text:
Teaching that the theory of evolution is false is not only factually wrong (and therefore a huge disservice to any student who wishes to pursue a scientific career, or just understand science), but also conveys a hideously distorted message concerning how knowledge and understanding are obtained, giving a corrupted view of what constitutes evidence, and seriously undermining the pursuit of rationality. This hinders society's thriving in important ways.
It seemed from Miller's remarks that many who give support to those who would remove the theory of evolution from the school curriculum, and would teach that the Earth (indeed, the entire universe) is less than 10,000 years old, that dinosaurs and humans were contemporary, that global warming is not a problem, and so on, do so out of the simple desire for their children to learn to be good people.
"Asked why they had been recorded as Christian in the 2011 Census, only three in ten (31%) said it was because they genuinely try to follow the Christian religion, with four in ten (41%) saying it was because they try to be a good person and associate that with Christianity."There seems to be a coherent message emerging: religious identification, and possibly support for radical religious teaching, may be associated more with a broad wish to retain moral integrity than with belief in specific religious doctrines.
Even in the realm of morality, there is ample evidence for the poor track record of popular religions. Aficionados of these religions have been steadily accepting the continual erosion of their traditional teachings for centuries. Uncounted practices, once encouraged by popular religions, such as the keeping of slaves, persecution of other races, pursuit of holy wars, subjugation of women, proscription of homosexuality, and animal sacrifices, to name but a few, are now considered unacceptable in civilized society.
Secondly, by rejecting science in favor of religion for moral guidance, one is implicitly declaring that morality must be determined by irrational means, which is a clear absurdity (see for example Is Rationality Desirable?). Indeed, whatever there is to be discovered about morality can only be discovered efficiently and reliably by employing scientific method (see Scientific Morality). This applies not only to the methods of achieving our moral objectives, but also to the process of inferring what our core moral objectives are. In the quest to learn how best to behave, by turning one's nose up at scientific method, one is immediately taking on a serious and unnecessary handicap.
This is a mistake made not only by many sympathetic to religious teachings (and lets not forget that there are some good things about such value systems), but also by many in the scientific community. Popular misconceptions about the limitations of science are hardly blameworthy, when the intellectual consensus encourages belief in those same alleged limitations. Many scientists I've spoken to, and many more I've read on the internet, are repulsed by the idea that science can venture into the realm of human value, and consider it ridiculous. This is a traditional view, presumably owing much to thousands of years of religious dogma. Upon moderate reflection, however, it can be seen to be an obvious travesty (see Practical Morality, Part 2). It is now crucial for the scientific community as a whole to undertake that moderate reflection, and throw off the shackles of dogma (things that scientists are usually quite good at). One only needs to ponder how it can possibly be that something meaningful can be not measurable, or that something measurable can not be investigated scientifically, to realize that there is something seriously amiss with the traditional viewpoint.
Only after these issues are widely understood within the scientific and intellectual communities can we expect popular reliance on often harmful superstitions for moral guidance to be significantly diminished. This will not only reduce the skepticism and fear of scientific method, but will also enable the flourishing of a new (but long overdue) discipline of moral science, which in all reasonable expectation must lead to an enhanced understanding of ethics.
Mike Aus's point (the other speaker I noted at that Houston event), from his personal perspective as a non-scientist, was that the theory of evolution, when partially understood, can be damn scary. Success, in terms of natural selection, is highly dependent on one's ability to outmaneuver one's competitors. This seems to give the impression that if another person has a resource that I could benefit from, then it would be natural, and therefore (according to the theory) proper, for me to stab them in the back and take it. This suggests that some of the skepticism concerning the role of science in matters of morality comes from a feeling that science (in particular, the theory of biological evolution) entails immoral behaviour.
This comes down to another problem of the popular understanding of science. Again, a problem most easily solved after scientists themselves understand the issues more fully. I'm not claiming that biologists don't understand evolution, but as long as scientists don't grasp the origin of morality, they won't be able to explain the relationships between morality and biology, and they won't be able to identify the regions of overlap and non-overlap.
Broadly, there are two problems with this simplistic perception of evolutionary theory. Firstly, whether or not an organism is a rival, in terms of natural selection, depends on very many factors. In particular, for a species with a technology as sophisticated as ours, there are very strong reasons why cooperation usually works out far better for us than brutal, short-sighted bullying. We term this effect 'the social contract' (see Practical Morality, Part 1).
Secondly, whatever behavior maximizes our evolutionary fitness, this is not identical with what is morally optimal. 'Survival of the fittest' may prefer X, but we are not 'survival of the fittest,' we are humans. Chance effects in our evolution (e.g. 'unexpected' side effects of having brains like ours), together with systematic effects in our upbringing can equip us with values that conflict with the algorithm of natural selection (of genes, at least) in significant ways. There is no reason that propagation of my genes must be my ultimate source of value.
Morality, as a discipline, is entirely contained within scientific method. Problems of moral decision demand decent estimates of 2 classes of facts: (i) what it is we want and (ii) what the outcomes of various actions are likely to be. Consequently, such problems can only be solved by analyzing real experiences in a coherent manner - something we call science. To get the best and most reliable solution to any decision problem, we need controlled data, and we need to analyze it using sound methodology. Anything else is just guess work. Scientists and decision makers need to consider these things, and overcome the cultural biases that so often stand in the way of the obvious. Once we reach widespread understanding in this sphere, we'll have gone a long way towards reducing the fear of science that presently holds back society.


text:
More than 10 years of international growth with IFS Applications for European furniture manufacturer
Nowy Styl Group has seen tremendous international growth since implementing IFS Applications in 2000. The European furniture manufacturer, which has dozens of subsidiaries operating in 11 countries, chose IFS Applications because it was a single, integrated software solution that could eliminate the time-consuming process of having to transfer data from one country's system to another.
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To learn more about Nowy Styl Group's experience with IFS Applications, download the customer story.
File Information: Case Study, pdf 0.4 MB

subset: commoncrawl


text:
SCOTCH whisky exports in the first half of this year were down marginally on the record level achieved in the opening six months of 2011, as sales to Spain tumbled but demand from the US continued to grow.
Figures published yesterday by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) showed exports in the six months to June 30 totalled £1.786 billion, falling just £12 mil-lion short of the £1.798bn figure for the first half of 2011.
The SWA said this represented a levelling off of the market, or a "steady" performance, after a period of rapid growth, noting the record exports achieved in the first half of last year had been essentially matched in the opening six months of 2012,
The association also said that plans for major investment by key industry players, including Diageo and Pernod Ricard, signalled producers' confidence about future growth prospects.
The SWA meanwhile focused on the fact that Scotch whisky exports in the year to June 30 were up about 12% on the preceding 12 months, at around £4.22bn versus £3.77bn. It said Scotch continued to attract "younger, affluent consumers in newly emerging markets", with this trend expected to be maintained.
Gavin Hewitt, chief executive of the SWA, said: "Over the past year the value of Scotch whisky exports has continued to increase and we're delighted to build on our outstanding success in 2011 with 12% growth in the past 12 months. While there has been a levelling off in the first half of this year, the industry remains confident about the future.
"Recent announcements of investments in new distilleries and the expansion of existing facilities demonstrate the level of confidence producers have in future growth opportunities."
Exports to the US, the largest export market for Scotch whisky, totalled £303.6m in the first half. This was up 13% on the figure of £267.6m for the opening six months of 2011. First-half exports to Spain, however, fell by 24% from £97.1m to £74m as the eurozone debt crisis took its toll.
However, first-half exports to France, the second-largest overseas market for Scotch, fell by 14% from £219.8m to £188m.
A spokeswoman for the SWA cited a 15% hike in tax on Scotch whisky in France which had come into effect at the start of this year. She noted that people in France would have stocked up ahead of the increase in duty.
First-half Scotch whisky exports to Brazil fell by 22% to £35m. However, the figure of £44.8m for the first half of last year had been up 56% on the opening six months of 2010.
The latest figures show first-half exports to Latvia were up 77% at £32m and sales to Estonia were up by 35% to £24.8m, with those to China up 1.6% to £31m.


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Artemis Uchiha [Done]
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Subject: Artemis Uchiha [Done]
Wed Oct 09, 2013 9:51 am
The Basics!
Artemis Uchiha
22nd October
Hair Color:
Hair Length:
Long- Down to her breasts
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Dark green
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About You!
