A DANCER'S SILHOUETTE...

A DANCER'S SILHOUETTE...

This is just a poem I found online that i really wanted to share. Hope you like it as much as I did

by: Kassandre Renee

across the wall dances her shadow...never letting her dreams go
watching closely her silhouette...refusing to forget
though her spirits slowly falling...
because they'll never understand her hearts true calling
they tell her what to do...and she tries to...to move on
but her desires are never really gone
why do they refuse
to let her pursue
her dreams
everynight, she cries
cause theyve torn and ripped
at her happiness
and far away she starts to slip
she just wants to fade
to a place
a place where permission is not needed to let her body go
where not just her silhouette is a dancer
but she is as well
somewhere she can be
free
free to move
to move as she may please
she wants a chance,
she wants a shot at freedom
freedom to dance,
freedom for more than just her heart, her soul,
her silhouette,
to move

Dance quotes

A lot of people will start every day off thinking about some of the famous quotes that have been said throughout our history. It helps to keen them focused on their goals in life as they think about these great men and women who have helped to shape our world. Furthermore, quotes inspire us and keep us interested in any activity that we are partaking in. Dance quotes are no different.

All dancers love to see a few quotes that show how important dance is to them. Most of the quotes are usually made by ballet dancers but there is no reason why we cannot all translate that into any type of dance.

Dance quotes for me are especially important because they show that there are other people out there who feel the same way that I do. I constantly search for dance quotes on tumblr and pinterest all the time and I am always so excited when I see a quote that I haven't heard before or when it has been creatively put in with a new dance picture.

Below are a number of dance quotes that I absolutely love. One of my favourite quotes is 'I dance because there is no greater feeling in the world than moving to a piece of music and letting the world disappear.' There is no other quote that describes how I feel than this one. I find myself being swept away in music and wanting to do the waltz or a contemporary routine when I listen to music and it just takes you to another place. I have said I don't do contemporary dancing so that is just wishful thinking on my part though.

Another of my favourites is a quote by Martha Graham. She says “Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.” Nothing could be truer. I always want to tell people to just relax and enjoy themselves when I see them stressing about looking perfect or not getting the moves right. Dancing is about having fun and meeting new people. In a social setting, no one cares really. As long as you are having fun, people forget to look at your dancing. Perfect moves come with practice, but in the meantime, we should enjoy ourselves while we learn and have fun learning this craft.



  
           





 

We're on Facebook :)

I've added a Facebook page as a support for this blog. Check it out. It should be fun to manage on my side. Hope it adds more value to you as well.

I'm going to add a lot of quotes and pictures there, just to keep everyone interested in between posts. The link is :

https://www.facebook.com/SnowieDanceBlog

Or you can just click on facebook on the right hand bar, for faster access whenever you need to.

Let's talk about dancing shoes

As a ballroom and Latin dancer, one of the most important things that you need to have is a nice and comfortable dance shoe to practice and perform in. While my first dancing shoe was okay, it wasn't as comfortable as it should have been. I really should have paid attention to all the tips that I had browsed through before actually purchasing my first pair of latin shoes.

One of the things that I should have especially paid attention to is the fact that dancing shoes are made of leather. As a result, it is important to get a slightly smaller size to allow for some stretching. Obviously you don't want your shoes to hurt you and to make you uncomfortable so your discretion is needed. My first shoes got really stretched within a few months and dancing in them made life a bit too difficult.

Knowing the styles to buy is also important for all dancers especially beginners as they tend to buy just one pair. Ladies generally buy latin shoes whereas males generally buy standard shoes. My first pair were 2 inch heels but I found that a bit short for me. I currently have 2.5" heels now which I'm very comfortable with. Obviously, everyone has to work with what's more comfortable for them.

Heel sizes and the different types

Ladies heels can vary from 1-3 inch heels. However latin requires a slightly higher heel in order to bring your weight forward onto your toes. Males can only choose between 0.5-2 inch heels i.e 0.5-1" for ballroom and 2" for latin.

Male dancing shoes generally look like this:

Standard ballroom

   

Latin/ Rhythm

You don't get a lot of variety in style with male shoes (As much as i know anyway). 

Female dancing shoes generally look like this:

Latin/Rhythm

Standard Ballroom

The reason that most girls tend to just buy latin shoes is because you can manage to dance standard ballroom in Latin shes but the same can't be said for ballroom shoes. It is very difficult (impossible even?) because standard shoes are not flexible enough to allow you to point your feet. I don't really know much about that though as I'm only an intermediate and we just use latin shoes. 

There are many different styles for ladies to choose from. Standard ballroom has a lot less variety compared to latin though.

