Madonna: Modern Day Cybele

Group Orgy with Madonna and her Homosexuals

I wrote about Madonna's homosexual stilettoed dancers and her new music video Girl Gone Wild here. The dance troupe is from the Ukraine and calls itself Kazaky or Boys in Heels. Wikipedia describes them thus:

Kazaky (also known as The Boys In Heels) is an all-male Ukrainian dance group. Assembled by choreographer Oleg Zhezhel, the group has released several songs which have garnered popularity on YouTube. The group confronts gender norms by fusing masculine and feminine attributes together, most notably by regularly wearing stiletto heels.

Strange cultural and artistic phenomena often have ancient and mythic precedences. Madonna's homosexual men are like the castrated dancers of the Greek goddess Cybele, who danced around their goddess into sexual frenzy. Here is more on the cult of Cybele:

The cult of Cybele was directed by eunuch priests called Corybantes, who led the faithful in orgiastic rites accompanied by wild cries and the frenzied music of flutes, drums, and cymbals. Her annual spring festival celebrated the death and resurrection of her beloved Attis.

And more on the word "eunuch":

[T]he word ‘eunuch’ has many meanings to modern scholars. It may...refer to transgendered individuals, and it has been used to refer to gay individuals... When a Galli, transgendered priestess of the Magna Mater, Cybele, was unearthed in York a few years ago, the skeleton was said to be of a eunuch; it was found surrounded by female accoutrements and clothing samples.

This site provides interesting and comprehensive information on Cybele and her followers, including the transgendered, sado-masochistic nature of the male eunuchs/homosexuals, and their frenzied, orgiastic rituals.


Fashion designer Anna Osmekhina designed Kazaky's "costumes." Her dress above (not used in Kazaky's performances) has ancient Greco-Roman goddess references, and it is snips and cuts suggest a sado-masochistic style, thus fitting well with her costume creations for the Kazakys.

Kasaky Fashion, by designer Anna Osmekhina
 
The stilettoed fashion of the blatantly homosexual Kazakys
 
The stilettoes of Madonna's dance troupe have multiple meanings. One obvious meaning is their evocation of penetration (through both the female sexual organs and the anus). Since this group of dancers is openly gay, penetration would clearly not be of the female anatomy.

Anal penetration, usually a homosexual sexual act, is a violent act. Here is what could/can happen:

Since the rectum doesn't produce natural lubrication like the vagina does, anal sex risks tearing the rectal walls or the sphincter...that presents a real chance of potentially lethal peritonitis due to leakage of fecal bacteria into the abdomen...A 2004 study by the American Cancer Association showed that women practicing anal sex had more than twice the risk of developing anal cancer...

Stilettoes also evoke sharp and dangerous weapons like knives. As I wrote here, one of the definitions for stiletto is "a small dagger with a slender, tapered blade," implying a covert and dangerous weapon. The homosexual movement is still, to a large extent, a hidden world (camouflaged as, say, fun pop dancers, or fashion-savvy commentators) but it is serious about changing, and destroying, our heterosexual society. However much homosexuals may praise females (or the female way of life), their ultimate purpose is to destroy the feminine and the female.

Christian history also figures in homosexual imagery. There is a clear analogy between Saint Sebastian and the convoluted body of one of Madonna's dancers (see image below). The dancer's body looks like it has been pierced with arrows, like the saint's body.

Left: Saint Sebastian
By: Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi), 1525  
Right: A dancer from 
Madonna's 2012 video 
Girl Gone Wild
 
Perhaps the earliest, least ambiguous, homoerotic associations of St. Sebastian with homoeroticism occurred in the early sixteenth century:

In about 1525, Bronzino painted an unconventional Saint Sebastian with unmistakable homoerotic appeal...The arrows, moreover, are not abstracted symbols of his ordeal...but erotic emblems: one penetrated his body, the other is casually, but suggestively, held against the pink drapery, the saint's index curved around and almost touching the arrowhead...These characteristics...suggest that (the painting) may have been intended to have an ambiguous meaning - an image on the one hand religious, and on the other, homoerotic...

Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo) 
Saint Sebastian ca. 1533

Later on,

From the Renaissance on, Sebastian is most often depicted tied to a tree, sometimes by one arm, gazing heavenward as his flesh is pierced by arrows, which may number from just a couple to a dozen, depending on the artist's enthusiasm; his body is made porous and "feminized" by the experience. His reception to this penetration has obvious associations with male homosexuality.

In our gender-bending, brave new world, Madonna is the gay icon. Homoeroticsm has made it into the mainstream (or, better yet, the mainstream has homoerotisized itself). If there is any advancement in the homosexual, socio-cultural history of man, it is that woman (big girl gone wild) is now the icon of the gay male. And she needn't prove her sainthood either, since nothing can be more highly esteemed and more saint-like in our modern, feminist, world than woman.

Kazaky is making its pop culture rounds these days. Sean O'Pry, a male model described as "American" (some websites describe him as White/Caucasian) but who has Asiatic features (Russian/Ukrainian?) stars in the video advertizement for the new cologne Spicebomb by Viktor and Rolf. The cologne bottle is shaped like a grenade. The slick black and white video shows the grenade/bottle exploding orgasmically to Kazaky's song Love as O'Pry struts in homoerotic half-nudity to the pulsing beat. O'Pry is also featured in Madonna's Girl Gone Wild video.

It is a small, gay world after all.

Sean O'Pry, an "American" model, also 
described as White/Caucasian, with
Asiatic (Russian/Ukrainian?) features

At the end of the Spicebomb video, we are left with a blank, white screen, cleared of all signs of life.

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Dancing With The Stars Has a Great Lineup

Simple photoshop to make Kym Johnson's costume
worthy of a Foxtrot
Top: Before,
Bottom: After
[Images from video stills]

I may seem like a TV junkie (well, if watching Jeopardy classifies me as that), which I'm not, but it's good to have Dancing With The Stars(DWTS) back again.

Part of the reason I don't watch much TV is because liberalism creeps in unexpectedly (although, who am I not to expect these things?) as in the Jeopardy "moment" I blogged about where a male contestant mentioned "my husband" during the show's "get to know the contestants" break.

DWTS is similar in that the dancers often come out in skimpy clothing and some lewd moves (although these moves never happen with the Foxtrot, the Waltz, the Two-Step, but always with the Samba, the Rumba, the Salsa - any pattern here?). But, their dancing talents surpass their costume aberrations (or I try hard to ignore them), and some of the dances actually inspire the designers to make beautiful costumes.