Artemis is a hard working girl of the air nomads, having grown up in a rich family she has always felt like she needs to prove her worth by working hard to improve her bending skills. She has a big need for her parent's approval, as well as the elder monks, as she always thought they feel like she's been handed everything because of her family's wealth. She cares for people, wanting to help people in need, in allot of different ways, from giving them money to helping a shop owner being robbed. She loves to enter tournaments, where she can show people her ability with the air element and how hard she has worked. Aside from wanting to prove her worth through training and fighting, she has a great love for fighting itself, a strange thing for the air nomads, as they are known for being a more peaceful people.
Artemis loves to train, she spends the majority of her time on trying to improve her airbending, as well as her speed through using airbending. She enjoys flying through the skies with her glider, it makes her feel free and relieves her stress as well. Fighting in tournaments is one of her favorite things to do, she can show off her ability with airbending as well as how her hard work has paid off.
It pains Artemis to see people hurting, whether it is from a lack of food or money to someone getting attacked by a group of thieves, she doesn't want to see anyone suffer. She also dislikes cats, allot, mainly because she's allergic to them, but also because they're just not to her liking, she's more of a sky bison person than a cat person.
Artemis was born into a rich family in Chokujou City, with her father landing in a big fortune before her birth. Her mother was very loving of her, though her father wasn't as loving as he wanted a son. They continued to live in the city until she was nine years old, her father was always away on "trips", with her and her mother being unaware that he was actually working for the "school" which kidnapped children to turn into their own personal military, she was too young and still inexperienced with her airbending which is why her father didn't take her to the school as well, though he planned to once she had gotten good at her airbending, the only thing that actually kept her alive. If she wasn't a bender, her father would have killed her long ago, as he basically didn't love her at all, still hating the fact that he had no son. She however was always trying to gain his approval, training hard to show him her ability with airbending, if she trained harder she would have gone to the school no doubt. With her father being pressed by the school for his daughter, he was forced to move to the Air Temple where they could hide for as long as possible. If they knew she wasn't great with her airbending, they would have killed her and taken back the money they gave him, and most likely kill him and his wife, her mother, as well. At the Air Temple, she had gotten training by a friend of her's, a great airbender, this was about six years ago when she was ten years old. Little did she know that her friend was actually a spy sent by the school to assure she was getting better at her bending so they could take her and brainwash her too. The school decided that it would be a waste to kill her, which is why they decided to send one of the best students they had to teach her, and turn her into a prodigy at the school later on. It was a year later that the school was destroyed by the rebellion, but the friend was still safe out of harms way with Artemis, unaware for a few weeks that the school was destroyed. Her father however heard of it not long after the school was destroyed, and was convince by her mother to keep her safe, which is why he kept a close eye on Artemis' friend. Once her friend heard of the event, she had decided to kill Artemis and her family, but her father was a Grandmaster at Airbending and protected Artemis, the first time in her life that she actually felt loved by her father, he killed her friend after a long battle with the master airbender. She spent the last five years training and just relaxing, flying around in the skies, something she loves to do. She grew closer to her father during these five years, and he taught her a few things in airbending as well.
RP Sample:
Ryuji had chosen to take his lightning bodies technique to the next level, with the recent topic in his head lately being the bijuu, he needed something quite big to even try and take on something their size. He also needed a big area to create and master a technique like thism which is why he chose to do it hereon the lightning mountains. He stood on the very top of the biggest mountain in the area, the area being cold, his breath visible in the atmosphere as he exhales slowly after taking a deep breath, calming his mind, he wore white clothes, warm to fit the scenery, with a white jacket and the cap over his head. "Lets begin" he thinks to himself, his hands moved to his chest, coming together as he quickly forms the clone hand sign, creating two clones in total with the multiple shadow clone technique, the funny, or rather strange thing about the hand sign was his pinkies being stretched outward, adding the clone explosion seal to the two clones, this wasnt really intended though it became instnctive for Ryuji to create his clones with the explosive seals. They knew their part in this very important training, first they had to help master the techniquem then fially testbit out by fighting the titan lightning body.
The training had begun as the clnes and Ryuji focused their chakra together, adding lightning release into the technique, of course as it was needed foy a lighning body to be created. It was easier to train the technique as Ryuji already mastered the base technique; lightning bodies. The concept pf this technique was just to create a massive lightning body, the size of one of the bijuu themselves, the eigh tails Hachibi. Infront of the clones and Ryuji was the forming of the lightning body titan, first its shape was being formed, the humanoid being of lightning was becoming more clear and bigger, showing progress. "Keep it up" Ryuji said to the two clones, they nodded as they kept on feeding it chakra while Ryuji was keeimg it in form. Lightming shot through the sky as the area was being filled with intense lighning release. The clouds roared as the beast was almost complete, though they were far from done, what would be thepoint if Ryuji could oly create the titan with the help of clones? He needed to be able to create it on his own, without the help of anything or anyone. After a few minutes the beast was completed, it was quit large, lightning streaks could be seen around his body, much like a saiyan's super saiyan 2 form. Ryuji moved back, he knows that touching it could paralyze him in an instant. The clones then started with the second part of their objective, to attack the beast, they jumped into the air at the titan, when they reached s meter from him they had exploded as Ryuji jumped back and formed the ram hand sign. An explosion of 15 meters was released from their body, though the titan stood still, unharmed by the explosions, all itnhadnto shownwasna small movement backwards from the shockwaves it created.
With the clones being destroyed, Ryuji gained their experience from the training, adding it to his own experience. Ryuji proceeded to restart the training to test out if he can donit on his own, cresting the hand signs needed to cretae thebtitan again. He focused his lightning release chakra again, in front of him was the titan being formed, quite faster than before, showing the clones' experience was indeed a big help, the reason why Ryuji always trains with clones, to fasten the process. It started growing into the intended size, rising higher with each passing secondn Ryuji kept feeding it more and more and more chackra while maintaining the shape formation, it took quite the concentration and energy, but Ryuji had to master this technique if he wanted to stand a chance against a tailed beast one day. After about two minutes, the titan was formed, but that took too long, so Ryuji had to start again to decrease the time for the technique to be complete to the minimum.
He decided to use clones again, allot, their experience would do wonders for decreasing the time it takesfor the titan to be formed, a mistake Ryuji made with the last session, he should have continued to use clones. With ht eforming of the clone hand sign with its pinkies streched out, four clones formed next to Ryuji, two clones to his right and two clones to his left. The objective for these clogs was the same as the first two clones, first to create the titan as fast as possible, thrn to attack the titan when its complete. Currently there are two titans already, they would fight each other once the clones attacked the new titan, to try and shownthe truenpower which they held. The clones and Ryuji proceeded to create the hand sigms for the lightning bodies titan technique, in front of the was the forming of the lightning body titan, it was forming fast indeed, within five seconds it was completed. The three titans stood next to each other, and the clones jumped up at them while at the same time Ryuji jumped backwards to avoid getting hurt by the explosions. One of the clones held the ram sign as it, and the other clones, reached the titans. The clones exploded into a 15 meter radius once more, with a 3 meter radius aftershock following the explosion. The explosions caused little damage to the titans, as expected, then Ryuji decided it was time to have them fight each other.
"Fight each other!" The chuunin yelled as he activated his Seirei technique and mived at blinding speeds towards the bottom of the mountain to avoid getting killed by accident. Immidiately the titans started attacking each other, causing havoc on the mountain wile Ryuji activated the Uingusu technique to fly away into the air with Sage Transformation wings. No even four seconds later, the mountain was destroyed with the titans still going at it, Ryuji was amazed and called off the titans to stop so thry wouldnt do anymore damage to the area, now he had to explain to the higher ups what happened to the area, they might think someome tried to attack Kumogakure or a tailed beast was in the area. So Ryuji had the titans disperse and geaded towards the village, he wouldnalso tell Ever about his new technique and hownit would help the village greatly.
Deviant Art Artist created the picture
Last edited by Artemis on Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:21 am; edited 1 time in total
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Subject: Re: Artemis Uchiha [Done]
Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:13 am
This looks good to me, overall. The only thing I see is that you're missing the space between dislikes and history. So long as your word counts check out, you'll be approved after you fix that. I can't currently do the count check or stamp the app, I'm posting from my phone at work.
Jeice the Shirsu and Houjin's Saddle Bag
Firebender || Lightning Generation || Lightning Redirection
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Subject: Re: Artemis Uchiha [Done]
Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:22 am
Fixed~ And all word counts are met
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Subject: Re: Artemis Uchiha [Done]
Wed Oct 09, 2013 11:31 am
Everything checks out.
