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Dancing Culture Religion 
Section 2 Journal #1
In today’s society is seems that every month there is something new being cut out of the Public Education Systems budget. These cuts are detrimental to our children’s learning experiences, and we are slowly seeing less and less opportunity for kids in our society to find talent through artistic expression. What bothers me so much about the loss of dance classes in even physical education stems back to a foster brother I had in my family for 15 months. His name was Vito Cano whose mother was in jail for burglary and father in prison. His life was heading for trouble, once going to juvenile hall for fighting, and his future in gangs was already being considered as a family tradition. The school he attended was a public elementary school, which offered little to no extra curricular activities due to the low test scores and budget cuts. One day, my mom took him to the dance studio my sister danced at and signed him up for a hip-hop class. This class changed his life, opened his eyes to a talent that would make his career. Over 4 or 5 months he made the Company team at the studio and went to competitions all over California. Listening to the podcasts I was extremely intrigued at the strong take Sam took on how important it is to incorporate dancing and expression in children’s lives. My brother now professional dances for people such as Ciara, Brittney Spears, and many more top artists. This small opportunity that he was given through dance has not only given him a career but perfectly exemplifies the need for this activity in schools. Dance gave my brother a change to step away from a long road of trouble and into a world of success, happiness, and expression.
The power of dance can be a powerful tool in understanding cultures, as well as a powerful social form. Yet according to lecture we see that we may have made a mistake, and that dancing is important to the process of growing up. The story above is a correlation of this topic in lecture, because we see that if dance a life changer in one life, it may possibly be for many.
The claim that Sam made that dancing is just as important as math or science is one that is explored through Mad Hot Ballroom. This movie really opened my eyes and heart to see that every kid deserves a chance, as well as how much children not only learn about the actual steps in dancing, but life lessons. Kids learn to communicate through movements, bond with the opposite sex, and are instilled with the power of competition. This is the type of drive that our society needs to see in education, for we always say “ our kids are our future” and they deserve to have the opportunity to express themselves through whatever gift they are blessed with.
WOW! What a great story. You should send it in to the education boards at local schools who are considering or have already cut the arts. SO many students don’t find themselves in academics but really thrive in extra-curriculars, like the arts and sports. Do you have video of your brother?
I might send it to my HS which cut dance two years after I left. I’ll gab later about how important dance class (and the showcases and final concert) was to the girls I danced with me (who were all minorities but extremely strong and opinionated young women with no experience in the arts.)
How do you think the movements in dance and the “making” of it all teaches these life lessons you describe to children? How can one bond with another person (respectfully and on many different levels) via dancing, and via proprioception?
I have thoroughly enjoyed learning Rueda de Casino thus far. I have primarily been trained in ballet technique and have never taken a class in a style remotely close to Rueda de Casino. Partner dancing often makes me quite uncomfortable. I was often uncomfortable in my pas de deux classes and I have noticed that I am slightly uncomfortable in Rueda de Casino classes as well. I am a very introverted person, who keeps to herself, and often lives in the head rather than in the body. Contact with other human beings makes me feel vulnerable and self-conscious. In sophomore year of my career at CU I took an improv dance class where we explored in great depth contact improvisation. This class was a huge learning experience and I came out of the class further understanding the importance of human contact. While partner dancing will still take some getting used too, my shell will slowly come down and I assume I will have the same rewarding experience at the end of this class as I did at the end of my improvisation class.
The United States is a very individualistic society that does not put much emphasis on the importance of others in one’s growth, progress, and learning. In the essay “The Primacy of Movement” the lack of importance placed upon movement is noted, “Given the fact that we intuitively equate aliveness with movement, it is difficult to explain why philosophers would overlook the primacy of movement in their renditions of what it is to be human” (Sheets-Johnson, 135). Moving, dancing, and contact with others is what makes us all human. Movement is the simplest, most intimate way to connect with the world and the people in it.