Anyway, one pair danced a good, subdued Foxtrot number to Frank Sinatra's "The Way We Were." What kind of dance could "The Way We Were" inspire anyway but the Foxtrot? Kym Johnson, the pretty Australian lead dancer, was teamed with that awful nerdy Steve from "Family Matters" who looks all grown up and mature now. Kym's dress was pretty, but almost went overboard. Couldn't they have covered the "mesh" upper part with real material, perhaps with the white feathers that make up the rest of the gown?

Still, this is one of the few shows (like Jeopardy) where the contestant's skill matters. Most of these stars have gone through some kind of dance training in their younger years, trying to get into show business, so they are actually quite skilled already. There is also a big screening process that goes on to get the ones with some dancing ability. Also, they go through grueling, day-long practice sessions, worthy of athletes.

But some invited stars just can't dance, and usually they're there because of a mischievous programmer who just wants to have a little fun. Comedian Adam Carolla was such a character, although he actually took his role very seriously! Who wants to look like a fool on the dance floor, and dancing the waltz?

Also, thankfully, there are no creepy contestants this year (I think!).

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Freaky Chaz Bono kicked off Dancing With The Stars

Hope Solo, the athlete-turned-dancer

I don't mean this blog to be a Dancing With The Stars news feed, but ever since I heard that the transexual/transgendered/lesbian/freak Chaz Bono was going to be on the show, I've waited for it to be eliminated. I think the audience freak factor votes kept it going for this many weeks, but FINALLY, IT'S GONE! But of course, this boot off the floor became the perfect moment for Bono to make a pitch. "I wanted to show America a different kind of man." was its exit line.

Now I can watch with admiration the truly talented professional dancers, and the long and arduous training the stars endure, making those that get to the top five almost on a par with their teachers/dance partners.

Of course, some professionals are better than others, but Lacey Schwimmer (who regularly dances with her brother Benji), Chelsea Hightower, Julianne Hough (who's brother - DWTS is a family affair - I wrote is a modern version of Fred Astaire) and Kym Johnson are really great dancers (links are to videos). Their graceful waltzes and energetic quicksteps bring ballroom dance to its artistically beautiful level. Some dances are a little racy, and some of the costumes a little too revealing, but this is television (and showbiz).

Now that I've watched the show for so long, I'm getting better at comparing the good dance moves (and the good dancers) with those that somehow wing it. I don't know how this "professional" has made it on the roster for all these seasons.

According to this "judge" it is Hope Solo who dances like a man. I disagree. Admittedly, Hope has stronger muscles than the other women, she is after all an athlete, but she looks pretty and feminine on DWTS, and she's nothing like Bono, who receives accolades from this judge despite ending up at the bottom almost every week. It is, of course, the usual politically correct, pseudo solidarity with the different, "a different kind of man." To judge the Bono's creepiness would be to discriminate. And we just can't do that, can we?

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Canada: An Amalgam of Mediocrity

Please excuse the length of this blog. It is a descriptive piece, although I do get into some analysis and my perspective near the end.

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I started to write a positive review of the National Ballet School and its buildings, but I needed more information and had to return to the site to find out more. And that's when I changed my mind about the positive review, and decided to write it with the negative stance that I had tried to ignore in my initial observations.

The complex takes up two areas of downtown Toronto. See the map below:


There is a mixture of old Victorian buildings and modernist (postmodernist) glass boxes. Many of these buildings are named after former National Ballet dancers or philanthropists, and I wanted to get their names and contributions right, so I went to the sites for more information.

The first time I went to ask about a building called "The Shoe Room" I was met with an administrator who took my questions as some form of KGB interrogation, and made it clear she wanted me out as soon as possible. I reacted strongly, and said I was merely a Toronto resident interested in the culture and arts of the city. I left forgetting to get the most important information, which was on the ballet shoes left by famous (at least by Canadian standards) dancers on display at The Shoe Room.

Then I went next door to the glass high rise and asked more questions. This time, I was voiced my surprise that so many buildings make up this school, and asked about the name and function of this particular building. The front desk woman responded in the same rude, dismissive manner. And that is when I lost my temper. She backtracked and said that they have to "protect the girls," an insulting answer which implied that I was out to get these girls, like some pedophile child molester. I left perplexed at this behavior.

I went around the corner to the adjacent complex of buildings on Maitland Street (see map above) to find out more about the names of buildings and architectural styles in this complex. The woman there was more obliging, but she was not part of the NBS, having rented out the hall for another function.

I went next door to yet another NBS complex, and once again, the woman at the reception made it clear without mincing her words that this was the "girls' residence" (are there no "boy" dancers, and where do they stay?), and that I had to leave. Again, I was labeled a potential pedophile in no uncertain terms.

I took photos of this building, and decided to find out the information online. But that wasn't much help, so I decided today to finish off this project I had started to find out more about this important cultural center, close to my home, and which I pass by almost daily.

This morning, I reluctantly set off again to fill in the missing gaps.

I asked once again the woman (another one, this time) at the reception desk at the high rise complex my usual, simple questions: name of the building, and function of the building. The woman responded in the same rude and dismissal manner as all the others. Then I said (paraphrasing): "Look, Madam, I am asking simple questions about an important cultural center. There is no need to speak to me in that rude manner." Then, having nothing left to do, the women said, "You have to leave the building please." I was expecting some reaction, so I said, "I will tell everyone I know not to come to the National Ballet school, that the dancers are not all that good, and the shows are not worth their price. And to my non-Canadian friends, that Toronto is an unfriendly city and not worth the visit ." I said this in front of young dancers coming in for their classes, loudly and clearly. Then I left.

I was followed by a "security guard," a dark-skinned Third World immigrant who is participating in this subtle policing that is becoming common in Toronto these days. I told him that I did nothing wrong, but he replied that he didn't think so. "What have I done, then?" I asked. "You cannot take photos of the girls," came that odd reply. By this time, I was really furious, and told hem that he can go back inside to his stupid little job. He lingered, watching me. I could have called out "pervert on the loose" and found a real policeman.

Still, I had set out to do more than getting entangled with this bizarre situation. So, I went around the corner to verify information about the school's other complex. Another dark-skinned, Third World immigrant had been sent out to "keep an eye" on me. I gave him a scornful look, took my photos away from the "property" of the school, and left.

Here is the email I sent to a "to whom it may concern" in the "contact us" page of the NBS website (a generic box to fill in and submit):

To whom it may concern,

This morning, Sunday October 23 around 10:30am, I was at the National Ballet School, inquiring about the school, and the various buildings that make up the school.

I was met with a hostile receptionist, who wanted me out of the building as quickly as possible.

When I confronted the middle-aged woman about her rudeness, she called security, and threatened to "call the cops."

Her response was rude, unexpected, and unacceptable. I told her as such.

This caused her to tell me to "leave the premises" or otherwise she would "call the cops."

I left, with a security guard hovering behind me.