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Subject: Re: Artemis Uchiha [Done]
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D-75031 Eppingen, Germany
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In this week's Monday Morning Quarterback, King has truly outdone even his unique propensity for producing self-eating logic:
"Now some words about the quarterback [Kurt Warner] who is singlehandedly forcing me, one of the 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame voters, to act like the five-year donut hole in the middle of his career is a crack in the sidewalk and not the Grand Canyon. I don't like to judge active players for the Hall, and I won't."
After reading that section (and as I continued to read), I thought to myself, "well, besides defeating his own logic within the same paragraph, I bet all I have to do is wait a few weeks for him to write an article about a current player he thinks is deserving of getting into the Hall and"–oh wait, at the bottom of the SAME PAGE he makes the following declaration while discussing this year's MVP voting:
As for [Chris] Johnson, it's simple. We have one vote. He might be a close second, but unless you judge Johnson, a runner on an 8-8 team, to be more valuable than Manning, who had his second-best season of a walk-in Hall of Fame career for a 14-2 team. . ."
So let me get this straight–in half a page, King goes from claiming not to discuss current players' Hall of Fame credentials to calling a player a "walk-in" Hall of Famer? So basically he's saying that it's okay to contradict yourself in your writing…so long as your contradictions support another argument that you want to make?


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Special promotion on this model* 5 year guarantee on parts and labour if purchased by 30th June 2019. Models included are all Dolce Stil Novo built in ovens & Combi appliances.Terms and conditions apply. At selected displaying retailers only. For full terms and conditions please click here
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Woohoo! It's pool time!
The birds are chirping and spring is springing. Daylight savings time is one of the reminders it is time to get out and enjoy the weather. Your Community Board has been hard at work considering projects and bringing about improvements in your neighborhood. If you notice an area at your pool that needs maintenance or repairs, please let us know!
Community pool rules are posted onsite alongside the South Carolina DHEC Health and Safety Requirements. As a community pool, it is important all community members work together to keep the environment family-friendly and safe for everyone.
- Swim at your own risk…..no lifeguard on duty
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Please do your part to make your pool a fun and safe place for all!
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Thursday, July 30, 2009
Ballroom. Reinvented.
By Linda Winer, chief theater critic and arts columnist for Newsday
In the beginning, people danced to grab the attention of the gods - or, at mating times, to grab one another.
Eventually, someone realized that the moving was almost as much fun as the mating. Folk dance became the Saturday night fever of the countryside while, up at the castle, the rich were formalizing the ecstasy into ritual.
The dances became more and more intricate, until regular people looked stupid doing them. Ballet got too complicated for the abilities of Louis XIV's court, and social dancing changed from a participatory to a spectator sport.
Which brings us, sort of, to the shocking new popularity of dance on TV and, perhaps, on Broadway.
It has been four years since mainstream America began calling professional dancers by their first names - Melissa, Ade, Karina, Maksim. "Dancing With the Stars" has demi-celebrities perform with ballroom champions. "So You Think You Can Dance" auditions contestants of all styles from around the country and lets viewers vote them off the island.
I can't say whether this newfound appreciation will translate into new dance-literate audiences. Certainly the outpouring of emotion last month for a seriously abstract, poignant modern pas de deux about breast cancer on "So You Think You Can Dance" suggested more than just a disease-is-bad reaction to the subject matter.
It remains to be seen how many TV fans will make the leap into paying audiences for "Burn the Floor," the touring show that opens Sunday night at Broadway's Longacre Theatre featuring Maksim Chmerkovskiy) and Karina Smirnoff from "Dancing With the Stars" (for the first two weeks of the 12-week engagement).
But I'm amused to see the ads that promise "Ballroom. Reinvented."
If we really want to see ballroom reinvented, I suspect the unlikely place to be this fall is the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. There, Twyla Tharp is opening (with intimations of a Broadway transfer) "Come Fly With Me," her full-length musical based on the songs of Frank Sinatra.
Tharp has had her slinky, thorny, exhilarating way with pieces of Sinatra, but for the dance world, not for Broadway. The director-choreographer - who had a Broadway smash in 2002 with Billy Joel and "Movin' Out," then a crash in 2005 with Bob Dylan and "The Times They are A-Changin'" - made a ballroom duet for herself and Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1976 called "Once More, Frank."
Baryshnikov has memorably said, "Twyla's ballets make you feel like a fish in the sand. I always had the feeling I was out in a boat that had no sail, doing forbidden things."
Few have made forbidden things sound more seductive than Sinatra, and nobody in my lifetime has made his nuance more visible than Tharp. She did, after all, learn about American romance from working in her parents' drive-in movie theater in small-town California, and most of her career has functioned as a Missing Link between high art and pop. In 1982, she created a fantasy ballroom in "Nine Sinatra Songs" and, two years later, crawled back under our skin for more with "Sinatra Suite."
About the new show, according to the Alliance publicity, she intends to make audiences "remember that song, that dance, that special someone, that moment when you fell in love and fell in love again."
That doesn't sound much like radical Tharp, but if anyone can, I suspect she can.
This throwback to a more romantic time must also be part of the TV-dance appeal. There is a whiff of Fred and Ginger in the partnering, not to mention a sense of the old floor shows in fancy '50s nightclubs, the Ice Capades and Olympic figure skaters and, of course, the image of Tony Manero practicing his dips in front of three-way mirrors in Brooklyn.
Neither "Saturday Night Fever," in 1977, nor "Dirty Dancing," 10 years later, brought couple-dancing back to the heyday it enjoyed before the "Twist" taught people to dance with themselves in the early '60s. Music videos, especially those by Madonna and Michael Jackson, made a whole generation more sophisticated about watching stars dance - virtuosos, but solos with backup dancers.
What might be different now is an appreciation of partnerships. Not to read too much into it, but the return of dancing in pairs may signal
a hunger for mutual awareness. What's more, as Valentino proved, years ago, the tango can make a four/four downbeat seem like a naughty idea.
Instructor Helps Woman Dance Again
"Joshua happened to hear me mutter, 'Gee, I wish I could do that again,'" Elkins recalls.
Ramirez, who was 24 years old, asked why she couldn't. Elkins told him she had flat feet. He responded that he had flat feet, too.
"She was using that as an excuse, so I pulled off my shoe and showed her," Ramirez said. "I'm a firm believer that if you want to do something, do it."
So Ramirez helped Elkins find knee braces and arthritic shoes. Then he told her to stand up.
"I convinced her to get out of her cart and dance," Ramirez said.
And she was able to. Elkins said Ramirez "pushed, pulled and cajoled" her and, over time, turned her into an accomplished dancer.
It wasn't easy, though. Ramirez jokes that Elkins is "incorrigible," and Elkins sarcastically retorts that she's also "stubborn, independent and won't give an inch."
Still, with Ramirez's help, Elkins became such a strong dancer that she entered dance competitions, often placing first. The woman who thought she would be confined for life to a motorized cart was now pursuing her passion.
"It has changed my life – literally," Elkins said.
That's why she asked to 'pay it forward' to Ramirez. CBS 5 News gave her $500 this week, and she gave it to Ramirez.
When we asked Ramirez what it was like to see Elkins change from a woman stuck in a cart to a dancer winner competitions, he said, "That feeling is why I do this job."
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Dancing Tweens - Big Drama, Tiny Dancers!
My Golden Dancers
Keep on Dancing
Monday, July 27, 2009
What Do Judges Look For In A Competition?
If you love challenge and want to take the experience to the ultimate level, then dance competition might be for you. Whether it is the refined Ballroom or the energetic, sensuous Latin rhythm, many well-rounded dance enthusiasts literally live and breathe this delightful mixture of art and competitive sport.
Exactly what are the judges looking for when evaluating a dance competition? These highly acclaimed critics usually consist of former dance professionals and/or current choreographers. They are chosen to showcase their expertise in analyzing, evaluating and unanimously deciding the winners.
The judges' evaluation of performance is based on originality of the particular genre. Did the couple execute the dance and make it their own? Did they sell it? Was there chemistry between them? Were their respective personalities highlighted during the performance, along with their skills? Did they exude emotion? Was the performance real? Was it believable? Contenders must be actors as well as dancers.
The judges look for styling. This involves the dancers' lines which include posture, full graceful extension of their legs, arms, center balance and fluid continuity, giving the look of big, yet flawless and seamless.
Evaluation also includes the couple's individual and combined strengths as supporting partners. Did they hold their own on the dance floor, yet dance as a unit?
Musicality and Expression - The basic characterization of the dance to the particular music being played and the choreographic adherence to musical phrasings and accents.
