Cross-cultural dance styles

[ChrisA]

Another question struck me last night - how much does the influence of Asian culture affect one's dance style? I was dancing with a gorgeous lady of, I assume, Asian extraction, last night, and she was such a lovely dancer. She had a very musical, very funky style, did some dead subtle but really attractive stuff in some of the breaks, and I noticed that the last time I'd experienced anything quite like that was with another lady of similar background some time ago.

More please !!!!

Chris

[Emma]

I think this is really interesting Chris..my immediate reaction is that culture would be irrelevant if someone had had no dance training..but then perhaps a constant exposure to a certain dance style, be it Flamenco or Ballet or Bhangra (um..is that the dance style as well as the music? I think so but could well be wrong!) would influence one's dance style.

Certainly I noticed recently when I did a few Egyptian dancing classes that it had a major effect on my hips!

Anyway, I've been hoping for a Ceroc/Bhangra fusion for some time, so maybe it's finally on it's way

[Emma]

Originally posted by Rachel
And you know what else I think would be really interesting? They have friends who teach ethnic dances classes for these type of songs - I gather all the movements are tied into the meaning of the music (sowing the seeds and all that). Don't you think it would be great to learn some of these steps and see how/if you could incorporate that into your 'jive' dancing?

I would be *so* up for this

[Forte]

A winner at my last school's talent contest was a fusion of western hip hop and Asian dance. Two lovely girls from the senior school (aged about 16) did an amazing piece of choreography they had devised themselves..both girls were Scottish but one girl had asian parents , the other did not . They wore Asian pantaloons and little sari bolero type tops and were just amazing in the way they effortlessly moved from one style into the other....I can't remember the music they danced to, though

[Rachel]

Originally posted by Emma
I would be *so* up for this

Hmmm, I wonder if, in the future, we could maybe get a workshop arranged ...

[ChrisA]

Originally posted by Forte
A winner at my last school's talent contest was a fusion of western hip hop and Asian dance.

Sounds great.

At Rock Bottoms a few weeks ago, Sean and Tas taught a choreographed class together called "Hip hop jive", and it was fantastic**. High energy, exciting, hard work, and very much the sort of thing I'd like to see fused into jive a bit - or even a lot - more. Not least because the music is so vibrant.

With an Asian feel mixed in too, innovative would be an understatement...

Chris

** David & Lily's aerials class immediately following was relaxing by comparison....

[Emma]

Originally posted by Rachel
Hmmm, I wonder if, in the future, we could maybe get a workshop arranged ...

Repeat as above... *so* up for that now all we need is an innovative thinking workshop arranger...Franck? Dan? Adam? Someone - anyone?!

Chris - yes, Hip Hop too...

Is Dan (er...Slape, is it?) doing a Hip Hop workshop at Camber this weekend, I wonder

[Dan Hudson]

I thikn I can arrange that, em, discuss it with Kel tonight and we will get the ball rolling