed to cross over to the extent that they are now not just viewed by Indian families alone, but are also being shown in cinemas throughout the United Kingdom. Here, in Groningen at the Noorderzon Festival, a performing arts festival (and shortly to be seen at the Amsterdam Fringe Festival), the ‘Bollywood Mysterie’ was to be seen. A musical and visual feast of Indian music and film as portrayed by Gerry Arling with support from The Mondriaan Quartet, traditional Indian musicians and the spiritual music of the Californian composer, Terry Riley.


It is also possible that if you like the idea, you can sign up for Bollywood dancing lessons.


© Alison Day



First published in the Connections magazine #17 Autumn 2007