Presentation - Does the couple sell their dancing to the audience? Do they dance outwardly, with enthusiasm, exuding their joy of dancing and confidence in their performance?
The most perplexing problem for judges is analyzing the contenders as a group while performing. It is not a one-on-one. In that one minute and thirty seconds of performing, the judges must go into multitask mode, simultaneously critiquing the contenders both collectively and individually in order to properly evaluate the performance and render the appropriate score.
Different judges have different preferences in what they want to see, and weight these factors differently. One judge might be especially interested in technique, while another wants to be moved by musicality and expression. While both factors are obviously important and need to be considered, it can result in couples getting widely disparate markings. Because the judge sees each couple for only a few seconds, anything that draws the attention, either positively or negatively, could very well be the deciding factor on how you are marked. Most judges try to do a conscientious job. And the use of a panel usually insures that the end result is the correct one.
Dancing is a process. The more practice, the better the performance. Competitions are designed to put dancers to the ultimate test.
And if you are worried that you might not have what it takes to become an accomplished ballroom dancer, consider this quote - Cannot act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little. - Anonymous studio verdict on the original screen test of Fred Astaire in 1933.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Walking on the Moon
by Joan Acocella
If you watch a video of the Jackson 5 performing "I Want You Back," on the Ed Sullivan show, in 1969, you will see that the group's lead vocalist—Michael, the youngest of the five brothers—was already an A-list dancer at the age of eleven. Here is this fat-cheeked boy, in a pink Super Fly hat that he is obviously proud of, doing tilts and dips and fanny rocks and finger snaps, and tucking in little extras—half steps, quarter steps—between them. Most amazing is his musicality, his ability to respond to the score faithfully and yet creatively, playing with the music, moving in before and after the beat. Musicality always comes off as spontaneity, and he was loved, early on, for that quality.
Now turn to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (1979). Ten years have passed. He has started recording his own songs. He does fancier steps. But at twenty-one, as at eleven, he is galvanizing above all because of his naturalness. He hops with joy; he wags his head; his shirt comes untucked.
Then come the landmark videos of the early nineteen-eighties: "Billie Jean," "Beat It," and "Thriller," all of them for songs that appeared on the collection "Thriller" (1982), which is the best-selling album of all time. At this point, Jackson has just about everything you would want in a dancer. He is very fast, and, now that the adult musculature has come in, his whole body is "worked." (This means that every muscle is stretched, and operating in the service of the dance. Nothing is blurred.) As a result, he has a sharp attack, and wonderful clarity. Watch him—as you can, for example, in "The Way You Make Me Feel" (1987)—dancing, silhouetted, alongside other men doing the same steps. You can't see the faces, but you know which one he is. He dives into a step more intently, and shows it to us more precisely, than anyone else. Around this time, the videos are featuring some new moves—for example, multiple spins (which seem, at times, to have received technical assistance). And he's now doing the famous moonwalk, which he picked up from break dancing. He has also started doing some rather dirty moves, notably the crotch-grab, which will endure, with striking embellishments, throughout his career.
The "Thriller"-period videos were instrumental in converting MTV from a backwater to a sensation. Jackson consciously aimed at doing that. "I wanted to be a pioneer in this relatively new medium," he said in his 1988 memoir, "Moon Walk" (a book, incidentally, edited by Jacqueline Onassis). He spent a fortune on these projects. The 1995 "Scream" video cost seven million dollars—a record at that time. He didn't like to call these works videos. They were "short films," he claimed—and rightly, for he had them shot not on videotape but on 35-mm. film. "We were serious," he said.
Jackson took his choreography from a number of sources: hip-hop, sock hop, "Soul Train," disco, and jazz dance, plus a little tap and Charleston. By his account, he constructed some of the movement himself. "Billie Jean," he says in "Moon Walk," still had no dance component the night before he was scheduled to perform it in honor of Motown's twenty-fifth anniversary. He went down to the kitchen, turned on the music full blast, and, in his words, "let the dance create itself" on his body. His moonwalk had its début in that number.
But on most of his dances he did not work alone. Michael Peters, Vincent Paterson, and Jeffrey Daniel, all of them experienced stage and TV choreographers, collaborated with Jackson. On the PBS special "Everybody Dance Now" (1991), in answer to a question from the dance historian Sally Sommer, Peters said that Jackson's method was to put together some steps and ideas and bring them to a choreographer, who would then organize them into a coherent dance.
But, whether he went it alone or got help, the result was much the same. He didn't have a lot of moves. You can almost count them on your fingers: the gyrating hips, the bending knees (reversing from inward to outward), the pivoting feet (ditto), the one raised knee, the spins, and, above all, the rotated or raised heel, which is what he gets around on. These steps are generally done staccato. He finishes the phrase and freezes, then finishes the next phrase and freezes. He also has some moves so natural that one hesitates to call them steps: lovely, light-footed walks, struts, jumps, and runs. He made at least one important innovation in music-video choreography—the use of large ensembles dancing behind the soloist—but beyond that he created very little dancing that was different from his own prior numbers, or anyone else's. Yet many people were happy to see him, again and again, do the thing he did. Long after the critics soured on his music and his videos, they still liked his dancing.
Sometimes they had to take the dancing on faith. Jackson, who had a thorough knowledge of the movie musical, revered Fred Astaire. He records in his memoir how thrilled he was when Astaire praised him. The old master even invited him over to his house, where Jackson taught the moonwalk to him and his choreographer Hermes Pan. (Astaire told Jackson that both of them, he and Jackson, danced out of anger—an interesting remark, at least about Astaire.) But despite Jackson's awe of his predecessor, he never learned the two rules that Astaire, as soon as he gained power over the filming, insisted on: (1) don't interrupt the dance with reaction shots or any other extraneous shots, and (2) favor a full-body shot over a closeup. To Astaire, the dance was primary—his main story—and he had it filmed accordingly. In Jackson's videos, the dance is tertiary, even quaternary (after the song and the story and the filming). The camera repeatedly cuts away, and, when it comes back, it often limits itself to the upper body. Jackson didn't value his dancing enough.
Pop critics often say that with the "Thriller" album, though it came early —he was only twenty-four—Jackson went as far as he ever got musically. The same might be said of the music videos born of this album. The "Thriller" video became part of world culture. On YouTube, you can see a clip of fifteen hundred inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, in the Philippines, doing the "Thriller" dance in unison, in their orange uniforms. (Prison officials thought it would be a good lesson in discipline.) The later videos were not as popular, because they were not as good. Now, in place of dancing and stories, he ramped up the pyrotechnics. Smoke banks enclose him. Great flames shoot up behind him. (Back in 1984, while he was filming a Pepsi commercial, the special effects set his hair on fire. He had to be treated for third-degree burns.) Then come the computer-generated effects: he vanishes, he materializes, he walks on walls. With this abracadabra, good causes, mawkishly treated, make their entry. "Heal the World" (1992) gave us war, and abandoned children sucking their thumbs; "Earth Song" (1995) was about the destruction of the environment. This would have been O.K. if he had gone on dancing, but he didn't, or not much. In one video, he just walked; in another, he just sat; in "Heal the World," he didn't appear. "You Are Not Alone" (1995), the major embarrassment of this late period, shows him as an angel, quite naked, with a vast pair of feathered wings. Needless to say, this ruled out dancing. Many of the late videos are heavy on self-aggrandizement; others, on self-pity. He, too, was sucking his thumb.
Occasionally, though, he would get up off his chair, and then it was like old times. The last known video shows him at a rehearsal for the London season he was about to embark on. He struts, he boogies; he snaps and pops. As CNN's chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, said, "This doesn't look like someone who's very sick to me." That's not to mention that Jackson was fifty years old and, because he was in rehearsal, was probably not performing "full out." He was still a great dancer. Two days later, he was dead. ♦
DWTS judge part of "Burn The Floor"
Charity Dance-A-Thon in Michigan
at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Shake your booty for a good cause at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio Dance-A-Thon! Dancing starts at noon Friday August 14 to noon Saturday, August 15! We're dancing round the clock to benefit Variety Far Conservatory for the Therapeutic and Performing Arts' ballroom dance program for children and adults with mental, physical and emotional impairments. Private lessons are only $75, Group lessons only $10! Call (248) 454-1715 for more information!
