Month: January 2021

The Funniest People in Dance — Smashwords: Many formats, Including PDF

Music Recommendation: Kid Gulliver — “Beauty School Dropout”

BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC

Music: “Beauty School Dropout”

Artist: Kid Gulliver

Artist Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Info: Music and lyrics written by David Armillotti

Vocals- Simone Berk
Guitar and vocals- David Armillotti
Bass- Eric Otterbein
Drums- Sandy Summer

Price: $1 (USD) for one-track single

Genre: Pop.

Links:

“Beauty School Dropout”

https://kidgulliver1.bandcamp.com/track/beauty-school-dropout

Kid Gulliver on Bandcamp

https://kidgulliver1.bandcamp.com

Poetry surfs — The Cheesesellers Wife

Poetry surfs on a wave of words
Heading for the beach of simile and the metaphor dunes
If you surf too long the moment is gone
The wave swallows the poem, rolls it along
And throws it on the beach, to splutter and cough
Painfully
Copyright © 2015 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Poetry surfs — The Cheesesellers Wife

David Bruce: The Funniest People in Dance — Prejudice, Problem-Solving

Prejudice

• The great black dancer Bill Robinson, aka Mr. Bojangles, fought prejudice. One day, some members of Duke Ellington’s band ordered coffee and doughnuts but were refused service. They ran into Mr. Bojangles and told him what had happened. He told them to follow him, and they all went back to the restaurant. Mr. Bojangles sat down, pulled out his gold-plated gun with the pearl handles, laid the gun on the table, and ordered coffee and doughnuts for himself and his friends. This time, they were served.

• After turning age 13 in 1930, Wah Ming Chang took dancing lessons in a school in California. Unfortunately, soon he was told to leave and never come back. Later, he found out that some parents had complained after discovering that their daughters were dancing with a boy of Asian heritage. As an adult, Mr. Chang became a famous artist and award-winning creator of special effects for such television series as Star Trek and such movies as The Time Machine.

• In the Jim Crow days, black dance pioneer Katherine Dunham toured the South, where she often confronted race prejudice. In a segregated theater in Louisville, Kentucky, she was outraged because blacks were forced to sit in the balcony. After the performance, she stood on stage, looked at the white members of the audience, and stated, “This is the last time we shall play Louisville because the management refuses to let people like us sit by people like you.”

• During the Jim Crow days, Sir Rudolf Bing took the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Aida on tour to Washington, where he was informed that Janet Collins, the Met’s African-American ballerina, would not be welcome at a party at the Mayflower Club. Therefore, Sir Rudolf stayed away from that party and hosted his own, at which Ms. Collins was very welcome.

• In 1937, while traveling in the pre-civil rights south, Norma Miller and some other touring Lindy Hop dancers stopped at a White Castle hamburger joint to order food, only to be told, “We don’t serve Negroes here.” One of the dancers replied, “We don’t eat Negroes — just serve us a burger!”

Problem-Solving

• Comedian Fanny Brice always had a talent for singing, but she soon realized that her weakness was dancing — a weakness for which George M. Cohan once fired her from the chorus line of one of his shows. Being ambitious, Fanny began to work on her weakness. Before leaving on tour with a show, the young Fanny went through her family’s home and gathered up all the female undergarments she could find, using the excuse that as the star of the show she had to make many costume changes and couldn’t possibly wear the same bloomers during an entire show. (Actually, she had only one song in the show.) On the road, she began to ask girls in the chorus to teach her dance steps in return for the undergarments. As soon as one girl got tired of teaching her, Fanny would offer some bloomers to another girl. In time, she learned to dance.

• Fern Helsher, an attractive woman, worked as a press agent for Ted Shawn at his dance retreat, a former farm called Jacob’s Pillow. One day, a road crew was putting tar topping on the road by Jacob’s Pillow, but they were stopping about 100 feet from the driveway leading to Jacob’s Pillow. Mr. Shawn mentioned to Ms. Helsher that he had asked the town officials to extend the tar topping another 100 feet but they were unwilling to do so. Ms. Helsher said, “Let me handle this.” She then dressed very provocatively, mixed a pitcher of martinis, and went down to the road crew. She stood at the point to which Mr. Shawn wanted the tar topping poured and told the members of the road crew, “If you build the road to this line, you can have everything you see just beyond it.” The road crew raced to build the road, and when they had finished, Ms. Helsher put down the pitcher of martinis and ran to safety.

