D'Angelo & Amanda Wins Live To Dance

For the past two Thursday evenings, I stayed home to watch the finale of Live To Dance 2011, an American dance reality show on 8TV. Six finalists performed in the finale and the winner was chosen by telephone votes plus the decision of the judges. The angelic-looking couple of D'Angelo Castro, 10, and Amanda Carbajales, 11, was adjudged champions. D'Angelo and Amanda who danced an Argentine Tango in the first round and a Conga in the second round were in their element, and their performance was mesmerizing.

The pair walked home with the cash prize of $500,000. That's a lot of money for two kids who are still in elementary school. D'Angelo told the audience he wanted to go to Disneyland for a holiday. On a more serious note, D'Angelo said that he and Amanda practiced dancing 4 or 5 hours a day, six days a week! Amanda exclaimed that she intends to use the prize money to open a dance studio when she grows up. With their drive and passion, these adorable kids look set to become future world ballroom dance champions.

I do not know about the ratings of Live To Dance on 8TV but I know that another American TV show, American Idol is very popular here in Malaysia. Past winners of the show like Kris Allen (Season 8) and Lee Dewyze (Season 9) have even come to this country to give showcase concerts. It would be great if 8TV can bring in D'Angelo and Amanda to perform in Malaysia, either as guest artistes at a dance competition or maybe at a shopping mall. Hopefully, this will encourage more of our kids to take up ballroom dancing.

Kung Fu Master Dances To Fame

Wushu master Chua Zjen Fong has swapped his cudgel for a pair of dancing shoes. After years of competing in the martial arts arena, he has traded in his macho kung fu skills for the flamboyance of Latin dancing; swinging and jiving his way to many titles to put Malaysia on the international dancing stage. Born in Selangor, the 25-year-old who now calls Miri in Sarawak home, used to be a national wushu master, quite at home with yielding swords and spears, before yielding to the allure of the dance hall.

Chua was among several Malaysian athletes such as former synchronised swimmer Jovial Lim and former gymnast Tengku Noor Fathima Zaharah, who have found a niche in the dance world - cleverly blending agility and sporting aptitude to dance their way to stardom. Chinese martial arts have always been a part of Chua's life. It is a discipline he has excelled in for more than 10 years during which he also represented Malaysia and Sarawak in wushu. However, for a career, Chua chose dancing. After years of training, he is now a qualified full-time Latin dance instructor. His crossover has been a journey filled with adventure and excitement as his dancing has taken him around the world like his success as a martial arts exponent had.

Chua started dancing in 2005 with the encouragement of his parents - father Chua Kian Hong and mother Chiam Poh Huay, who are themselves social dancers. He turned pro in 2008 after meeting his current partner Evon Chong, also from Selangor (Kajang) who in turn, introduced him to competitive dancesport. They have not looked back since. On 26 February 2011, Chua and Evon, the reigning MYDF national champions, left for China to train in the Angel Dance School outside of Guangzhou. The one-year training will be completing soon, and they hope to return and impart their dancing skills in Malaysia. (Borneo Post)

Learning To Belly Dance - Tips & Ideas

If you are new to belly dancing and would like to try for the first time, you may be wondering where you should start from. The advice is to start learning belly dance from a teacher because, although there are many good instructional DVDs around and books about belly dancing, it is always better to get direct feedback from a teacher to make sure that the movements you are doing are correct. You can easily look online to find a belly dance class close to you. Also, belly dance classes can be advertised on local press or through leaflets in the local area.

In order to start belly dancing, you do not need much: just comfortable clothes, such as a long and wide skirt or stretch jazz pants; a short top with good support and a scarf to tie around your hips. There are a lot of belly dance hip scarves with coins or beads around for sale, but if you are just starting, any light scarf tied around your hips will do. Also, belly dancing is done barefooted, so you will not need to buy any type of dance shoes. If your feet are cold, you can use soft ballet shoes or non-slippery socks.

Some types of exercise you can integrate with belly dance are Pilates, as it helps to strengthen the core muscles and it helps with body isolations, or yoga for strength and balance. So why not try now this entertaining and beautiful art form. Belly dance is good for fitness, it improves self confidence and most important of all is fun! (www.worldbellydancer.org)

Gotta Dance? Swing It Over

There are swinging parties in Manhattan nearly every night. The trick is in knowing where to find them. Take a recent Thursday: Sandwiched between a Blarney Stone and a liquor shop on Eight Avenue just south of Penn Station and up four flight of stairs was a scene invisible to most New Yorkers. Wild and sweaty, loud and crowded, it featured scores of smiling, ever-shifting couples energetically executing the kinetic choreography of the Lindy Hop, the Charleston, the Jitterbug, the Balboa, the Carolina Shag. They danced East Coast and West Coast styles and bluesy New Orleans freestyle.

This party, the Frim Fram Jam, is a weekly event organized by the local chapter of a national swing dance network called Yehoodi, after "Who's Yehoodi (Yehudi)?," a song popularized by Bob Colloway. Held at a studio called You Should Be Dancing and drawing more than 150 people a week, the Frim Fram Jam is a popular destination withing a throbbing, urban subculture: Manhattan's swing dance demimonde. The scene is the recent revival of a phenomenon that stated quietly in New York in the mid-1980s, waxed and then waned and then grew popular again in the decades that followed until the best swing dance spots were forced to close for lack of revenue in the new century.

Now enjoying a renaissance that began around three years ago, the current swing dance milieu consists of a network of clubs, events, instructors, dancers, DJs and bands. It is characterized by its own celebrities, etiquette and conventions, and enabled by social networking, particularly the New York City Swing Dance Group of MeetUp.com and Yehoodi.com. This scene is scored by composers whose names form the spine of the Great American Songbook: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Isham Jones and of course, Cab Collaway. (NYT)

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4th Gatsby Malaysia Finals

The most anticipated Malaysian Finals in the 4th Gatsby Dance competition has come to a close with the crowning of the new rising star - Rebounce Crew. The final dance-off was held on 14 January 2012 at Neverland Club, Kuala Lumpur with a huge turnout from entourage of fans and media buddies. The contest in its fourth year running saw a record-breaking 114 entries form solo and group acts. Not only has the number of entries doubled from last season's records; the contest has also attracted over 25,000 Facebook followers, putting Malaysia way ahead of other Pan Asia countries.

During the voting period from 14 November till 16 December 2011, 59 video entries were short-listed by judges for online voting. Six contestants with the highest number of 'like' by Facebook fans together with 4 winners from on-ground auditions moved on to battle it out in the Malaysia Finals. This season's panel of judges comprised of Japanese celebrity dance guru Fishboy, Floor Fever leader Boojae Fadzil and Fellest Yan of Royal Phantom Crew.

Rebounce Crew walked away with RM2000 cold cash plus and all-expenses paid trip to participate in the Asia Grand Finals in Tokyo. Following in the footsteps of Jackson Chua and Alex Poppin' Rex, both past champions of Malaysia Finals and Asia Grand finals, Rebounce Crew now represents Malaysia with the hope of winning the Greatest Gatsby Award in the Asia Grand Finals, Tokyo on 10 March. Second and third place went to School Brotherz and Teh Pitt Den. Each of them won RM1000 and RM500 respectively.