Origins: Amazing bottle dancers

Subject: RE: Origins: Amazing bottle dancers
From: leeneia
Date: 07 Oct 17 - 12:30 PM

There are many social things to see in the video besides the dancing. Watch it carefully.

1. Describe the emotions of the man in the black hat as he enters the palatial room.

2. Name three emotions that the woman in the red dress manages to put into the single word "Yes."

3. When Black Hat asks "Is this the Radisson?", why is there a pause as she says, "No, this is the ----"?

4. What is the relationship between the slinky red dress and the word "whomever"?

5. Why do the guests laugh at the words "Eat, eat!"?

Subject: RE: Origins: Amazing bottle dancers
From: leeneia
Date: 06 Oct 17 - 04:05 PM

Yes, I've been thinking. Fiddler on the Roof was a play about life in a traditional Jewish village in eastern Europe. Given how many Jewish people there are in New York, is it at all likely that a choreographer could have introduced a style of dance that no Jew had ever done before?

Especially a style involving booze? I think not.

Subject: RE: Origins: Amazing bottle dancers
From: Jack Campin
Date: 06 Oct 17 - 12:43 PM

Bottle-on-the-head dancing is traditional Romanian, adopted by the Jews from their neighbours. I've not seen it there myself, but my wife saw it at a peasant wedding at an arse-end-of-nowhere village near Iasi in Moldavia about 25 years ago, where it is unlikely anybody would have heard of Fiddler on the Roof.

Subject: RE: Origins: Amazing bottle dancers
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 06 Oct 17 - 12:29 PM

"...Robbins was still tinkering with it as late as two weeks before “Fiddler” opened on Broadway on Sept. 22, 1964. At last, obsessed by something he’d seen done by a Brooklyn Hasid he’d nicknamed “Mr. Redbeard,” he called a dozen male dancers into the studio to learn to bounce, twist and sway in ever more difficult “whips and hooks” — all with bottles balanced atop their heads. ..."
http://forward.com/culture/186082/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-fiddler-on-the/ 

Subject: RE: Origins: Amazing bottle dancers
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Oct 17 - 01:20 AM

Here's a Bottle Dance tutorial, that seems to indicate that the dance is traditional.
I'm not convinced, because this video (click) leans toward my belief that this dance is a Jerome Robbins creation.
But it's still fun.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: Amazing bottle dancers
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Oct 17 - 01:06 AM

Oh, gee, Leeneia. Now that sounds like a challenge, and I don't know where I'm going to find the documentation.
I'll keep looking.
But in the meantime, here's the "Bottle Dance" from the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_B4iljTugo

It was choreographed by Jerome Robbins, but is this dance Robbins or traditional?

It really is so wonderful.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Amazing bottle dancers
From: leeneia
Date: 05 Oct 17 - 10:44 PM

Oh, I dunno. I saw women doing it at a performance of traditional Hungarian dance in Budapest. Any connection to Fiddler on the Roof seems doubtful.

It's good dancing and good comedy.

Subject: RE: Amazing bottle dancers
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Oct 17 - 08:07 PM

As far as I can tell, this whole "bottle dance" thing began with Fiddler on the Roof. I thought it was something traditional, but I read somewhere that the whole thing began with Fiddler.

But it sure is fun.

Another interesting site to check is http://bottledancers.com/

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Amazing bottle dancers
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 05 Oct 17 - 08:04 PM

Me, too! Thank you! That deserves a clicky! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYuYojyDwN4

Subject: Amazing bottle dancers
From: leeneia
Date: 04 Oct 17 - 11:53 AM

They cheered me up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYuYojyDwN4