By Dave Babbitt – Special to the Sydenham Current
Now that my ignorance, fear, and experience in the world of dance have been well-established, I figured it was time to take a more serious look at it.
In no way would I want anyone to think that I was mocking the art of dance.
Great dancers like great musicians and great athletes have my greatest respect and secretly, I wish I could do what they do.
What made me think about the art of dance was a chance video that popped-up on YouTube a few weeks ago.
The video was a clip of the late Fred Astaire “cutting loose” on the 1970 Oscars.
I had long heard of Fred Astaire and his frequent partner, Ginger Rogers but their heyday preceded me by a few decades.
While I knew Fred was a dancer, to me he was more closely associated with being the narrator of the animated Christmas special, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”.
For some reason, I watched the video that popped-up in my feed and was mesmerized by the fluidity of how he moved.
This caused me to seek-out other videos of Fred Astaire and was astounded by the talent of the man.
It’s now no wonder to me now why he is widely considered the greatest dancer in film history.
But I had already long admired the talents of Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor that were on display in what is widely considered the greatest musical film ever, “Singin’ in the Rain”.
I was so taken by the dancing in that movie that I had my kids watch it when they were quite young.
While not dancers by any stretch of the imagination, it was absolutely comical watching them attempt to imitate Donald O’Connor in his signature “Make ‘em Laugh” dance routine.
Every one of the dance sequences in “Singin’ in the Rain” is a display of skill on par with any great athlete.
Modern day music video’s often feature amazing dancing and no-doubt, the late Michael Jackson is largely responsible for that trend.
Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Michael Jackson are great examples of dancing skills at their pinnacle but like sports and music, it all begins at the local, amateur level.
Over the course of the past few weeks, I have dialogued with several people with many years of dance experience so that I might better understand this wildly popular artform.
We all probably know the little girls or boys in the neighborhood who take dance lessons.
I spoke with Corey Mariuz of the Pure Academy that has a studio here in Wallaceburg.
Shockingly, he told me that they start training dancers as young as 18 months old.
For some, they have barely walked by that age!
Parallel to minor sports, students can take one of two routes in their dance studies.
They can study dance recreationally or competitively.
Recreational dance would equate to playing House League hockey and competitive dance to travel or Rep hockey.
Corey was telling me that there are three different levels of competitive dance which like Rep hockey, can involve considerable travel, much more time, costuming, and at its highest level can cost upward of $10,000 per year!
Unfortunately, unlike the opportunities that hockey or baseball players have to move on to adult recreational leagues once they “age-out”, once dancers reach adult age there is little opportunity to pursue their passion.
Much like music and athletics, only the absolute cream-of-the-crop, driven dancers move into the professional ranks, and the competition for employment in that field is very intense.
What I didn’t understand is the incredible number of different dance styles that exist, much like the many different genres/styles of music.
While not possible to name every type of dance, one can study Acro, Ballet, Hip Hop, Jazz, Lyrical, Pointe, Tap, Celtic, Highland, Folk, Ballroom, Swing, Modern, Square, ethnic dances, Salsa and on and on.
What I did learn is that much like music where we work on fundamental skills such as scales, intervals, articulations, improvisation, range development, rhythm, sight reading and so on, so too are there fundamental skills to learn in each type of dance.
Once these fundamental skills are developed, they are incorporated into “routines” and the best dancers can utilize these skills to improvise just as a jazz musician does.
Many years ago, I was dragged along to catch a performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, “The Nutcracker”.
Knowing nothing about ballet, I went for the beautiful music and the scenery but was taken aback by the dancing.
While most perhaps think of Ballet as light, airy, smooth, and perhaps gentle, the athleticism, strength and discipline are astounding and grueling work, and seeing it up-close was eye-opening!
Much like an athlete in a game, there is considerable risk of injury and repetitive performances can take a long-term toll on one’s health.
Many years ago, when we mounted a production of Grease at WDSS, Tammy McFadden was brought in as the Choreographer.
Tammy studied dance at the University level, and I vividly recall watching her teaching the cast what she had envisioned and the routines that she had worked out for them.
What stood out to me was just and how incredibly smooth and seemingly effortlessly she moved making the dancing appear to be easy, but for the mostly untrained cast members, it was a great challenge.
Just as great musicians make beautiful music seemingly effortlessly, so too do expertly trained dancers make difficult moves appear to be easy.
Back in 1995, the Brass Factory Big Band held a weekend long tribute to the Bob Jacks Orchestra.
We worked for months to get our chops in shape to play for the highlight of the weekend, a ballroom dance.
I recall playing our very first notes of the night and how the audience leapt to their feet and much of the dancing all night was what I’d describe as “exquisite”.
The audience was of course an older crowd but, the ballroom dance skills on display were fantastic.
Ever since then, I’ve wished that I could take ballroom dance lessons, but I’m too chicken!
While I can’t dance one step with any skill, I have always admired and recognized great dancing and great dancers.
After my previous column, Dan has been threatening that our next Wallaceburg Brass Quintet video will be a take-off of the dance “Step in Time” that Dick Van Dyke performed in Mary Poppins.
I can tell you with assurance, “it ain’t gonna happen”!