Carrie Gallaher
One of my favorite forms of salsa is the art of Bachata. Originating from the Dominican Republic in the 1960’s, Bachata contains a uniqueness about it that historically has been rejected by the mainstream society’s conception of what art and music is supposed to be. Bachata is a “musical pariah” (Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music, Deborah Hernandes, 2) because it is associated with poor rural migrants that live in urban shantytowns. The music is considered to be vulgar, crude and is not considered something that would be accepted in the “mainstream musical landscape” (Hernandes, 2). I think that the disdain for this form of music is poorly underrated because the musicality in its form is greatly misunderstood by the mainstream society. The deep meaning in it is what I personally feel makes it so special.
In recent years, however, Bachata has struggled to make it onto the pop charts and eventually has become globally recognized. Now, it is being embraced by all social classes within the Dominican Republic. Now, musicians are trying to incorporate more of it into their own musical art forms. And so the purchasing of this music is greatly accessible across the country and all of Latin America.
Popular music undergoes constant changes during its existence as musicians’ songs and styles reappear and evolve and combine into diverse musical sounds. At the same time, the audiences interest fluctuates as well as they adjust to the differences in styles. An example of the evolvement of popular music that has evolved from being marginalized and taboo into popular aesthetics would be the emergence of Rhythm and Blues (R&B) in the United States. R&B was something that originated from Blues by African Americans to express and reflect on the current state of their lives since the era of segregation. Until Elvis Presley introduced styles of African American dance/music, these art forms were previously marginalized. In the Dominican Republic, a young musician by the name of Luis Guerra “took Bachata out of its obscurity” (Hernandes, 3) and showcased this art form internationally.
This particular style came from Pan-Latin American tradition of guitar music, which is usually played with 3-4 people with 1 or 2 guitars, or another strings instrument called the “requinto” with the percussion and a set of maracas, claves, bongo drums and a scraper. When the style came about in the 1960’s, it was considered a subcategory of romantic music, something that was set apart from traditional dancing. And the people who influenced the start of the Bolero were of Afro-Cuban and rural Latin Americans. So, it was uncommon at the time to legitimize this style of music and dance.
At first, these quartets began in back yards, living rooms and even on the streets. This was meant to be a loose form of music which enabled the musicians to play at informal events and parties where the mood of the scene would “denote fun, merriment and a good time.” (5) Food and drink would be present adding on to the festivities as well. Eventually, the musicians decided to speed up the rhythm of this music and the dancers created a new step. The Bachata began with certain class associations; upper classed parties would never have Bachatas present. To them, this music was considered vulgar and suggestive, and “low class debauchery and dissipation.”
No part of this music was Eurocentric and that was the fear of the elite. Because this style is so different from their expectations, it was misconstrued as threatening and vulgar. Really, the issue with embracing this style across the class systems must have been that “borders” and intercultural communication was lacking between the race and class system during this era in the Dominican Republic. The cultural roots of this music must be recognized and acknowledged.
Hi, my name is Monica and I am an Art History major. I haven’t had any formal experience with dancing, but have learned about the importance attributed to dancing within a culture through a few music classes I have taken through CU, mostly World Music. Although I may not know what I am doing, I love to dance, and like Professor Gill discussed in the introduction to the course, I feel that fitness, health, and body/brain movements and connections are extremely important to the well being of an individual, and I make sure to get my body moving everyday.
I was going to start off discussing dance in terms of self-expression, but through the first lecture on folk theories I have been introduced to the idea that this is a western point of view. Although I do see dance as self-expression, I also agree with this statement whole-heartedly. In other cultures, dances have function far beyond self-expression. The value placed on certain dances in different cultures are far greater then any dance we participate in here in America, and therefore when discussing dance, we must be open-minded because it is very easy to go to off of an ethnocentric viewpoint.
Along with this idea of “value” of dance, is that even if we may not understand its importance within a culture, we could still appreciate it. This goes along with the idea brought up by Professor Gill that dance is a universal language. No matter where you are and what kind of dancing you witness, most people can understand the enchantment, power and emotion dancing creates. I find that dancing is one of the only actions that can portray feelings and responses as clearly as words.
Another interesting point brought up is the fact that people have truly been dancing since the beginning of history. Through Art History classes, I have seen dancing portrayed in sketches, portraits, and paintings completed in Ancient China, Japan, and Europe. I never took a moment to truly think about what an important role dancing has played throughout not just American History but World History.