Monday, July 20, 2009
So You Think You Can Dance 2009 Tour
Tuesday, September 22: Boston, MA - Agganis Arena at Boston University
Thursday, September 24: Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
Friday, September 25: Mashantucket, CT - MGM Theater - Foxwoods
Saturday, September 26: Trenton, NJ - Sovereign Bank Arena
Tuesday, September 29: Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre
Thursday, October 1: Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena
Saturday, October 3: Detroit, MI - Joe Louis Arena
Sunday, October 4: Champaign, IL - University of Illinois Assembly Hall Tuesday, October 6: Chicago, IL - United Center
Wedneday, October 7: Minneapolis, MN - Target Center
Friday, October 9: Milwaukee, WI - Bradley Center
Saturday, October 10: Toledo, OH - Lucas County Arena
Sunday, October 11: Indianapolis, IN - Conseco Fieldhouse
Wednesday, October 14: Long Island, NY - Nassau Coliseum
Thursday, October 15: Baltimore, MD - 1st Mariner Arena
Saturday, October 17: Richmond, VA - Richmond Coliseum
Monday, October 19: Charlotte, NC - Time Warner Cable Arena
Tuesday, October 20: Duluth, GA - Arena at Gwinnett Center
Thursday, October 22: Miami, FL - American Airlines Arena
Friday, October 23: Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
Saturday, October 24: Tallahassee, FL - Tallahassee-Leon Co. Civic Center
Monday, October 26: Houston, TX - Reliant Arena
Tuesday, October 27: Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
Wednesday, October 28: Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie
Friday, October 30: Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
Saturday, October 31: St. Louis, MO - Chaifetz Arena at St. Louis University
Sunday, November 1: Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
Tuesday, November 3: Omaha, NE - Qwest Center
Thursday, November 5: Colorado Springs, CO - Colorado Springs World Arena
Saturday, November 7: West Valley City, UT - The "E" Center
Monday, November 9: Los Angeles, CA - Nokia Theatre LA LIVE
Thursday, November 12: San Diego, CA - San Diego Sports Arena
Friday, November 13: Glendale, AZ - jobing.com Arena
Saturday, November 14: Las Vegas, NV - Orleans Arena
Monday, November 16: Sacramento, CA - ARCO Arena
Tuesday, November 17: Fresno, CA - SaveMart Center
Wednesday, November 18: San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion at San Jose
Friday, November 20: Portland, OR - Rose Garden
Saturday, November 21: Everett, WA - Comcast Arena at Everett Events Center
Tickets sales begin on July 25th.
Dance In Puerto Rico!!!
Tony Dovolani Coming To Boca Raton Studio
Contact information:
Boca Raton studio: 561-391-8571
West Palm Beach studio: 561-478-1400
Dancing From The Heart
Medford, Florida
Charlie Belknap, a disabled war veteran, is unable to dance. But every time his wife twirls out onto the dance floor, he has to smile.
Frances Belknap, a Medford resident who also lives in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. with her husband during the winters, has been dancing for 11 years. She first became interested in dancing when the pastor of her church invited her and her husband to a practice party at the Fred Astaire Studio in Florida.
"It was a guest party, where people bring guests and they'll dance different steps with you and offer you so many lessons for a really great price," said Frances. "They kind of introduced you to rhythm dances and ballroom dances — smooth dances."
She said the instructors showed newcomers the basics of three different smooth dances, the waltz, the foxtrot and the tango, and two different rhythm dances, swing and rumba. Inspired and excited, Frances decided to sign up for the lessons offered by the studio.
"I went to the first lesson," she said. "I came home and I was so excited and happy that my husband said, 'Keep going.' So I kept going!"
Since then, Belknap has become a veritable veteran of dance.
"The first competition I did was in Boston," she said. "My teacher said, 'We're going to have a competition in Boston, we can dance!' So I decided I would do it, and I've been doing it ever since."
And she has.
Since then, Frances and her instructor, Joe Trovato, have gone to several competitions throughout the United States, including Austin, Texas and even Chicago, Ill. Frances' most recent competition took place at the San Destin Hilton Resort for the Emerald Coast Dance Competition.
Surprisingly, she has never gotten nervous during a competition.
"I always get excited about competing, and showing the judges what we do," Frances said. "It's a chance to show off everything we've worked so hard on."
And she always dances with a smile.
"I guess I just dance from my heart," she said. "The smile just comes, and I don't think about it."
But Frances has not only danced like the stars; she has danced with them at the Fred Astaire Studio, too.
"I've been dancing with Eric Luna, who was recently on 'Super Stars of Dance,'" Frances said. "He's excellent. I've known him for a long time, because I've been dancing for 11 years and he started teaching there. I've known him since he was a boy, shall we say."
Frances has also danced with such television personalities as Corky Ballas and Jonathan Roberts, of "Dancing With the Stars" fame.
"Tony Dovalani is coming!" said Frances excitedly.
She added she owes her ability to dance with these professionals to Trovato.
"He calls them, comes to get them to coach," she said. "Our teachers are coached by them, and...they give group classes."
Despite being surrounded by such well-known television personalities, Frances still prefers one dance partner in particular: her teacher.
"I'd much rather dance with Joe Trovato any day," she said.
"Dancertainment" In New Jersey
On Thursday, July 23, Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Upper Montclair, NJ and UMBA will present an evening of "Dancing Under The Stars." The evening's theme revolves around a century of dance and will include dance demonstrations from all levels of Fred Astaire students - from newcomers to seasoned veterans. The participants will be demonstrating dances from the 1920s to the dances of today. Some of the dances that will be showcased are: the Quickstep, Cha-Cha, Tango, Jitter-bug, Lindyhop, Twist, Swing, Mambo, Dirty dancing, Hustle and even some Hip-hop. Iconic songs will represent the different decades, with hits such as "Tammy" and the "Tennessee Waltz," "La Comparisita," "Hey Baby," "Rock Around The Clock," "Zoot Suit Riot," "Footloose," "Staying Alive," "Dancing Queen," and more to showcase the dances of different eras and how they're still relevant today. Carrie Babcock, co-owner of Fred Astaire and 5-Time US Champion, will be MCing the event along with teaching introductory ballroom lessons and line dances.
The evening will also include a dance off judged by UMBA members and will wrap up with the 9:15 pm practice party at the studio!
The aim of Fred Astaire of Upper Montclair and UMBA is to entertain through the wonderful medium of dance. Ballroom Dancing is hotter than ever, with hit shows such as ABC's "Dancing With The Stars," Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," and spin-offs such as "Step It Up" and "Dance Your A&* Off." There's never been a better time to experience ballroom dance in America!
Everyone is highly encouraged to come out and participate in this fantastic event so wear your best period garb - gangster zoot-suits and flapper dresses, poodle skirts and saddle shoes, the rat-pack garb, keds and capris (ala Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing), bell-bottoms and leisure suits from the 70s, or your latest, trendiest little black dress of today. The event is going to be a blast and you certainly will not want to miss it!
604 Valley Road
Upper Montclair, New Jersey 07043
Champion Dancers Come To Canton, Ohio
Expressing Yourself Through Dance
"For me, dancing is a different way of expression...You can write a poem, you can tell a story, or you can do the same thing with dance. And once people start dancing, they begin to realize that there's more to it - there are benefits. Exercise, making new friends, that sense of achievement that comes with moving so well."
Professional instructors at the Naples studio are currently training with nine prominent local celebrities for the "Dancing With The Stars" gala fundraiser for the Literacy Volunteers of Collier County held in mid-November.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
My Golden Dancers
By Elita Sohmer Clayman
Would you believe that just walking into the dance studio for the first time in 364 days gave me such a contented thrill? By contented thrill, I mean a feeling of happiness and also exuberance that I finally came back to my dance roots.
Dance roots can mean different things to various people. To me, it signifies that I am now feeling better for the first time since our automobile accident last June 2008, and that there is a real possibility that I will be dancing very soon. We came that Saturday morning at 1130 a.m. because the studio was having an Expo type activity so people could come in and get acquainted with the facility. They could also bring new or used dance shoes they no longer wanted to be able to sell them to others who may want a less-than-average priced shoe.
The owner of the studio greeted both my husband and I with a dear hug and kiss. We were as happy to see her as she was to see us. It had been a long ten months. We missed (at least I did) the beauty of the studio and the warmth of the owner. We missed the beautiful wood floor and the ambience of the atmosphere. We missed getting out there on the floor and doing our dance steps, routines, and just plain old having fun.
The roots of dance were planted in the soil of our hearts over 32 years ago when we stepped or danced our way into the first studio where we took together our first dance lesson way back then. I have always wanted to and loved to dance and this was a momentous occasion then for us to go as a couple and also a married couple.
