15th Penang Open International Ballroom Dancing Championship 2008

Malaysian Dancers' Association (MDA) together with PenEvent will be organizing the 15th Penang Open International Ballroom Dancing Championship 2008. Further information are as follows:-

Date: November 22 2008, Saturday

Venue: Penang International Sports Arena (PISA), Penang

Events: Ballroom Standard & Latin - Open Professional, Asia Professional Closed, Open Amateur, Asia Amateur Closed, Pre- Amateur, Novice, Senior Over 50, Senior Over 40, Ladies Event, Junior Under 16, Juvenile Under 12, Beginners (1 Dance), Open Pro- Amateur, Medley Under 16, Medley Under 12; Salsa, Belly Dancing

The closing date for entries is October 20 2008

Tickets (inclusive of dinner) are priced from RM350 to RM120 each

For more information please contact Malaysian Dancers' Association (MDA) at telephone numbers 6012-4713266, 604-2615497; fax number 604-2615497, 604-2263807 or email mdamy@streamyx.com. Alternatively, you can check out their website at http://www.mda.com.my/.

The Penang Open International Ballroom Dancing Championship is into its 15 year of competition and attracts top dancers from all over the world. Roberto Villa of Italy who has regularly been a grand finalist in the Blackpool Professional Ballroom Dancing Championship competed in the Penang Open in 1996. This is one event not to be missed.

Best Wishes As Usual,

Dance Aficionado

Dancesport Malaysia

Johann Sebastian Strauss And The Viennese Waltz

The Vienna Operetta Orchestra will be staging a performance on November 1 2008 at 8.30 pm at the Auditorium Majlis Bandaraya in Shah Alam, Selangor. Under the baton of conductor Siegfried Andraschek, together with featured vocalists Michael Suttner (tenor) and Izabela Labuda (soprano), the orchestra will perform favourites composed by the great composers like Johann Sebastian Strauss and Franz Lehar. The orchestra will be joined on stage by local singer and actress Amy Mastura. Together they will be entertaining the audience to an evening of authentic Viennese song and dance.

Franz Lehar (born 1870) was an Austrian of Hungarian descent. He is best known as a composer of operettas; the most famous of which is "The Merry Widow". Besides operettas he also wrote sonatas, marches and waltzes including the popular "Gold And Silver". Lehar died in 1948 in Bad Ischl near Salzburg where he is also buried. Johann Sebastian Strauss (1825-1899) was an Austrian composer well known for his waltzes. Besides the waltz, Strauss also wrote polkas, marches and operettas. Die Fledermaus which was composed by Strauss in 1874 remains the quintessential Viennese operetta.

It is of course the waltzes for which Strauss is most famous for. Known as the "Waltz King", Strauss composed more than 60 waltzes, amongst them the Blue Danube Waltz, Tales From The Vienna Woods Waltz, Emperor Waltz, Voices Of Spring Waltz, Wine, Woman And Song Waltz and Artist's Life Waltz. It must be remembered that the great waltzes were published in concert, not dance arrangements and the original compositions are generally not suited for dancing the International Viennese Waltz due to the tempo changes, pauses and long playing time. The Blue Danube, Tales From The Vienna Woods and Emperor have a playing time of more than 10 minutes each!

The versions of the great waltzes that people dance to nowadays have been rearranged by other musicians, abridged to about 3 minutes playing time and set to strict Viennese waltz tempo. Several modern songs have of course been composed with strict Viennese waltz tempo. My favourite is "A Summer Place", whether it is the instrumental version by the Percy Faith Orchestra or the one sung by Andy Williams. There is something very special about this song that can evoke strong emotions for me. Whenever I hear this song being played in a dance hall I just have to step out on to the floor with my partner and dance the Viennese waltz. It's just pure bliss! Happy Dancing!

Related Post

> Dancing The Viennese Waltz And The Fleckerls

Walks In The Tango

The Tango is a passionate and romantic dance characterized by the use of staccato movements. The hold is similar to the hold in the other ballroom dances but is more compact. There is no rise & fall and sway in Tango. The feet are slightly lifted and placed on each step rather than gliding to position as in the other ballroom dances. The feet are moved with a sharp or staccato action and the back foot on a forward walk is delayed for as long as the music will allow. The Tango in its very basic form is perhaps one of the easiest dances to learn because it is based on walking. Among the popular Tango walk figures are the following:-

Walks - The beginner will usually start off by learning how to do the basic walks. Remember to be very positive and place the whole weight on the standing leg before proceeding with the next step. One popular sequence would be to dance two walks followed by a progressive link or sometimes known simply as two walks and a link. When doing the progressive link the lady must turn her head sharply to her right when taking the second step. This gives the dance its very character or flavour. End with a closed promenade and delay the closing of the feet as long as the music will allow.