Please take care of this situation, namely the behavior of the receptionist. I expect an apology from her.

Please let me know of the outcome of your investigation, since I intend to take this incident to whatever level required in order to have an apology from your institution.

Kidist Paulos Asrat

I was serious about the quality of the school and of the ballet company. It is a second tier performance group, and even Baryshnikov, who defected from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1974 and was given asylum in Toronto, preferred to leave for the United States, joining the New York City Ballet and on to a prestigious career post-Soviet Union.

Currently, the ballet has a foreigner as a principal dancer, but this happens to be a Chinese-trained female dancer. I doubt that any American ballet company would want her. Imagine watching Swan Lake performed by a Chinese dancer? How are these young NBS dancers, guarded so strongly by these women as though they have brittle bones that could break at a glance, supposed to reconcile the story of Swan Lake with a Chinese face? How is that "protecting" young Canadian dancers?

I tried to find out about more about the Chinese dancer, Xiao Nan Yu. Whether she was married to a white Canadian as is becoming the norm here in Toronto, how she got into Canada in the first place, etc. Here is an excerpt of her biography from NBS website:

Born in Dalian, China, Xiao Nan Yu trained at the Shen Yang School of Dance, the Beijing Dance Academy in China and Canada’s National Ballet School. She joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1996 and has been a Principal Dancer since 2001.

Here are photos of her from the NBS site. Note her aggressive expression. And her official portrait at the NBS website shows a hard glint in her eyes, the triumphalist Asian behavior that I'm observing in Asians (here are my blogs on designers Wang and Doo-Ri). Here is Yu dancing the role of Odette in Swan Lake, an Asian face in a Western role.

I searched for her family background, since she has photographs of her with an Asian-looking daughter on her NBS profile. I was actually looking to see if she married a white Canadian once in Canada. But this website briefly mentions her marital situation:

Xiao Nan Yu, principal dancer with The National Ballet of Canada, and her husband Shuang are the proud parents of a baby girl named Ava, born in November.

The daughter is given the convenient English name of Ava (as in Gardner?!). Yu may not have her "Canadian" life, but she will make that easier for her daughter, including making it easier for her to nab that white Canadian husband.

Part of the ballet school houses the training rooms for the young dancers. These training rooms are in the taller building made of glass, and the students practicing, rehearsing and training are in full view of pedestrians below.

Is this the way to "protect" young girls, who can be the prey of lurking (real) pedophiles and sex criminals watching and waiting from below?

Here's what the NBS informs us about one of the buildings, The Margaret McCain Academic Building:

8 academic classrooms; laboratories for computer, science and photography studies; art studio; audio-visual room; music room; ESL room; and study rooms.

Is the ESL (English as a Second Language) program for those potential Chinese dancers?

Barely visible on the taller highrise is:

The choreography of the opening scene of The Nutcracker...in the suspended frit glass of the south pavilion facade in Benesh notation.

What kind of designer would put illegible (comprehensible is another matter) scribblings on a glass panel? The script is too small, too faint and too high up to be noticed by people below. A waste of an idea, and the money that went into the clearly elaborate engravings.

Sculptures of a swan and a cherub are at the front entrances of a couple of these buildings. The title for this series of sculptures of swan and cherub in various poses is "Desire." One of my question for these hapless receptionists was, "why desire?". Having received no answer, I can deduce that the swan desires the cherub. So who's the pedophilia now! In fact, all the other works of Tom Dean, the sculptor of this series, are dark and macabre. Here's one titled "Sloth" displayed at the Edward Day Gallery. Here's how the gallery describes Dean's work:

In Dean’s The Peaceable Kingdom, serene beasts coexist in a precarious sensual paradise. The leopard lies with the goat kid, the sow and the anaconda are in love and the child and the bear are intimate. But it could collapse in a moment into sex and violence as a demon beaver leads berserk rats into paradise, and a giant vulture waits patiently to pick up the pieces.

And from the brochure that I managed to pick up at the NBS glass structure during my first visit there, this explanation:

Collectively entitled Desire, Canada's National Ballet School's striking suite of bronze sculptures by Toronto artist Tom Dean is rife with enough meanings to inspire a Grade 12 essay...[T]he artist sees his five pairs of life-size sculpted Mute swans and putti (cheeky boy babies of angelic appearance) as representing "the freighted relationship between maturity and youth" or, as teachers like to say, the "mentor-student" relationship.

Freighted relationship between maturity and youth? "Student-mentor" relationship? Between a swan and a cherub? I should add that along with pedophilic connotations, there is an element of zoophilia in Dean's imagery (and life?). I wonder if he's a homosexual? Andy Fabo, the author of the Canada Council for the Arts gushing write-up for Dean linked to in my previous sentence, is certainly part of Gay Toronto.

Finally, the head architect of the firm that designed the building (if one goes by the name sequence of their firm, and the distanced stance of the man on the far left), is an Asian. A final knot that ties together Asian triumphalism with mediocrity, and the West's infatuation with all thing Asian.

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I was looking forward to showcasing some of Toronto's cultural buildings. I wondered at the rude behavior of these women. I think it is surprise at a non-white person showing interest in high, Western, culture. Third World immigrants are not supposed to act "white" and have interest in ballet, opera, concerts, art and architecture. They are supposed to stay in their quaint, exotic enclaves, practicing their quaint, exotic culture (as far away from us as possible), leaving us only safe vestiges of their colorful clothes and spicy (not too spicy) foods.

But, I showed up in my Western clothes, dressed in a salmon/tan coat with matching tan hat and scarf, and white woolen gloves, looking far smarter than the white liberal Third-World-wannabes that roam our streets in their ugly clothes, and middle-aged women (like the receptionists at the NBS) in sloppy pants and shapeless sweaters who would put to shame their grandmothers who took such care with their appearances. That triggered their wrath. "How can a Third Worlder look better than us?" I really think is their rage. At the end of the day, for all their talk of "equality," they simply want these Third Worlders under their thumb, looking pathetic (and worse, and worse off, than them), begging for crumbs. That way, they can pour on them all the "good will" that they can muster, and feel good about themselves. And let's not forget the conveniently located exotic restaurants where the food is not too spicy, where they can "participate" in all the wonderful (at a distance) cultures of the (Third) world.

As I understand it, the benefits of multiculturalism are that the sterile white-bread cultures of Australia, Canada and Britain get some great ethnic restaurants and a Commonwealth Games opening ceremony that lasts until two in the morning. [Mark Steyn on Canadian multiculturalism.]

I don't agree with Steyn's "sterile, white-bread cultures of Australia, Canada and Britain," but for whatever reason, ethnic foods and "exotic" lifestyles have caught the attention of these people, and they are willing to discard their sophisticated cultures for humus and tacos.