Our love for dance or should I say, my love for dance was nurtured through my years of being single by taking a group of lessons when I was working and earning a good salary. I went to a studio and signed up for 50 lessons but I did not have an encouraging teacher to water my seeds of dance feeling. I finished up the course not really knowing too much more than when I started there. Then I took a few lessons with a fellow I was dating named David and he too did not awaken anything new in me about dancing.
The years passed with marriage and children and still I yearned to really learn to dance and the thought occurred in my mind that possibly I could compete. When we walked into the studio on November 2, 1977, the first thing I saw on the shelves there were some trophies some of the students had won. Right then and there, I knew that was what I wanted for my shelves. I had a carpenter come in many years later to custom make white shelves so I could display my competition trophies. I dust them every week with love in my heart for what they stand for in my dancing amateur career. Hard work and diligent and unrelenting time spent studying the world of ballroom dance.
Ten lessons evolved into ten or more years of taking lessons, competing, social dancing and just plain enjoying the social dances held on Saturday nights or Sunday afternoons.
Until the accident we would go to them at least three times a month. Then it all stopped and for one solid year we were unable to go due to numerous aches and pains from being hit hard by a man texting and running a red light.
Now the year has passed with many medical decisions and many sessions of physical therapy. We are ready. Going to the Expo for a few hours to sell some unused dance shoes really watered my dance appetite again. We sat there for an hour or so and watched some new students take free 15 minute try-outs with various teachers to see who they wanted to teach them if they decided to take dance lessons. We watched one teacher coach five men on converting some Rumba steps they knew to Bolero steps.
Finally, we left and I felt the aura of dance happiness surround my head. I was back where I am most often spending the happiest hours I am involved in.
As I so often speak about what ballroom dancing means to me, so again I am able to articulate about it in a more meaningful and current manner. It seems that next Sunday we will be back there and if we can only dance just a few dances since we are returning and have to be careful in what actions we take in our first day of dancing; then so be it.
I have decided if we only dance four or five dances, we will be ahead of the time because we will have again started our voyage in the beautiful sea of dance. The sea is calm now and the water is blue and we will dance serenely and be at peace doing so. We survived the terrible accident and are now back to begin our weekly ballroom dancing once again.
As Shakespeare said "Those who have self control truly own their beauty."
Dancing is surely beauty in motion and our emotions determine our motion. In the Broadway play from many years ago called Annie based on the original comic strip called Orphan Annie, the main character Annie says that tomorrow will be good and they sing a whole song called "Tomorrow" that became a big hit on the music scene back then.
So tomorrow became now and next Sunday will be the tomorrow I was thinking about for one whole year almost to the day when I will arrive at the studio and once more dance a few dances. Each week, I will progress and dance more and more dances until the hours there will be filled with continuous dances. Tomorrow will be now and I will have won out over the aches and pains and the pains and aches. I will be the victor because I waited till tomorrow and tomorrow will be glorious. The no dancing time was a long period but now the glory days are upon us (especially me) and I will savor every minute I am doing it.
When I dance, I feel at peace and I in turn can encourage others to take up dancing and therefore I can be an amicable supporter of a different kind. I can be a harmonious person by trying to inspire and support new dancers- to not wait till tomorrow but to know that today is the day when they will enter the journey of dancing for the health of it, for the enjoyment of it and mainly for the peace they will feel when accomplishing this wondrous thing called dance. They will have self control and possess their own beauty.
We are bold when we decide to think about taking ballroom dancing lessons. We know we will find magic in doing so; and if we think we can do it, we should begin it. Whatever you can do or even think you may be able to do, and then surely we should set it into motion. We should all have hope with everything we attempt. That is the courage of life and dreams.
We will be kindling a new flame into our lives and our life will be brighter for it. We can do it, begin it and continue the light that will brighten our heart and be an everlasting beam that glistens into our daily existence.
We can accomplish the almost highest thing we want by being confident and secure and when we ballroom dance, we receive added self esteem and self assurance because we know we are doing something really special.
We set into motion a fulfilling adventure that will culminate in a special happiness so profound we will often wonder how we lived without it.
Annie in the play said "Tomorrow, tomorrow" and she surely knew that tomorrow would be so splendid it would make up for any days that were not that perfect. If we can only project that tomorrow will be blessed with good and kind events then we will have fulfilled our destiny in becoming happy. Ballroom dancing is like no other sport because in learning to perform it; we have boldness, adventure, motion, emotion and most of all a constant beginning of something so perfect to begin with that the final perfection we achieve is the ultimate reward.
The aura of dance happiness is in our soul. Hillel, a Jewish sage, said our soul is a guest in our body and deserves hospitality. Hospitality that is affable with the happiness we receive from this thing called dancing.
The more you do it, the more you benefit from its graciousness and you will observe how it makes you feel. The feeling sometimes is overwhelming and it fills your heart with the peace you deserve all the days of your lives.
Keep on Dancing
You can email me at email@example.com
Reasons To Dance
- For those of you looking for an intense workout, ballroom dancing is for you. You can modify your workout based on your physical abilities, concentrating on the slower dances if need be. Through regular practice, you can gradually increase your exercise by dancing to faster songs to a faster beat.
- Ballroom dancing lessons are a great way to interact socially with others. You'll find your dance studio to be its own little community. For couples, dancing is a bonding experience. It's a hobby that encourages teamwork and intimacy.
- As an outlet for creative people looking for some kind of artistic expression, ballroom dancing is perfect. You can express your own personality through the music that you choose, the costumes you wear, and your interpretation of the dance.
- Finally, if you're looking for the thrill of competition, the ballroom dance industry provides a variety of dance competitions throughout the country and world-wide.
Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Florida Helps Community
To support the Make A Wish Foundation, Dancing With The Stars celebrity dancer Tony Dovolani will be at the studio on July 18th from 7-9 p.m. To attend this event, you can call the studio for reservations (239-939-1517).
On July 25, the studio will host a Dance Day Benefit for the local Animal Refuge Center from 2-4:30 p.m. This benefit includes a beginner's group class, a live auction, and professional performance. Tickets are $10 at the door and any additional donation of dog or cat food of equal value will get participants a free private lesson. Celebrity participants will be announced soon.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Astaire Awards Championships 2009
6 Detroit-area dancers to train with 'Dancing With the Stars' celebs
By PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
Six Detroit-area dancers from the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Bloomfield Hills will get tips this week from personalities from the hit show "Dancing With the Stars."
The six metro Detroiters — ranging in age from 15 to late 60s — leave Wednesday to compete in Chicago in the Astaire Awards Competition, where they'll have a chance to meet some of the prime-time dance show's participants.
Professional dancer Tony Dovolani — who was paired last season with third-place finisher Melissa Rycroft on the ABC show — will choreograph the Astaire competitors for a special dance number.
The competitors will be "doing all the different ballroom dances — a waltz, tango, and a fox trot, cha-cha, a rhumba, and swing," said Evan Meachum, who owns the Bloomfield Hills studio with his wife.
About 3,000 participants are to compete in the Astaire Awards Competition, which will also features judges such as Fabian Sanchez and Corky Ballas, who appeared on the TV show.
Competing for the local Fred Astaire studio are Emily Dobrota, 67, who lives outside Windsor, Ontario; Bobbie Fitzpatrick, 52, a small business owner from Metamora; George Zahul, 53, an accountant from Bloomfield Hills; Amanda Demery, 15, a high school student from Bloomfield Hills; Victoria Zahul, 20, of Bloomfield Hills; and Nancy Smith, 49, a nurse, from Bloomfield Hills.
Contact PATRICIA MONTEMURRI: 313-223-4538 or email@example.com.
Fun, Fitness, and Family at Fred Astaire Dance Studios
LuAnn Pulliam and husband Bruno Collins have owned the Cinco Bayou studio for 26 years. Now retired from competition, the couple danced their way to a remarkable twelve U.S. Championships in Cabaret Style Dancing and were recognized as World Cabaret Champions four times. Pulliam is shy when asked about her legendary competitive dance awards, but she will quickly tell you how proud she is of the talented dancers she has trained to compete and teach.
Instructors Georgia Ambarian and Eric Luna are the current U.S. Cabaret Champions. They have been featured on ABC's hit show Dancing With The Stars and on the PBS special America's Ballroom Challenge. Two other employees, Jesse Benedetti and Kimalee Piedad, are ranked second in the nation and the world in Cabaret Dancing. Pulliam has also coached Tony Dovolani, one of the regular professional dancers on Dancing With the Stars.
