Originally uploaded by swan lake samba girl via mobile.
I’m so sad. Tonight’s the last night. What now?
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Originally uploaded by swan lake samba girl via mobile.
I’m so sad. Tonight’s the last night. What now?
How many times did you go to “Slow Dancing”?
I count at least 8 times, Doug! I just found it really entertaining — both the actual films (unless I just got used to it, I’m pretty sure he sped some of them up a bit, so I was able to get a better sense of the overall movement) as well as the crowd — watching the crowd watching the films and overhearing things people were saying, or not!I found the whole experience really interesting from a cultural perspective — seeing how the social dancers interacted with the films and also, and in a way more interesting but mildly upsetting to me, was seeing the ballet people’s attitudes to the social dancers. At first I was annoyed that there was so much going on on that Plaza at once, which is what made it nice to go on the Sunday evenings when the MNS crowd was not there, but in the end, I’m really glad it coincided with MNS — I think everyone learned something, and became more aware of the diversity of dance — at least the intelligent ones!
Tonya, what exactly do you mean by the ballet people’s attitudes toward the social dancers? Were they condescending? Resentful of their presence? And when you talk about “ballet people,” do you mean balletgoers or ballet dancers or both? I would think that true ballet people would be pleased that the kind of dance being captured in the films was getting large-scale exposure. Of course, not everyone is going to appreciate something like that but if even a small percentage of the people hanging out on the plaza gained a greater appreciation of the artistry being depicted on those screens, that’s a plus.