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The Funniest People in Dance — Buy

The Funniest People in Dance — Smashwords: Many formats, Including PDF

Music Recommendation: Hustle Souls — “Just Want To Say Hello”

BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC

Music: “Just Want To Say Hello”

Album: JUST WANT TO SAY HELLO

Artist: Hustle Souls

Record Company: Aldora Britain Records

Record Company Location: Rothley, England, UK

Info:

“AB Records is an e-zine and record label that promotes the music and work of authentic independent or underground artists from all around the world. Originally established in 2013, they revamped themselves in 2018 with a brand new approach. Their first weekly compilation, aptly titled THE SECOND COMING, was released in late 2019. They now also release original singles, EPs and charity projects.”

Each week Aldora Britain Records releases a compilation album at a very low price.

“Here is this week’s collection of independent and underground music from all around the world. JUST WANT TO SAY HELLO is a compilation that knows no boundaries. We have soul, art rock, punk, garage rock, folk rock and everything in between. The tracks are not all taken from recent releases either, we delve a bit deeper this week. Original release dates range from 2000 to 2021, truly an album for the 21st century! Please download, listen loud, dig deeper with your discoveries, and support Aldora Britain Records and independent music.”

Price: £2 (GBP) for 22 songs by various artists

Genre: Various.

Links:

JUST WANT TO SAY HELLO

https://thealdorabritainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/just-want-to-say-hello

Aldora Britain Records

https://thealdorabritainrecords.bandcamp.com

Honking Hello — Annette Rochelle Aben

I saw them again
This morning they went sailing
Right over my house
My buddies from days gone by
In full formation, my geese
©2021 Annette Rochelle Aben
Honking Hello — Annette Rochelle Aben

David Bruce: The Funniest People in Dance — Nudity, Old Age, Photographs, Prejudice

Nudity

• When Russian heiress Ida Rubinstein wished to dance nude in the role of Salome in 1908, her brother-in-law, a physician, was so upset that he committed her to a mental institution. It didn’t work. After she got out of the mental institution, she appeared nude in many roles, including that of Cleopatra.

• As Rudolf Nureyev was dancing in Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty at the Metropolitan Opera, a naked man streaked across the stage. Mr. Nureyev — a homosexual — was delighted.

Old Age

• In his old age, dancer Léonide Massine went to San Francisco to recreate his choreography of Le Beau Danube. During his stay at the Valley View Lodge, videotapes of him giving lessons to several dancers were shown, causing some elderly residents to ask, “Did you ever dance, Mr. Massine?” He smiled at the question, replied, “A little,” then taught the elderly residents a few exercises to lessen their pain from arthritis. Shortly thereafter, the elderly residents came to Mr. Massine and thanked him for his help, saying such things as, “I can move now. Thank you so much for your help — it is better than medicine.”

• Modern dance pioneer José Limón once lived temporarily at the Ruxton Hotel on West 77th Street in New York City — a hotel where many retirees lived. As a dancer/choreographer, Mr. Limón was surrounded each day at work by bodies that were nearly perfect, and he was shocked by the bodies of the retirees. Sometimes, he wondered what they had done with their lives to have ended up with such grotesque bodies.

Photographs

• Many dance photographs of Anna Pavlova exist, but people often don’t realize how much work went into taking them. The art of photography was in its infancy, and to get an adequate exposure, Ms. Pavlova sometimes had to hold a pose for 20 seconds. To get a photograph of Ms. Pavlova jumping, the photographer was forced to string her up on clotheslines.

• Gordon Anthony’s book A Camera at the Ballet: Pioneer Dancers of the Royal Ballet did much to give credit to these dance pioneers. Such credit was sorely needed, as a young Royal Ballet School dancer saw a photograph of one of her teachers (a dance pioneer) and exclaimed, “Goodness, were you once a dancer!”

Practical Jokes

• Karen Kain once played a practical joke during a dress rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty. Of course, she was dancing the role of the princess Aurelia, but she dressed herself in horn-rimmed glasses, the witch Carabosse’s fright wig, and bright blue leg warmers for the scene when her dance partner, Frank Augustyn, awakens her with a kiss. The joke amused everyone — except for management, who reprimanded her the following day for not setting a good example for the younger dancers.

• In 1966, while acting in George Bernard Shaw’s You Never Can Tell, Sir Ralph Richardson fooled the younger members of the cast by telling them anecdotes about dancing with Fred Astaire. They believed him until he went too far and told them he had also danced with Nijinsky.

Prejudice

• Sir Rudolf Bing was the major force behind the integration of the Metropolitan Opera. For example, after being hired as general manager in 1950, he immediately hired the first African-American ballet dancer to dance at the Met — Janet Collins, who danced in the triumphal scene in Aida. How did he get around the board of the Metropolitan Opera, which might have opposed the hiring of Ms. Collins? Simple. Sir Rudolf says, “I told the board about it after the contract was signed.” Sir Rudolf also was responsible for signing the first African American who sang opera at the Met: Marian Anderson, who sang the part of Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera.