Architecture, art, culture and society have converged to give us mediocrity. And Canada is the perfect example of this amalgam.

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Chaz Bono Still on DWTS

Rocky, this ain't

I'm surprised that a show such as Dancing With the Stars exists, with traditional dances like the waltz, and couple's dances like the foxtrot and the quickstep, and other intricate dances like the jive and the jitterbug. Hip-hop has not made it on the list. I keep getting optimistic that our contemporary culture yearns for beautiful things. The fact that young dancers like the Hough siblings (see below) are dedicating their dance careers to such types of dances, and that a show like DWTS exists, is perhaps proof of this optimism.

Still, this season's DWTS seems to be a repository of personalities we might shun under normal circumstances, but who now receive our weekly attention. That is of course true of most TV programs.

I've already written about Chaz Bono on DWTS, who keeps making it to another week of competition, and who made it through to next week by punching into the air to the theme song of Rocky.

I neglected to mention two other personalities.

The first, although it is hardly his fault, is Iraq war veteran J.R. Martinez who received burns to 40% of his body (including his face) when his truck went over a landmine. Cosmetic surgery and make-up does improve his facial scars, but I'm sure at one point wounded soldiers were more modest, and more retiring, about their injuries.

The other is the homosexual presenter of the fashion makeover show "Queer Eyes for the Straight Guy" Carson Kressley. There seems to be a common agreement that gay men are natural aesthetes. The history of aesthetics (art) is filled with straight men. Perhaps the few homosexuals we encounter are given unusual publicity, perhaps by gay art historians and the like, for their homosexuality.

Kressley's "gay flair" is so noticeable, and ever-present, that it overshadows (and cancels out) his other positive abilities.

On another note, half (of the twelve) professional dancers are Eastern European. This week, I noticed that two, Tony Dovolani and Maksim Chmerkovsky, were unduly harsh on their all-American partners, Chynna Phillips and Hope Solo (their bios are here). These are normally confident and outspoken women. They expected to participate in the dance creations and routines, rather than simply follow instructions. The men made it clear that they were the bosses, at times even walking out of rehearsals when they felt the women weren't allowing that to happen.

In a desperate bid, the women appealed to the men's "pride" by buttressing their egos with admiring words and self-effacing attitudes. It was awkward, and embarrassing to watch. Chynna Phillips got low scores and was sent home last night anyway. At her exit, a glint of regret escaped from her hardened face, as though she was angry at having succumbed to her partner's bully tactics. Next time, she'll know what to do when "culture" gets in the way.

On a positive note, there are the talented siblings Derek and Julianne Hough, who are the real stars of DWTS. I've written about Derek before, comparing him to Fred Astair. Julianne could be his Ginger Rogers. This video is of Derek and Julianne dancing together.

Now, let's just all vote next time and get rid of the "Chaz Bono factor" (i.e. the "freak show factor").

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RE: FYI, Chaz on DWTS

Chaz Bono all butched up for Dancing With the Stars

The ugly, creepy Chaz Bono is still in the running for Dancing With the Stars (DWTS). I've written here that it keeps getting voted back on the show for the freak factor. Teary-eyed Cher was watching, and applauding, in the audience last night. Like I said before, the emotional Cher, after angrily rejecting her daughter's sex change, embraced the new Chaz, preferring to have something to nothing. "Sex change" is actually a false description, since the procedure is incomplete. Chaz has informed us that if it has a penis, there is no guarantee that it will have enjoyable sex, so better to leave its female parts below. Sorry for the sordid details, but like I've said before, it is better to know our enemies since the day of reckoning is surely not far off.

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Chaz Bono Still On Prime Time TV

From Chas to Chaz, Bono's Journey:
Chastity Bono turns to Chaz Bono.
That means she no longer has to be a lesbian
with her girlfriend (pictured above right)
she met before turning trans.

I wrote about Chaz Bono's participation in Dancing With the Stars, and how it remained in the competition for another week, which I concluded was due to the "freak show" factor.

Well, Chaz is back again, despite a weird, creepy dance routine, and actually being the worst in the competition. I'm pretty sure it is still the freak factor that keeps it on the show for another week.

The good thing is that all the other celebrity dancers are really quite good, as was the one eliminated (an Italian actress, and probably the reason she was voted off is because not many people would know her). So, the trick is to keep an eye on Chaz and study its behavior and actions, as a reference for other "trans" freaks in our brave new society. Their aggression can really only be countered by our aggression, but we have to know what we're fighting against first.

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Lesbians and Other Sexual Freaks on Prime Time TV:Jane Lynch and Chaz Bono

From Chas to Chaz: Bono's Journey:
Chastity Bono turns to Chaz Bono.
That means she no longer has to be a lesbian
with her girlfriend (pictured above right)
she met before turning trans.

Right: Family photo with Jane on the right
Left: Jane with her "wife"
Jane Lynch, the ebullient lesbian, doesn't need (want?) a sex
change, and wears pants or dresses, depending on
the occasion. She still calls her "partner" her "wife" though,
seeing as they recently got "married"
[Photos from Jane Lynch's new book "Happy Accidents"]
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I wonder what set off the triggers that eventually changed these young girls? They weren't particularly attractive as young girls. Could it be that they're rebelling against, angry at, the taunts and rejections they got in the school yard? Young friends teasing them that they looked different? That they were too tall, too fat? Bullies who took advantage of their shyness? Mothers who didn't come to the rescue, but told them to "go out and fight back?"

I always wonder what turns people into lesbians or homosexuals. Camille Paglia, the famous anti-lesbian lesbian thinks that it is the relationship with a cold and distant mother which triggers off lesbians, and a close and cloying one which sets off homosexuals.

Here's what Paglia writes in her book "Vamps and Tramps" about lesbians:

A once lesbian-friend, now married, declared to me that lesbians suffer from "buried rage, with a desperate need for consolation. I see a persistent pattern among white middle-class lesbians: they often have a decorous, passive-aggressive mother, who uses her daughter as a proxy to act out her secret ambivalence towards men, in the person of the never directly confronted husband. Caretakers on the surface, lesbians are seething with unacknowledged hostility...

Well, these photos seem to show that. Although the Cher photo somewhat belies that. But Chastity was part of a show business family, and I would think that Cher really had no time for her except when she was on stage and performing with her. But Cher was genuinely shocked, upset and hurt at her daughter's change of, well, person. I think in a normal family, she would have been more the pestering, ever-present mother (would Chas have turned Chaz too, then?). Chaz, as an adult, could have figured that out, and forgiven her mother. But revenge is sweeter than forgiveness, I would think. Revenge to pay back that absent mother, irrelevant of the reasonable reasons. So, Chastity went the self-destructive route. Some revenge. If life was so unbearable, she could have just left. But true to her narcissism, she preferred to stay in the limelight, and shock her mother with her public, exhibitionist act.