While she enjoys helping dancers succeed competitively, Pulliam insists that you don't have to be a competitive dancer to reap the benefits of dancing. "Anyone can learn to dance, regardless of his or her ability or disability, size or age," she says. "One misconception many people have is that you already need to know how to dance to come to a dance studio, but we work with all levels from beginners to world champion competition dancers. And our students range in age from five to 95."
The newcomer is greeted like a long awaited member of the family. Pulliam fosters that kind of atmosphere with her staff. "It's a happy place to be because we all love what we do."
Another misconception that many people—especially men—have is that real men don't dance. Quite the opposite is true. The instructors are competitive dancers, and that makes them athletes. Pulliam's 16-year-old son Bruno points out that every male working there can bench press 350 pounds. "You have to watch your diet and take care of your body in order to succeed at dancing."
"The first time I came to the Tuesday night social I never sat down," says Barnes. "I had always wanted to dance, and the people here make it so easy. They also make you feel so special. I appreciate the world of dance so much more. Now when I watch the pros on television I understand what it takes to dance that way."
Another senior says her classes at Fred Astaire Dance Studios helped her cope with grief and depression. Doris Faught enjoyed a long career as the first female veterinarian pharmacist in the country. She even wrote the pharmaceutical reference book used by most vets. She says she couldn't seem to move past the death of her husband until her neighbor—a Fred Astaire student—talked her into taking lessons. Faught says all her friends say dance has changed her.
Cheryl Chrisan, the neighbor who recruited Faught, has been dancing at Fred Astaire Studios for over four years and says it is her stress reliever. "When you're on the dance floor you can forget about everything. I consider dancing my hobby. My husband has golf, and I have this."
That brings up another common misconception. Some people believe you must already have a dance partner to take lessons. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are at least 15 instructors at the studio, roughly half female and half male. Instructor Chris Uy just returned to Fort Walton Beach after working in studios in the New England area for a few years. "This studio is absolutely the best. Everyone has a positive attitude and the family atmosphere cannot be beat. We love our students and our job."
If you think you are too old or too young or too fat or too clumsy to dance, stop making excuses and let the people at Fred Astaire Dance Studios show you how you can. And you can be sure you'll be welcomed into a happy, healthy family.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Blackpool Festival 2009 - Team USA!
This year, the Team Match was between Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and the USA. This is the second year in a row that the USA has won.
National Dance Championships 2009...Where Dreams Come True
Mark your calendars now for this extraordinary, unforgettable dance extravaganza!
Champion Dancers
respect, appreciation, and admiration. With much pride and gratitude today, we would like to put in the spotlight two great dancers who strive for perfection and reach new heights in their dance careers and in their teaching talents every single day.
RADOSTINA GEROVA and PLAMEN DANAILOV are 5 times Bulgarian Professional International Latin Champions, Rising Star US Open Finalists, Rising Star International Finalists, Rising Star Blackpool Finalists, UK 10 dance Championship Runners Up. They are also the current Fred Astaire International Latin Champions and finalists in many major US and European Championships.
of our students has earned well deserved respect and recognition for her work.
and charity events.
Successful Pilot Program for Dance in Schools
Swing Dancing
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Blind Students Have Fun On The Dance Floor
Lose To Win!
The Oxygen Channel's new dance-diet reality TV show highlights 12 overweight people as they combine dance training, exercise, nutritional, and medical counseling. In a kind of Dancing With The Stars meets The Biggest Loser, each contestant is paired with a professional dance partner who trains with them for weekly stage performances in all different styles - from Hip Hop, to Ballroom and even Pole Dancing! The contestants are judged on their dance performance and that score is added to the percentage of body weight they lost that week to determine who is sent home.
The judges are Mayte Garcia, a famous dancer and singer, best known as the former wife of pop star, Prince. Garcia's exceptional choreography skills span a variety of dance styles, including hip hop, salsa and freestyle; Lisa Ann Walter, an American actress, comedienne, writer, and film producer. Lisa is well known for her performance in Shall We Dance opposite Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez; Danny Teason, dancer and choreographer for Grammy® Award-winning artists such as Kylie Minogue, Diana Ross, Robbie Williams and Tom Jones.
Tune in on Mondays, 10/9c
Dancing With The Stars - New Pro!
A shining star in the dance world, Russian-American Anna was six years old when she started to dance. She won the Ireland Open Championship and the British Open Junior Ballroom Championship when she was 15 years old. With her dancing partner Andrei Begunov, she became the US Youth Champion in 2005-2006. At the World Championships, she made it to the finals, representing the U.S. In the Yyouth category, they won the BYU Championship, the Tri State Challenge, the King's Ball, and the Ohio Star Ball. With her new partner Igor Mikushov, she has won many more championships, such as the Emerald Ball, the San Francisco Open, the Ohio Star Ball, and Manhattan Dancesport Championship. Demidova and Miushov made it to the finals in the Blackpool Under 21 Ballroom Championships.
Anna is definitely qualified to be a great addition to the show. The only question is ...who will be her partner?!?
America's Most Prestigious Competition!


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For your first creation you may use any stamps but for any additional entries, you must use North Coast Creations, Our Daily Bread Designs, or Artistic Outpost stamps.
One random winner will be chosen from all entries and announced here on our blog with our next challenge post. You need not use Our Daily Bread Design (ODBD), Artistic Outpost, or North Coast Creation stamps to join us or qualify for this drawing but if you have them, we would love to see them. As a way of recognizing those who participate using Our Daily Bread Designs or our sister company: Artistic Outpost or North Coast Creation stamps, we will be choosing one challenge participant for the Shining the Light Award.
However, in order to qualify for this award, you must have your submission using Our Daily Bread Designs, Artistic Outpost, or North Coast Creation stamps added to the InLinkz found at the bottom of the CURRENT Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge post by 8:00pm EST. If you upload your projects to Splitcoast Stampers gallery, please use the keyword ODBDSLC and the number associated with the challenge that is listed at the top of the post for each challenge, so that we can easily find your project. When posting projects on your blog for the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge, please include a link back to the challenge post in which you are entering.
If at all possible, please upload your creations to Splitcoast or a blog if you would like comments or a chance to be spotlighted. It is very difficult and sometimes impossible to leave comments on other forums or to save and post cards to be spotlighted from places like Flickr.
To make the challenge even more fun, each participant will be placed in a random drawing for a $15 Our Daily Bread Designs Gift Certificate to be used towards stamps in the "stamps column" on our website!


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Today I'm delighted to share some happy snaps from the upcoming summer 2011/2012 collection by Knuffle Kid. "Forest for the Trees" embraces the story of Hansel and Gretel, with super cute "lolly pop" shorts, strap style "gretel" skirts, gingham "grimm" shirts and spotty "sister" dresses. Colours include rose, teal, pink, green and charcoal and the detailing is delicious, with lace trims, pleats & stitching.
Knuffle Kid is available in sizes 1 to 8 for boys and girls. The spring summer collection will start to hit the stores in August 2011.


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A comparison of war and violence in Harry Potter and The Hunger Games
Both JK Rowling's Harry Potter series and Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy present stories of war for young readers. Both present the action of war directly and then, through the device of the epilogue, raise the personal consequences that follow for the heroes. However, at this final point, they take markedly different approaches to those personal reactions. The ways in which each novel deals with war, violence and the outcomes provides a clear statement of the distinction between children's and young adult literature.
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The Looking Glass: new perspectives on children's literature


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10 TV - Dy CM Rajaiah convoy hits Indica car, 5 injured
Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana Rajaih's convoy has hit an Indica car at Midigonda near Raghunathpalle Mandal in Warangal District. The five persons travelling in this car are severely injured and it is learnt that three are in critical condition. A woman is said to be stuck in the car still. It is reported that Deputy CM has escaped a severe mishap with this accident. Watch the video for more updates on this news . . . . .


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Friday, June 27, 2008
up up and away......
My flight from Perth to Melbourne was scheduled to leave at 1:30pm. Being the eager and overly conscientious traveller that I am, I was there around 11:30am. Left again at 2:30pm having got my bag checked to Melbourne and found out the plane wasn't leaving until 8:30pm that night. Not wanting to spend the arvo at the airport I taxied back to Protium and Thumps and proceeded to have a fantastic evening.
At one stage I know I literally was rolling around on the floor laughing. Right outside the dunny. Can't remember what was so funny. It was... something about Protium breaking the bog roll holder and ....OH YES!!! Thump fixing it by smashing it back together again. (The end pin had come loose). The image of dear Thump not taking no crap offa nobody particularly a bog roll holder was just too much for me.