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Practice shoes: 

I've been seeing a lot of people in my dance class wearing practice shoes and I've been wondering weather they're worth buying and what difference they would make,

This is what I found: 

Practice shoes are essentially just standard or latin shoes, but with perforated leather so your feet breathes better. I actually need to ask a few of my friends about this as I didn't get a lot of information on the internet. But this is how they look:

Male 

Female 

Dancing shoes are so pretty. I can't wait to add another pair to my small collection

                 

Converse as dancing shoes

My obsession with Converse All Stars has no bounds. If only I could waltz in them and still look poised and elegant. Sigh. As it is, I spend so much time looking up new pictures on pinterest and tumbler, it's insane. So as a tribute to that obsession, I've put up a few pictures that are slightly dance related.

I especially love the ballet pics. Those are always quite pretty

Slavik & Karina

I know it's not happening but I wish they would just danced together one more time. They're still my favourite couple even though they haven't danced together in years.

The following are links to two of my favourite dances by this dynamic couple;

Rumba 2004

Rumba to Lionel Ritchie

At least there is still Yulia and her amazing legs to watch

No Sokkie for me :(

Some of our members in my dance society are going out on a celebratory sokkie outing tonight. I was also quite keen on going until I realised the amount of work I need to get through this week. I feel so lame not going :'(.  At least I'll get to start my business ethics essay though which is due in 2 days. I left it quite late as it is already.

Some of you might not know what a sokkie is so I'll just explain it a bit. Sokkie is a dance uniquie to Southern Africa and mostly popular with Afrikaners. 'Sokkie' means sock in Afrikaans and refers to the way young people often dance in their socks and also barefoot. Sokkie is often danced to Afrikaans music, though not restricted to it,

This(Sokkie)  is the only good video I could find of a sokkie unfortunately, but it is a good one though.

I hope my friends are having an awesome time sokkieng up a storm :)

Intervarsity: Formation

Every year, a different University hosts a ballroom and latin dancing competition with various sections including latin, ballroom, team dance and formation. This year, I decided to be part of the UCT formation dance. We spent a lot of time practicing the moves and making sure we got our lines and steps right with the help of our coach Iliana.

This year, only four Universities competed, namely: University of Cape Town, University of Stellenbosch (Maties) and University of Pretoria (Tuks). Our formation was based on the 1920s theme with a bit of Charleston, Milonga, Waltz and the Viennese. Maties had a rumba and slow foxtrot formation while Tuks had a bit of everything including the ballroom tango, Samba, Rumba and Paso.

Here are the links to the 3 formations:

Tuks Formation

Maties Formation

UCT formation

I am happy to say that we won the formation category (As I do a victory cha-cha :) )

Below is an image of my team, our coach and I in our formation outfits while we took pictures.

Gravity - Contemporary

I don't think I'll ever watch this routine and not be amazed. What a beautiful piece performed by Kupono and Kayla, choreographed by Mia Michaels. It gives me chills. Every. Single. Time.

#SYTYCD

The start of a new era: UCT's Vaudeville Circus Show

About two weeks ago, the UCT Ballroom and Latin Dance Society held a showcase for the first time since the society was started. The society has been around for the past 24 years and this was a great achievement for the members and especially the committee.

The show was extremely successful with over 300 people in attendance. The tickets actually sold out and the society had to accommodate more people than we were expecting. The turn out was truly amazing and all of us couldn't have been happier with the result. It feels really good when you see that people are interested in what you do and want to see what you've been working on. Having friends and family supporting you was also a great plus for the dancers. Before the show, it was hard to get your friends and family to see your performances and especially with our annual dance competition mostly being held outside of Cape Town. Unfortunately for me though, I'm not from Cape Town and so my family couldn't watch the show anyway. I would have really loved it if my mom came to watch and support me. At least my boyfriend and friends were there :)

Jeffy & Zweli: 2 of my friends that came to support me

The show had about 20 dance routines with guest performances by Connect and Flow, Nick Andrews, Lady Magnolia's Bevy of beauties and Boogie Back Dance Co. depicted in the picture below.  

Boogie Back Dance Co. with some UCT students (Photo by Anton Moisey)

The dance pieces were amazing! I tried to catch some of the routines in between the ones that I was in. I couldn't actually decide which routines were my favourite. All of them were beautiful. There was an amazing Paso Doble, a really fun Sokkie that everyone fell in love with (danced to Eden's Super hero). I doubt anyone can hear that song and not want to sokkie anymore. Good memories. There was also a tango with two females and one male danced to Lady Gaga's bad romance. I don't think I'll ever listen to that song without remembering that tango routine. I never even thought that the song could be used as a tango song. But then again, I haven't really learned tango so I wouldn't exactly know.

The amazing Paso Doble routine by Bryce and Leanne (Photo by Anton Moisey)

It was such an amazing night. I have to admit I didn't do a lot of my school work that weekend because we had long rehearsals and I was so excited that I couldn't contain myself. It was one of the most exciting events this year. I cannot wait to see what next year's show is going to be like.

Below are some of my favourite pictures taken by Anton Moisey at the show. Beautiful photography indeed.

To see more pictures of the event, search for AM Photography on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/AM-Photography/403384769722866)

N.B better use the link because there are quite a few AM photography pages on Facebook