Here's Cher's account of her reaction to the sex change:

"I was hysterical one day because I was calling Chaz's answering machine and I realized it was her old voice, and then I said, 'Chaz is there a way I can save it because I will never hear that voice again?' And there wasn't, it was gone.

"That's the most traumatic thing that has happened to me in this whole thing - hearing her voice and knowing I'll never hear it again."

[S]he avoided seeing Chaz - whose father is the singer's late husband Sonny Bono - for a long time after he began treatment because she was so nervous.

..."I was so nervous...I hadn't seen her and I was putting it off...If I don't recognize her, what will happen?"

Cher also admitted she still doesn't feel "comfortable" referring to her offspring as "him" rather than "her".

..."At some point, I'm gonna have to start calling her 'him'. It doesn't seem comfortable to me yet. Actually I just can't remember and I guess I'll start forcing myself but I'm not sure she cares."

The "transgendered" "Chaz" Bono, "daughter" of Cher (who herself has transformed her face and looks very different from her original looks) is a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. I think DWTS is one of the few good shows out there where contestants have to fight for their position as the best Celebrity Ballroom Dancer through about twelve weeks of hard competitions (some actually have to withdraw because of injuries). The professional dancers have dedicated most of their lives to ballroom dancing, and are graceful dancers, humble individuals, and good teachers. They know showmanship isn't all, and talent and hard work are also part of their success.

So, how did "Chaz" Bono, the "transgendered" freak (Bono is a guy on top, but female at the bottom) make it so high up in popular culture to get invited to do a show like DWTS, and to stay on for another week of competition (the contestant with lowest number of audience votes is sent home, and Bono made it through the first week)?

I think that people are just interested in the freak factor, and the spectacle another week with Bono will bring.

Still, I'm not sure if "transgendered" freaks are more acceptable in our current society, as much as they attract attention and curiosity. I think society has always been like this (think of circus freaks) where such creatures are inspected and viewed within confined areas apart from society, but don't participate in normal society. Today's freaks appear to be more accepted (they walk our streets like ordinary members), but they're not quite there yet. Anyone who sees Bono, and knows about its transformations, will not help gawking. And Bono received death threats when its participation in DWTS became known, and the DWTS set has had to hire bodyguards.

Lesbians are another story these days. I suppose it could be that they haven't altered any anatomical parts that society is more lenient towards them. Or because there have been some in the spotlight (Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell) who have been aggressively using their platform to tell their audience that they are just like them (they want love and family, only that they have a slightly different version of what family is).

Actress Jane Lynch, a lesbian who recently "married" her "partner," got the hosting job for this year's Emmys. She made a joke about her "marriage" at the Emmys with co-presenter Elizabeth Moss, another actress:

[Lynch quips]: "A lot has changed since 1955, women can marry other women. Hi Peggy [a character in the 1960s TV show Mad Men]"... Moss replied: "Does that mean that women don’t have to sleep with men anymore to make it to the top?" To which Lynch dryly replied: “They still have to do that."

But that is obviously changing, or has even probably changed, if we look at high-placed public figures like DeGeneres and O'Donnell. And lesbians (and homosexuals) have managed to convince contemporary society that their way of life belongs in the mainstream, marriage and all. If we've come so far with lesbians, I don't see why the transgendered cannot come out of their viewing cages, and live unaffected lives in normal society. It is just a matter of time.

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Melanie Moore at So You Think You Can Dance: Beauty vs. Expression

"New Moon: Meadows" was choreographed by Katie Carroll and
Tonya Hughes, faculty at the Rhythm Dance Center in Georgia,
with music by Alexandre Desplat.

This is the dance that Melanie Moore performed at her audition for the television dance competition show So You Think You Can Dance. The actual audition video is full of interruptions by the "judges" who feel compelled to "express themselves" by talking loudly during this quiet performance. They were clearly moved by something, and I think there were some beautiful moments, which I discuss below. The Youtube video above is of Melanie performing at the National Jump Dance Convention in 2010 where she won the National Senior Female VIP scholarship which includes:

- $400 scholarship to a future Break The Floor Productions' Intensive within one year of issue
- One JUMP Tour Scholarship, to be used at any JUMP regional workshop
- One JUMP National Finale Workshop Scholarship.
- Eligibility to compete to be the National JUMP VIP at JUMP's National Finale in NYC.
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I've been watching the dance competition show So You Think You Can Dance almost from the start of its programing, and hardly missed an episode this season. I'm trying to see if dance, classical, artistic, dance can make a comeback. I think it can.

Melanie Moore seemed the likely winner from the start of this season, as she glided through into each consecutive week, until she made the finals. Despite the tension, and her modesty, she made it as the winner.

Her style is a mixture of avant-garde modern and classical ballet. She seems to be channeling a Swan Lake swan, despite the non-aquatic name of the piece, in her audition dance "New Moon: Meadows." She is also very strong, so there is a bit of gymnastic athleticism in her movements. With her ballet movements, she is expansive and extroverted, although she is only 5'4". When she reverts to the modern style, she pulls in and appears even smaller than her already small size.

Her dance "New Moon: Meadows" was choreographed by Katie Carroll and Tonya Hughes, faculty at the Rhythm Dance Center in Georgia, where Melanie studied before she left for Fordahm University in New York. The music to "New Moon: Meadows" is by Alexandre Desplat, a well known composer for film, including The King's Speech and Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer. I review the soundtracks for both films here (The King's Speech, at Camera Lucida) and here (Ghostwriter, at Frontpage Magazine).

Her audition dance (see the above video) appears in many other performances, so I think it is her signature piece.

Using these (slim) pieces of evidence, I think that she loves ballet, the beauty of ballet, yet she gets compelled to put in her "quirky" personality into her pieces. "New Moon: Meadows" was choreographed by her teachers at dance school, and I presume that they created this piece for her, to fit her personality.

This is the modern artist's worship of self-expression and individualism, which becomes "quirky" at its lowest denominator, and when fully expressed is simply ugly. I think the rejection of beauty is a modern phenomenon, and I've written about this in several posts (see the subject "Beauty" on the side panel). Beauty has standards, irrespective of the individual. Not many can attain the rigors of beauty (although beauty is there to be enjoyed by all). Artists are at the forefront of beauty. They create it, they maintain it, and they propagate it. When they have nothing to say about beauty (or with beauty), the world gets that much poorer.

A young dancer (artist) like Melanie is stuck in this world which understands beauty, yet undermines it at the same time. Her instincts, and artistic abilities, tell her to aim for beauty. Yet everyone around her encourages her self-expression, which doesn't have the beauty of ballet (I am reluctant to call her movements ugly, since she is really a very good dancer). Thus, this modern style of dance is advanced by her mentors and teachers.

