BS: white people and their native dance

Subject: BS: white people and their native dance
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 01:37 PM

Loved it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8q5QJOwoG4

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 01:42 PM

And this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BW0f7yaTTk&feature=related

Isn't she cute? And isn't her absence of stage fright amazing? Where does that go as we mature?

Perhaps if there was a rule that when we mess up on stage, all we have to do is turn a cartwheel, and all is forgiven...

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 01:45 PM

Well, that's exactly what I do when I mess on the stage. I turn a cartwheel.

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 02:02 PM

Did you learn that from a little twirler, Rapaire?

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Mar 08 - 02:36 PM

No, I learned it from a big twirler. WOW, could she twirl!

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: SINSULL
Date: 29 Mar 08 - 11:38 AM

Great bstuff but I was expecting the hokey pokey.

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: GUEST,dianavan
Date: 29 Mar 08 - 02:07 PM

Brings back memories. My dance training began with baton, acrobatics and tap. What amazes me is the amount of energy required to practice and perform. Its really strenuous.

Baton twirling seems to be a dying art. It makes me wonder how it ever started. My guess is the military. Probably marching bands and the drum major. Did it begin in Britain or was it the African-American drum major that gave the baton its pizazz? I'm not so sure white folks can claim it as their native dance.

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Mar 08 - 03:05 PM

I was told* once that the whole cheerleading/baton twirling/marching band thing was unknown in Britain because British high schools (whatever they call them) don't have competitive sports, that is, where one school competes against another.

Obviously, there are military marching bands, as you can see if you've ever witnessed the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace, but high schools don't have them.

And obviously, there is at least one baton twirler.

*I was told this by my sister-in-law who grew up in the US but has lived 20+ years in Britain.

Does this agree with everyone's experience?

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: Thompson
Date: 29 Mar 08 - 04:47 PM

Ohh... tears in my eyes. What a great kid! So brave, so strong, and so bloody talented.

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 29 Mar 08 - 05:25 PM

If you're talking military - the 'baton' twirling at the front of a military band are directions to the musicians as to which way they are going to turn.

We don't have cheerleaders as such, but there are a couple of cheerleading squads - the Ascension Eagles based in east London is one and they've won a lot of prizes.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 29 Mar 08 - 08:21 PM

Not competitive? Jim, your sister must have led a sheltered life in the UK. or else schooled her children at home. It is true that school sports events over here seem to be free (so far as I know) of the showbiz, razzmatazz and cheerleading stuff that seems to accompany such events in the USA. But all that sort of energy seems to get channeled into the dance world, which is widely supported (and very competitive) throughout the UK. It's a side of dance that is completely ignored by the traditional dance crowd (some might say with good reason!) but its spread and method of transmission (peer group) would qualify it as traditional by many criteria. Baton-twirling would appear to have a military origin, but the showier aspects were developed by many (male) marching band leaders in the Orange and Green traditions. In the North-West of England there is a branch of Morris dancing (affectionately? known as "fluffy" Morris by the traditional lot), performed by cadres of girls in costumes not unlike those in the video clips above.

Here's a Link - Championships in Blackpool 2007

And if you haven't seen traditional North West Morris, here's the real thing:-

Stockport Morris Men (that's what it sez on the label)

My sister-in-law was into baton-twirling and drum-majoretting when I first met her (age 8). Certainly did her self-confidence no harm - she now runs her own financial consultancy business.

Ross

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: GUEST,dianavan
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 02:29 PM

Self confidence - yes!

When you're twirling a steel rod with rubber knobs on each end, you learn to be confident. If you're not, you hit yourself in the jaw. If you falter, when throwing it in the air, you can even get it on the head. You have to be very accurate, very aware, and very well co-ordinated.

I think the second world war saw the rise of baton twirling. Those high-stepping majorettes were similar to the goose-stepping Germans. Many of the pin-ups during that time were drum majorettes. I think hollywood may have also played a part. Sometimes, its almost like can-can for little girls or a feminine version of the Army.

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Mar 08 - 06:14 PM

In Milwaukee, where I grew up, bands and parades were big. There was some connection with sports, but band music and twirling were enjoyed independent of that, especially in parades.

I think the nation needs more twirling.

That was a joke about white people, so don't take it too seriously. (I started this thread partly in response to an earlier thread about white people and how bland they are.)I found a video of a Japanese twirling team. It is just remarkable to see them throw a baton four storeys in the air, do three cartwheels and catch it coming down.

One year when I was about ten or twelve, we went into downtown Chicago to watch the American Legion parade. This parade last something like ten hours. (We only watched for about three.) I shall never forget the first person in the parade. A black youth, tall and slim, strutting (there is no other word for it) so joyously and throwing his baton high, high into the air. We heard that he had been named the champion American Legion twirler, which is basically being named the national champion.

I had never seen a boy twirl, and I was thrilled with him. I can still picture him in his turquoise costume and his high hat with his baton sparkling in the air.

Subject: RE: BS: white people and their native dance
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 11:41 AM

Hi, Ross. Thanks for the links. The young ladies are in what we would call a pom-pom squad.

I have to respond to the comment that 'Those high-stepping majorettes were similar to the goose-stepping Germans.' I'm sure there was borrowing from the world of military bands, but there is no need to drag the Nazis in.

In my opinion, that was just a know-it-all remark made long ago by a person who was jealous. (Why are people spending time and money on HER when they're not spending it on ME?)

If you've ever seen footage of soldiers goose-stepping, you would know that nobody's done anything that stupid-looking since. I'm also sure it was bad for the joints.

I watched the feet of the girls in the 'pom-pom squad' and I've decided that first they march with knees high, then their steps are like step-dancing - graceful, balanced and efficient.