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The Funniest People in Dance — Buy

The Funniest People in Dance — Smashwords: Many formats, Including PDF

Music Recommendation: Kerry Pastine and the Crime Scene — “Cold Stare Hot Touch”

BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC

Music: “Cold Stare Hot Touch”

Album: THE OTHER SIDE

Artist: Kerry Pastine and the Crime Scene

Artist Location: Denver, Colorado

Info: “Join us. Be a Criminal. It feels good to be bad.”

Lead Vocals: Kerry Pastine
Background Vocals: Kerry Pastine and Paul Shellooe
Guitars: Paul Shellooe
Bass: Mike McMurray, Joaquina Lluma
Drums: Seger Marion, Graham Mueller
Keys: Mark Richardson and Paul Shellooe
Horns: Jonny Love

Price: $1 (USD) for track; $8 for 12-track album

Genre: Rock.

Links:

THE OTHER SIDE

https://thecrimescene.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-side

Kerry Pastine and the Crime Scene

https://thecrimescene.bandcamp.com

David Bruce: The Funniest People in Dance — Movies, Names, Native Americans, Nudity

Movies

• As a ballerina in the former Soviet Union, Natalia Makarova was asked to star in a movie of Swan Lake. However, she discovered the movie director lacked taste, although he thought he was capable of teaching her how to dance the role of Odile. When he told her, “Dance as if you wanted to seduce me,” she replied, “I haven’t the slightest desire to do that to you,” and then she walked off the set and refused to return. The director was forced to find another ballerina to dance the role of Odile.

• Whenever Fred Astaire was ready to shoot a big dance number for one of his films, word would go out across the studio, and lots of people would come around to watch the dancing. Anthony Perkins was doing a Western while Mr. Astaire was filming Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn, and he remembers lots of gunslingers watching the filming of “Clap Yo’ Hands.”

• The year 1940 was a very bad year for Fred Astaire, who starred in the turkey Second Chorus, but it was a very good year for his former dance partner Ginger Rogers. When she won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Kitty Foyle, Mr. Astaire sent her this one-word telegram: “OUCH.”

Names

• The mother of the great tap dancer Savion Glover, one of the creators of Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk, knew he was special when she was pregnant with him. In fact, his name comes from a religious vision his mother had — she saw God writing a name on a blackboard: SAVIOR. She read the name, then said, “Now, You know I can’t name him Savior.” Therefore, she substituted an “n” for the “r.” To a great extent, Mr. Glover has been the savior of modern-day tap dancing, bringing it into the era of hip-hop.

• Edward Villella and other dancers called ballerina Melissa Hayden “Old Ironsides” as an affectionate mark of respect for her hard work and determination. One of the things she did to get energy for dancing was to inject herself with vitamin B12. One day, thinking Mr. Villella needed some extra energy, she told him, “Honey, take down your pants.” He obeyed her — and was rewarded with a needle in his butt.

• Russian ballet dancer Elena Lukom ran into a problem when she performed in Sweden because audience members laughed when she was introduced. Fortunately, she was able to solve that problem easily. She discovered that in Swedish her last name meant “rest room,” so whenever she toured in Sweden she changed her last name to Lukova.

• Loïe Fuller started a dancing school whose pupils danced for her. The pupils’ real names were kept secret from the general public on the grounds that they were from prominent families that might be embarrassed by the publicity, and on the dance programs they were given pseudonyms such as Buttercup, Chocolate, Peach, Pinky, and Smiles.

Native Americans

• When the Native American tribe known as the Wampanoag dance, they dance both clockwise and counterclockwise. When they dance clockwise, they are thanking the good spirits. When they dance counterclockwise, they are paying respect to the other spirits — the evil ones.

• According to many Native Americans of Canada, the Northern Lights are actually a dance. When the Northern Lights appear in the sky, one sees the spirits of the ancestors dancing.

Nudity

• The costumes for Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Biches underwent several changes before the ballet’s premiere. The costume worn by dancer Vera Nemchinova originally was a full-length evening dress; however, costume designer Marie Laurencin very quickly cut off the train. Ballet producer Sergei Diaghilev then cut off the rest of the skirt. When Ms. Nemchinova complained that the costume made her feel naked, Mr. Diaghilev told her to buy a pair of gloves.

• Sometimes what you think you see is not what you actually see. To create an illusion of nudity, female dancers sometimes wear flesh-colored costumes on which nipples and navels have been painted. Sometimes what you think you see is what you actually see. In 1978, Vivi Flindt stripped off all of her clothing to perform the dance of Salome for the Royal Danish Ballet. Her husband, Flemming Flindt, danced the role of Herod.

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The Funniest People in Dance — Buy