Perhaps the only recourse for talented and sensitive dancers like Melanie is to break away from these teachers, and to study how dance contributed to history and civilization, and to recreate those traditions and ideas. I don't see a long life for modern dance.

The interesting thing is that Melanie is not studying dance at Fordham, but painting (art). I wonder why she chose this? Could it be that dance, or the dance instruction she received, has left her bereft, and she channeled her talents in the arts into painting and drawing instead?

Perhaps as she gets older, she might construct her own dance method and theory. After all, that is the tradition in America. It is great that she auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance, even as she attends Fordham as a painting student. That means she's still enthusiastic about dance. The national recognition through winning the competition will surely help her to develop independently the dance language and ideas she is searching for.

Last season's winner was also a young woman, Lauren Froderman, and she had a similar style to Melanie's: part athletic, part graceful, part inelegant. Her audition tape again show that her style was formed before she came on the program. And now, a year later, she has started a dance company which tours and teaches young dancers.

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Self-Authentication

Stella, Joseph
The Skyscrapers, 1920-22
(Cover of John Leonard's book Private Lives in the Imperial City)
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John Leonard, in his short story "To Dance or Not to Dance" from his 1979 book Private Lives in the Imperial City, writes:

Then came the sixties. In a series of seedy discotheques, to which I went only in the company of Erving Goffman and other dramaturgists, I found that people were dancing without looking at one another. Narcissism was liberating. Energy did not require talent; it was self-authenticating. To be sure, a partner or two complained that a key was needed to unlock my knees, that I lacked soul - but I have always believed, with Descartes, that my soul, if I have one, is in my pineal gland, not in my pelvis or anywhere else south of the tropic of my bellybutton. I could dance, while at the same time maintaining my autonomy, the crux criticorum.
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Private Lives in the Imperial City
"To Dance or Not to Dance" p. 163

I wrote in my blog post Geometry in Pride and Prejudice (I'm reproducing the complete, short post, below):

Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice , also enacted in various movie versions - the 1940 version with Laurence Olivier being a classic - is full of geometry.

During the frequent social dances which bring different families and groups together, dances are a common way for people to interact. Dancers are paired off with diagonally opposite partners, then break loose to join those next to them, and travel down lines with yet another. Partners weave in and out of lines and squares to complete the dance. The music prompts you when to start, stop and change directions and patterns.

Finally, at the very end, like a lovely carpet, all the patterns settle in perfect harmony and geometry. Everyone, and everything, is just where they belong.

Such dances are a microcosm of what happens in society itself. The rules of the game are dictated by subtle meters and melodies, decorum and restraint are required, conversation and interaction with partners and groups are carefully choreographed. And the final outcome is an unobtrusive and polite pairing off of the right couples.

In a short century and a half, social dance (dancing within a group with a specific partner) becomes "self-authenticating" rather than where "groups [and partners] are carefully choreographed" to form a final pattern. Contemporary social dance is like a Jackson Pollock painting of splattered paint. The painting's purpose is to represent the individualized soul of the painter. It is often (always, at least to the uninitiated) incoherent and "patternless." But its purpose is not to relate to others, or even to the world beyond the painting, but to release the energy (idiosyncrasies) coiled within the painter.

I picked up Private Lives in the Imperial City in a second hand bookstore. I had no idea who Leonard was, and still don't know much about him, except that he was an abashed leftist (Wikipedia calls him "an acerbic leftist" and lists one of his activities as "a union organizer for migrant farmers") and a book critic for the New York Times - I'm not sure if the two are related.

Still, subscribing to leftist politics doesn't preclude talent, and I think Leonard had plenty of it. His chapter on dancing is very funny, especially when his "sidekick" refuses to dance during a night out with a group of people, having acquired serious doubts about her dancing abilities. Leonard sympathizes with her insecurity: "I dance like an oil rig myself, all elbows and pumping action." But he believes that such talentless gyrations should be celebrated, unlike his more discerning friend, since they exult the individual, freeing him to fulfill his "self-authentication."

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Belly Dance Aficionadas

In my article I posted on Yale University professor/memoir writer Chinese-American Amy Chua, A Sino-Draconian-mission, I linked to my (unpublished) article on belly dancing.

I have been writing quite a bit recently on the "frivolous" arts like fashion, and perhaps the belly dance article shows how we go from ballet to belly dance in the minds of many "belly dance aficionadas".

I wrote the article in 2005, after about two years of diligent belly dance instructions, first as a form of exercise, then as a way to perfect a dance form. Yes, I would have liked the sequined costume that I about write below, but the reason I quit cold is because I realized the limited art in the field. The hype (sequins) was much bigger than the content.

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The Underbelly of Belly Dance
There is a curious phenomenon that has been going on in North America and Europe for the past few decades. Thousands of women are "shamelessly displaying their femininity" through a Middle Eastern dance form more dubiously known as belly dance.

The "Finding your Femininity through Belly Dance" hype is actually the last vestiges of the so-called female liberation’s movement. Belly dance is advertised to Western women to release their apparent inhibitions regarding their bodies. The undulations, body waves, hip circles and other abdomen-centric movements appear to glorify the unique feminine body. If you are not embarrassed at moving in these overtly erotic ways ( there is no other word to describe the movements in belly dance but as erotic), then you have come a long way, seems to be the message.

Many belly dance aficionados have tried to historically disassociate the dance from its erotic nature. An ancient Egyptian woman called the Almeh, who was well versed in poetry, music dance and other intellectual stimuli, is portrayed as having been the sophisticated cultivator of the dance. Yet, this description fits perfectly with the modern Japanese Geisha, who is a sexualized entertainer of men despite her erudition and education. The prestigious Almeh no longer exists in modern Egypt, if she ever really existed before.

The belly dance craze in North America started gaining momentum in the seventies and has been growing steadily since. Recently, belly dance schools have tapped onto the extraordinary success of the fitness movements. Gyms started giving belly dance classes along side aerobics. Even yoga centers brought in their belly dance teachers. Still, most women attend classes in belly dance schools at many convenient (and sometimes quite inconvenient) locations. Finally, the convergence into popular culture was sealed when overt eroticism became a daily routine on TV and in the movies. Belly dancing became something to do.

The majority of women say they started belly dancing to make themselves feel better. They’re searching for some kind of uninhibited narcissism – a feel good about their body - while doing all these undulations and shimmies. Their ultimate proclamation is "we don’t need men to make ourselves feel better" slogan that came out of the feminist movement. Yet quite contrary to this much advertised slogan, it is the poor men who become subjugated to the girl-power type of behavior (exhibited by grandmothers and granddaughters alike) and who end up supporting the dancers.