Stalking Walks - Stalking walks are a delight to dance and to behold. Standing on one leg, the dancer places the other foot in front and slightly across and points the toes at the floor. Like an animal stalking its prey, the dancer takes alternate stalking steps and dances a few of these walks before continuing with a fast-paced figure. Sometimes when dancing this figure I imagine I am a lion stalking its prey and ending with the chase. Must have been watching too much of "National Geographic!"

Skating Walks - This is one of my favorite Tango dance figures. In this figure, the dancers skim their feet on the dance floor in a semi-circular motion as if to mimic the skating actions of an ice skater. The Italian pair of William Pino and Alessandra Bucciarelli (http://www.william-alessandra.it/) were maestros at performing skating walks. When dancing this figure they give the illusion that they are skating rather than dancing on the dance floor. Ces't Magnifique!

They say that the simplest of things can sometimes be the most difficult to master. Ditto for the Tango walks. When I first learned to dance the Tango I remembered how flustered I was when my dance teacher used to instruct me to spend 30 minutes during each lesson just doing the Tango walks. Little did I realize that those basic steps were the most important steps that I had ever learnt. Once you have mastered the fundamentals and the techniques of any dance that you learn, you will learn to really enjoy the dance.

Related Post

> How Can I Dance Better?

Shakeup In The Professional Ballroom Dancing Scene

There has been quite a number of partnerships breaking up in the professional ballroom dancing scene during the past couple of years. The latest to split are the English pairs of Christopher Hawkins & Justyna Hawkins and Timothy Howson & Joanne Bolton (partners for 18 years). Christopher Hawkins and Joanne Bolton are now partnering each other. As for Timothy Howson and Justyna Hawkins there is no news of their plans yet.

The American pair of Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova went their separate ways last year. Wilkins is now partnering Hazel Newberry and both are dancing for England. Hazel Newberry was Christopher Hawkin's previous partner and they were the World Professional Standard Dance Champions from 2002 to 2004. They were a fantastic couple and famous for their quickstep. As for Demidova, she is is presently dancing with Arunas Bizokas for the USA.

The partnership of the Latin American dance pair of Slavik Kryklyvyy and Karina Smirnoff of the USA ended about a couple of years ago. Before the retirement of 9 times World Professional Latin American Dance Champions Bryan Watson and Carmen Vincelj of Germany from competitive dancing in 2007, Kryklyvyy and Smirnoff were tipped to be the next champions, but sadly this was not to be. After leaving Smirnoff, Kryklyvyy went on to partner Elena Khvorova before ending up with Hanna Karttunen of Finland. Smirnoff was last heard to be dancing with Dmitri Timokhin of Russia.

We'll have to wait to really see how well the new couples will perform on the dance floor and we wish them all the best. We can also expect more promising dance couples to split up in future. This has happened quite regularly in the past and is going to happen again in future. Maybe as they say, the only constant is change. C'est La Vie!

Best Regards,

Dance Aficionado
Dancesport Malaysia

ACTS School Of Performing Arts Charity Dance Workshop 2008

ACTS School Of Performing Arts of 73 Jalan Setia Bakti, Damansara Heights, 50490 Kuala Lumpur which teaches ballet, jazz, contemporary, salsa and line dancing will be organizing a charity dance workshop from November 21 - 23. The event will kick off with a gala dinner at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac) at Jalan Strachan, Sentul Park, Sentul. Raja Datuk Seri Eleena Azlan Shah, the president of the Malaysian Children's Aid Society (MACAS) will be the guest of honour at the dinner. Proceeds from the workshop will be donated to MACAS.

A professional dance troupe called Ad Deum comprising seven dancers from Houston, Texas USA will be teaching dance techniques of various popular genres such as contemporary, jazz and ballet. Angeline Yew, the principal of ACTS said that the workshop would showcase some of her dancers alongside the American dancers. She further said that the workshop is for those who are passionate about dancing and it does not matter if they do not have a background in dancing.

Ad Deum with its base in Houston, Texas, USA was founded in 2000 and is a professional contemporary/modern based dance company. The company consists of dance artists who have found a new home in Houston from all across the United States and other countries of the world. The pursuit of artistic excellence is what attracts dancers to this dance company. Ad Deum have toured North America, Europe, Asia and Australia and have received rave reviews of their performances worldwide.

As an incentive, ACTS is giving freebies for its students who register for the workshop in the form of free classes for two weeks and free tickets to watch the Ad Deum dancers. For more information please contact Angeline (012-6579924) Jo (016-3117335) or Ms Liew (016-2024250).

Warmest Regards,

Dance Aficionado
Dancesport Malaysia