Literally ROFLMAO. You haven't fully experienced life until you've been in a situation (booze enhanced or not) that warrants literally rolling on the floor helpless with laughter.
The reason I got that schnockered and tried things I'd never done before was the flight got rescheduled AGAIN for 12:30am and didn't actually LEAVE Perth until 2:30am. AARRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!
But the fun times on Protium & Thump's carpet more than made up for the flight delay.
6 comments:
- Half rabbit said...
I'm glad to see your posting again, I thought you might be dead.
P.S. Did Protium or Thump Thump catch any video footage of you ROFLMAO?
P.P.S. How did lord Jake react to you being on the floor? (Or is it a normal occurrence in the Protium/Thump household :) )
- June 28, 2008 at 4:10 PM
- Fiery said...
Howdy do Half Rabbit! :)
Heavens no, not dead. It's just that... well... you see... my time in Melbourne.... well..... I didn't spend any of it on the internet.
I'm weeks behind on reading all my favorite blogs and about two weeks behind on my own blog here.
Come back soon, more posting more often. promise. :)
- June 28, 2008 at 7:39 PM
- Fiery said...
OH! And no, there is, unfortunately, no video footage of me rolling around on the floor and Lord Jake thought it was a riot. Jumping around barking, racing here and there. He had fun that night too, I reckon.
- June 28, 2008 at 7:40 PM
- Thump Thump Eyes said...
It was a very big night! Even I had a drink or two of champagne, which Fiery thought was a yukky drink, so I didnt want to waste it:) and when I eventually saw the t/roll holder on the floor, I thought, that bloody Fiery....no...no..I didnt, I just laughed myself silly as well, although i didnt roll around on the floor:)!!
We were sad to see her go that night, and I lay awake for a long time thinking she was probably gonna be stuck at Perth airport all night.....but no...next morning...she was not sitting on the doorstep waiting for us to wake up...:(
We should have gotten some footage that night Fiery, it would have been totally insane haha...
Miss you xx
- June 28, 2008 at 8:15 PM
- Fiery said...
It wasn't me that broke it!!! It was Protium!!!! Remember that giant crash and the swearing????? That was him, not me! And the bog roll was all dipsy doodle on the floor!
- June 28, 2008 at 9:52 PM
- Fiery said...
And as for the missing, ye gods the missing is hitting hard today.
- June 28, 2008 at 9:53 PM


text: Nothing sticks on Neosil (Dubai application) In a recent application in Dubai this beautiful demonstration was shared with us of how smooth Neosil is. As you can see in the video, not even sticky tape can adhere to the coating. Thomas van de MeerDecember 16, 2016Comment Facebook0 Twitter LinkedIn0 StumbleUpon Reddit Tumblr Pinterest0 0 Likes


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Caroline Hlahla and Khulile Vilakazi-Ofosu Created Sibahle Dolls with Real Afro Kinky Hair!
Caroline Hlahla and Khulile Vilakazi-Ofosu created the Sibahle dolls with dark skin and afro kinky hair. Now children of African Caribbean origins have dolls that they can relate to. Most people might not appreciate just how significant this is, but if you have a daughter who plays with light-skinned dolls, watches Barbie and other cartoons and then concludes that she'd rather have white skin and straight silky hair, then you probably appreciate how exciting this is.
How it all started
Caroline Hlahla is a tax consultant from Zimbabwe, but she grew up in Kenya. Currently living in the UK, she teamed up with Khulile Vilakazi-Ofosu, who is from and still lives in South Africa. They developed the Sibahle collectio when they discovered that there weren't that many dolls with African and Caribbean features in the market.
The push came when Khulile's 3 year old daughter decided that she wanted blond and flowing hair. They decided to tackle the real lack of dark skinned dolls in stores. According to the duo, "We decided to do this, is because we want our children to know they are beautiful the way they are. We hope the doll's hair will teach our children how to take care of their own natural hair from a young age and to love the skin that their in."
The Journey to Sibahle Dolls
Getting the African dolls produced was not an easy task. They faced so many bumps along the way, especially when they could not get manufacturers to produce their dolls because they were told that black dolls were too ugly and would not get sold. As shocking as this was to hear, they pressed on. Since then, they have sold out twice and are now working on expanding their brand.
What we find really amazing is the way they are using their products to provide jobs and livelihoods for women on the continent. They have partnered with two local clothing designers based in South Africa, one of them is a stay at home mother who sews from her dining room. These women now have a regular income, thanks to Sibahle and the goal is to provide similar opportunities for other women.
The Sibahle collection
The Sibahle dolls are really cute and cuddly. The princess theme is used because the producers believe that our children need to realize that no matter what shade of black they are, they are perfect African princesses.
You can get this dolls on Amazon UK and on their website. Each doll retails for £38.
The owner of this website is a participant in the Amazon Affiliates Program. Therefore, the links here might be affiliate links and sales from them may earn a small commission for us – at no extra cost to you. Since we only recommend stuff we have faith in, you're in good hands.


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Keith Olbermann is back after his indefinite suspension turned out to be just two days. TVNewsers sources, which I cited last week, were mistaken at best when they quoted "insiders" as having said he "won't be back."
David Zurawik, TV critic for the Baltimore Sun, was right on the money when he called the suspension "a joke suspension" if it only lasted a week or two. Imagine what kind of joke it turned out to be. And Zurawik linked to some great clips. One is Lawrence O'Donnell, one of the other MSNBC hosts proudly proclaiming that he is a socialist, causing Morning Joe Scarborough to howl with laughter. The video and description of Rachel Maddow is priceless:
"Maddow Friday night called for Olbermann's reinstatement. And as she whined her way through her what-he-did-was-wrong-but-Fox-is-worse-so-reinstate-him-now complaint, MSNBC came sharply into focus.
"It's not high school with cable TV salaries, as one news executive once explained it to me, trying to account for the adolescent behavior and attitudes of its hosts. No, it's a weird, little, liberal prep school. It's not very good academically, but it cost lots of money to get in. The editor of the literary magazine is Olbermann, and his protege is Maddow, the poetry editor. And now, the poetry editor is upset because Keith was suspended for breaking one of the school rules.
"And she's so upset she's going to demand his immediate reinstatement. But what is she going to do if he is not reinstated? Nothing, because that would involve paying a price, however small, for her convictions. And if she walked off in protest, who would publish her self-absorbed, snarky poems?"
This is not the first time the network has had to restrain their ratings king for his partisanship. During the 2008 presidential campaign, the "reporting" of Olbermann, Matthews and others led then-Democratic governor from Pennsylvania Ed Rendell to call MSNBC the "Obama Network." He said "MSNBC was the official network of the Obama campaign," and called their coverage "absolutely embarrassing."
Tom Brokaw of NBC News basically agreed, saying, "I think Keith has gone too far. I think Chris has gone too far," while arguing that they are "commentators," and "not the only voices" on that network.
Shortly after those comments, they were, according to The Washington Post, removed "as the anchors of live political events, bowing to growing criticism that they are too opinionated to be seen as neutral in the heat of the presidential campaign."
Once again, a brief suspension.
Olbermann has made news in the past for blasting his own colleagues when he thought their views were a bit out of line, including those of Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough.
Assuming he hosts about 225 shows a year, Olbermann's two-day suspension amounts to about a $60,000 to $70,000 fine, roughly the average in-kind contribution Olbermann makes on a nightly basis to the Democratic Party.
And to the idea that Rupert Murdoch contributed a million dollars to the Republican Governor's Association, it should be remembered that in the past, Murdoch supported Al Gore financially in 2000, and then-News Corp. COO Peter Chernin was a prominent and open supporter of John Kerry in 2004. Murdoch also supported Hillary Clinton in her successful bid to become the senator from New York.
The left-wing "The Nation" magazine looked at what happened to Olbermann, and wondered what standards apply to Olbermann's bosses at NBC and NBC parent company General Electric:
"A journalist donating money to a political candidate raises obvious conflict of interest questions; at a minimum, such contributions should be disclosed on air. But if supporting politicians with money is a threat to journalistic independence, what are the standards for Olbermann's bosses at NBC, and at NBC's parent company General Electric?," they asked.
"According to the Center for Responsive Politics, GE made over $2 million in political contributions in the 2010 election cycle (most coming from the company's political action committee)."
Again I ask, if MSNBC really cared about the appearance of impartial journalism, would they have had as their correspondents covering election night the line-up of Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O'Donnell, along with Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson? And it's not just election night, it's every night.