There is also the unexpected (or probably quite expected) competition. The urge to be a belly dancer can be a cut-throat experience. Gilded in clenched smiles and girlish voices, what everyone really wants is to stand center stage in full sequined costume. As with every activity which does not quite reach the level of art, the acrobatics and costumes in belly dance act as substitutes for artistic sublimities. Belly dancing styles become a contortionist’s feat of moving as many parts of the stomach muscles as possible. In fact, its initiation into North America was at Chicago's "World's Columbian Exposition" in 1893, which introduced to the American public the "dancing girls of the Middle East", whose huge popularity was mainly as a circus act, along with the hoochy koochy label.

Many North American professional belly dancers guard closely that they hail from the much more artistic and cultivated discipline of ballet. They started dancing very young, as is required of ballet, and were rejected an entrance into this elite art form. Belly dancing offered them a chance to script their own standards, where the rigorous ballet judges cannot criticize them – what do they know about belly dance anyway?

The overriding promise of belly dance is that "you will feel better about all the failures that have derailed your life no matter what they are" is really a message about masks and camouflage. The real issues are not addressed and resolved. What better way to forget the past than to immerse oneself in something so foreign that all those forgone defeats can be forgotten. Ironically, far from giving them the self-worth they crave, it puts them in an ambiguous relationship with the dance. Even in Middle Eastern circles, where belly dancers are hired for weddings and other festivities, it is still a dance that is frowned upon. Dancers are forever trying to find euphemisms for belly dance, emphasizing its folk nature, or its erudite beginnings, or as a dance for pregnant women. Unlike ballet, a belly dancer can never proudly and publicly proclaim her profession.

Reference:
- Donna Carlton. Looking for Little Egypt. Bloomington, Ind. : IDD Books, 1994

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The Luck of the Unicorns

In medieval tapestries

The Toronto Star had a "Special Report" on fall travel in last Monday's (September 6, 2010) edition. One especially enchanting place to visit is The Cloisters in New York. One sometimes forgets the fascination for old Europe that Americans (and Canadians) had. In this day and age, Europe seems to have lost its luster. The Cloisters are especially interesting since the structures were re-assembled from originals from France, gifted by the great John D. Rockefeller Jr.

I have never been to The Cloisters, but have always known that they house the beautiful tapestries The Hunt of the Unicorn. But, I was lucky to see another set of unicorn tapestries, The Lady and the Unicorn (La Dame à la Licorne), housed in the Musée de Cluny, in Paris.

While studying botanical art, I wrote an article in which I do an expansive (idiosyncratic?) review of botanical art through the centuries. I mention The Lady and the Unicorn briefly, explaining how the work merged the decorative and medicinal elements of plants.

The article, Botanical Art and the Decorative Arts was published in the Botanical Artists of Canada Newsletter in the Summer 2007 issue (pp3-4).

 

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Pop Culture Notes

Idols, Stars and Queens

Miss California on the spot

American Idol:

Danny is the true talent, the true singer. But he is stodgy and not very good looking.

Kris (with a K) is much cuter, a little like a laid-back rock star. His voice is above average, but I think it is his self-confidence that sets him apart.

Adam is the strange creature, who looks like a vampire on stage. When he sings, I almost get the impression that he will start to uncurl his tongue. He has a sweet smile before he starts singing, but is truly frightening once he sings.

And the fans eliminated...Danny, the true talent. People really do want the unusual and the good looking. Even the clueless judges find Adam the Vampire exceptional. This is how stars are made.

Dancing with the Stars:

This show can really be quite exceptional at times. The Viennese Waltz and the Quickstep are classics, elegant and refined, and the show does them one hundred percent credit. But, ballroom also includes those body-baring and body-shaking "dances": the Salsa, Rumba, Cha Cha and Samba (I don't think I missed any). These are truly embarrassing dances to watch.

But, that is the legacy of pop culture. Overt sexuality is always there, and even shows which could redeem this obvious tarnish revert to it at one point or another.

At times, all I can say is, "Strauss would be turning in his grave right now."

Miss California:

When Miss California's brave answer about defending marriage as between men and women was aired, all I could think was how beautiful she was. More so than the other contestants there. Then, awful photos of her started springing up, showing her half clothed, in quasi-revealing poses.

This of course doesn't sit well with her conservative, Christian (as she says) world view. But, once again, pop culture is so tainted that a young Christian girl feels it is alright to pose semi-nude, and speak of traditional things like marriage in public.

There is an artistic tradition of the female nude. It is imperative in art school to learn to draw the figure, unclothed. But, in drawings and paintings, there isn't that immediate and raw reality one gets from photographs. Paintings defuse the harshness of an exposed body, trying to give it something other than an erotic (or pornographic) effect. Miss California's photos, unfortunately, were not art.

The problem is partly exploitation. Photographers will do all they can to get very young girls (Miss California was 17 when some of these photos were taken) unawares.

But, the bigger question is why is her family letting her do this? And why doesn't she have enough prudence to not have such photos taken?

"Beauty pageants and modeling jobs demand this", is the response. That only means that beautiful girls like Miss California shouldn't be attending pageants and modeling sessions. I would make that clear restriction if I were her parent.

Even the now infamous Sarah Palin defends these photos, and of course the whole beauty pagaent industry. But then, she was the one who exposed her pregnant daughter to the world during the RNC.

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Chopin and Jerome Robbins

Second only to Balanchine

Broadway musicals and classical ballet, Jerome Robbins did it all. He was born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz, and picked up dance when his sister started to learn the art. Some of his well-known Broadway choreographies include West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof and The King and I.

He also did many classical and modern dance pieces, working closely with Balanchine for many years.

Here is a youtube of the third Pas de Deux from In the Night, with Chopin's Nocturne, op. 55, no. 2. Performed by the Paris Opera Ballet's Aurélie Dupont and Laurent Hilaire.

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Keeping The Viennese Waltz Alive

With young dancer Derek Hough's grace

It is hard these days to find truly talented dancers, who also find dances worthy of their talent. The great thing about the recent surge of ballroom dancing, along with shows like Dancing with the Stars, is that they're reviving this tradition, and also giving great dance repertoires to aspiring dancers.

Derek Hough (of Dancing with the Stars fame) is one young dancer who, for now, is keeping this tradition alive.

The video above is not great quality, but it is his style and grace is clear.

One thing, though. They really have to work on the music. I think it affects the rhythm, and the beat, and where the dancers put the accents, which spoils the flow of the waltz. I've written about this before.

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Channeling Cyd Charisse

Dancing with the stars

I've previously blogged about Dancing with the Stars, saying that part of its charm is that it is reviving older dance routines, such as the waltz, foxtrot and the quickstep, along with older tunes and melodies.

It nonetheless has a "back to the future" feel about it. The dancers have a subtle lack of sophistication and finesse. I don't think this has to do with their ages, but rather with their cultural environment, where a certain freewheeling spirit is encouraged.

Compare them to Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire [dance videos linked]. There is tremendous discipline, restrained energy and sophistication in these dancers.

Still, Lacey Schwimmer choreographs [video of mambo linked] a pretty good rendition of a mambo - one of those dances which was fine-tuned by American dancers, despite its Latin origin, into a playfully teasing interpretation. I think she channels Cyd Charisse well with this dance.

On another note, the Viennese waltz that Derek Hough dances with Brooke Burke is heavy on beat ONE, and really doesn't work as it should, making the usually talented dancer Derek [video of waltz linked] at times lose the beautiful smooth sweeps that such a dance demands. I think the melody should be stronger to allow the embellishments that such a dance needs. The pop tune in Derek's choreography is bereft of any interesting parts and is continuously overshadowed by the beat of the bass. [Ed: On further thought, I was a little harsh on Derek's choreography. A lesser talent wouldn't have come up with his waltz. I still think he was fighting against leaning on the bass to much.]

Here is an example [dance video linked] of an inconspicuous beat, with an intricate melody, and how it helps the dancers to be much more fluid, and to choreograph interesting moves.

Here is another video of Charisse and Astaire doing a wonderfully graceful "Dancing In The Dark" from the musical "The Bandwagon." It is not a waltz but its flowing melody and quieter bass helps the dancers to glide through their number.

So, it isn't really Derek's fault. It's really a deterioration of the music - more bass, less melody. And it results with modern dancers who cannot quite reach the level of perfection that their predecessors worked so hard to achieve.

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Oldies

In the ballroom

One show that I watch weekly, until its "winners" are announced is "Dancing with the Stars." And it's all ballroom dancing!


Foxtrot to the tune of "Lullaby of Birdland" (Starts around the 1:20 spot ) for week 7.

Derek Hough is the Fred Astaire heir of the 21st century. Humorous, precise and very talented. He choreographs (as do all the professional dancers) all the dances. Do excuse the costume, great color and design, but more material is needed - this is television, after all.

Firstly, it is the tremendous amount of effort these "stars" put in to learn something completely new, and very challenging.

Then, it is the drama that goes on. This being a very demanding and athletic type of dance, injuries are frequent, including stress-related ones such as extreme stomach aches that lead to emergency rooms.

Finally, ignoring the over-exposed (in all senses of the word) "Latin" dances - mambo, samba, rumba, even the tango - and concentrating on the real "ballroom", which includes the waltz, foxtrot and quickstep, some of these dancers really do put on elegant numbers, with all those oldies. Lovely songs, with great lyrics, and witty, well crafted tunes.

To be fair to the "Latins", I think the paso doble can take a well-earned place in "ballroom", although it is just a little melodramatic. And the cha-cha-cha was created by a Frenchman in England, so its Latin origins are that the music came from Cuba, not the dance.

I should add that the jive and jitterbug, those quintessentially American dances, in their exuberance and fun, and their incredible speed, are much more sophisticated dances than any of the Latin numbers.

Here are four "oldies" songs out of ten (that is a lot considering we hear zero of them normally) from week eight that were used in that week's competition. I've linked with youtube renditions.

I couldn't find the inimitable Frank Sinatra's "Call me irresponsible", but a young singer Michael Buble, who is actually reviving Sinatra's songs, does a fine job of this one.

1. "Call me irresponsible" - Buble sings Blue Eyes

2. "Puttin' on the Ritz" - Sung and tapped by Fred Astaire

3. "Sweet Pea" - A bluesy, ragtime revival of sorts

4. "Hallelujah I Love Her So" Ray Charles (1955)

Who knew. Television as a medium for sophistication and a return to lovely songs.

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Dance Patterns and Designs

In "Becoming Jane" and "Hairspray"

Choreography must be like putting a design pattern onto fabric. There is this stretch of space (the fabric) which must be filled with as many moves as possible (the patterns) to produce an overall design.

This is how I envision the dances in Jane Austin's books, which figure frequently in her stories and are shown briefly in the pseudo-autobiography film Becoming Jane.

Austen's dances, known as English Country Dance, are all about pattern, geometry and a cohesive design.

But, they're also a social commentary, as I describe in this blog entry. There is a restrained, formal, interaction between the man and his female partner and between the various couples to finally form an ephemeral design that weaves in and out of pattern.

This is similar to some of the choreography in Hairspray. The director and choreographer, Adam Shankman, talks about forming patterns during his creative process. And the dances are very similar to the English Country Dances, except of course the music is more exuberant, and the steps more boisterous. But that's another issue.

But, even Shankman distinguishes between the black dances and the ones performed by the white kids. As Shankman explains, he got the ideas for the choreography of the black dances from a friend whose parents lived in that era (late 50s early 60s.)

The black dances have less form and shape, and finally very little pattern. Since Shankman is choreographing using his own (white) background, he still puts some element of design and form into these dances, but much less than what he does in the white dances.

And the white dances are more interesting, more complex, and more "artistic."

Despite Hairspray's attempt to put the story's emphasis on the "redemption of black people," at the very creative level, where peculiarities really cannot be changed, it is the white choreography that excels.

I think blacks really couldn’t care less if their dances are choreographed or not. So, the superiority of the white dances isn’t even considered. But, Shankman’s structure, which he put on all the dances, makes the film much more interesting for the viewer. And probably helps to sell the film as well.

Here is movie clip of a Quadrille, which is a later invention, but still has the same elements of form, pattern and design as English Country Dance.

Patterns of English Country Dance.
From: Plan and construction of a Country Dance

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Geometry in Pride and Prejudice

Patterns of English Country Dance. [1]

Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, also enacted in various movie versions - the 1940 version with Laurence Olivier being a classic - is full of geometry.

During the frequent social dances which bring different families and groups together, dances are a common way for people to interact. Dancers are paired off with diagonally opposite partners, then break loose to join those next to them, and travel down lines with yet another. Partners weave in and out of lines and squares to complete the dance. The music prompts you when to start, stop and change directions and patterns.

Finally, at the very end, like a lovely carpet, all the patterns settle in perfect harmony and geometry. Everyone, and everything, is just where they belong.

Such dances are a microcosm of what happens in society itself. The rules of the game are dictated by subtle meters and melodies, decorum and restraint are required, conversation and interaction with partners and groups are carefully choreographed. And the final outcome is an unobtrusive and polite pairing off of the right couples.

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1. Plan and construction of a Country Dance

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